
360-366-6820 1230 Cornwall Ave 98225 Fri, Sat, Sun 1-7pm or by appointment
Hand made instruments & repair by
Devin Champlin in Bellingham, WA
Mandolinetto
The mandolinetto is strung and set up like a standard mandolin, but on a small flattop guitar shaped body. They were mostly made around the turn of the century through the twenties and appear in old catalogs and photos from that era. I own an old one, The Vernon, made of oak and spruce with a mahogany neck. I fell in love with the sound and style, and decided to make a copy. It came out delightfully well, so now I try my best to keep the mandolinetto from falling into obscurity, by building more and more of them. I have since had the chance to repair and restore a number of antique mandolinettos of various makes.
I build two different body styles... The original Vernon, and a slightly wider, longer variation I call the Verola. The base price for either style is $1800, or $2400 for an archtop version.



John Hasbrouck and myself in the Fraulini shop in '09. John with my first ever (and lefty) mandolinetto, while I play the old original Vernon. Photo by Todd Cambio

