At The Twelfth Fret we see our share of high-quality instruments by private builders, and this is the first I’ve seen from the Australian shop of Peter Coombe.
The Mandola, as the name suggests, is a close relative of the Mandolin, and this is a larger A-style design with a 15.8 inch scale length, and a deeper tone than the smaller mandolin. These are often tuned in fifths to CGDA.
This fine 2005 Peter Coombe Mandola is built with European spruce for the top, Tasmanian Myrtle for the sides, back, and neck, and ebony for the fingerboard and headplate. The fingerboard has a 12 inch radius and abalone is used for the dot position markers and headplate logo.
The pickguard is birds-eye maple, and it’s finished with a traditional varnish; black for the top and natural for the rest of the instrument, as the earliest Gibson models were.
Gold plated Schaller tuners with ebony buttons, a gold plated Allen tailpiece, and an S-shaped ebony Brekke style bridge are used. See the link below for a discussion of the Loar and Brekke style bridges.
This hand carved instrument has been well played and very well maintained. There is very little wear, and the finish is in excellent shape with some natural sinking around the top.
The tone is rich and full, with bright sparkling top end and warm well defined mids and lows. The action is very good
Visit Peter Coombe’s website page for his mandolas here
Read Peter Coombe’s discussion about the Brekke Bridge here.
Serial Number: 99, built during 1999 in Peter Coombe’s shop in Bega, New South Wales, Australia.
Pricing: $3,500.00 Canadian with Calton case.
Status:NO LONGER AVAILABLE
