The Mandolin Family: Traditional and Contemporary Perspectives

by David Cohen, Don MacRostie, Lawrence Smart, and moderator Jeffrey Elliott

from their 2011 GAL Convention panel discussion

Originally published in American Lutherie #114, 2013



Jeff Elliott: I’d like to introduce our distinguished panelists. Dave Cohen built his first mandolin in 1974, and with his long-time interest in woodworking and his background teaching college chemistry, perhaps it’s no surprise that he has a science-based approach to mandolin building, and has focused on researching the physics of the mandolin family. You can read about his findings in several places, including our own American Lutherie journal, the publications of Northern Illinois University, and in a new book entitled The Science of String Instruments, edited by Thomas Rossing. Lawrence Smart is known for redesigning the mandolin to meet the demands of contemporary players, and for designing a mandolin quartet which works especially well together both tonally and aesthetically. You can read Lawrence’s comprehensive article on his building philosophy and design considerations in AL#56 (Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Five). Don MacRostie wears two hats: as a product designer for Stewart-MacDonald and as the maker of his well-known Red Diamond mandolins. For many years he has studied traditional, historic mandolins, and more recently has focused on the iconic Gibson Lloyd Loar F model. Don has also taught mandolin making for many years, and a few years ago shared his method with the rest of us in a five-part series by Peggy Stuart in AL#75–AL#79.

Now, by way of further introduction and to get things started, I’m going to ask the same fundamental question of each panelist: Gentlemen, what is the mandolin?