4-course Mandore
29 cm mensur
(2011)
4-course mandore 29 cm mensur (2011): $1600
String length: 29 cm
Woods:
Pacific yew (back)
Flamed maple (neck and pegbox)
Englemann spruce (top - single piece)
Ebony (fingerboard)
Pearwood (bridge, pegs, strap button).
Other: Bone nut. Pearwood and parchment rosette.
Finish: Oil varnish.
Own design based on period images and iconography.
Tuning (low to high): c'-g'-c"-g"
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.
Included in this package is everything you see here:
4-course mandore
custom velvet-lined wooden case
a spare set of gut strings from Gamut Strings (one each of 2nd through 4th course; two spare top course)
Fret placement ruler
String schedule
(Coins, cards, and clay pipe from other photos are for scale only and are not included!)
Price: $1600 + tax / shipping
Interested? Contact me.