4-course mandore 29 cm mensur (2011) [SOLD]

This mandore was designed and created by me in 2011 as one of an intended matched pair. (Its companion is still only partially completed, as I moved onto other projects!) Its 29 cm mensur can accommodate a top string note of high g' at A440  in gut, and I usually strung it in gut throughout. (The instrument is currently strung in gut with the exception of the top string, which is currently in New Nylgut.) 

This mandore can be played with either fingers or with a plectrum. When played in the latter way, its volume can really cut through an ensemble. (In the video clip below, I was really holding back.)

The four single courses are appropriate for the repertoire from manuscript D-Us Ms. Smr Misc. 133a (1625-1630), François de Chancy's Tablature de mandore (1629), and some of the pieces from the Skene mandore manuscript (Edinburgh: Nat. Lib. of Scotland Adv. 5.2.15).

This mandore had fairly regular use for its first several years of life, but it has been sitting unused for the better part of the last decade. It's time for it to find a new home. The instrument is in excellent condition with the exception of some wear marks on the soundboard near the bridge where the hand and arm rest against the instrument.