At last

These are the first citterns I’ve built for a couple of years, ready for David and the spray booth. They’ll be there for around a month, after which making and fitting the bridge, fitting the tailpiece and stringing up will take another week or so.

My apologies to those who’ve been waiting so long, but I’m making good progress. The next two citterns/octave mandolins are now also under construction.

When I’ve made inroads into my existing orders I plan to re-open my mandolin family order book.

Here you see the distinctive sweep of the sides into the heel. This was a technique I developed when first building Appalachian dulcimers in the early 1970s and carried over into my cittern designs. This system has undergone three major revisions, the last in 2004.

After so long concentrating on flat-top guitars, I’ve returned to arch-top instruments with renewed enthusiasm.