Mandolin Moments

By Reidar Falch

The book


Nigel Forster - Photo by Dave Best


Dave Best

Nigel Forster has made a book in collaboration with photographer Dave Best. Nigel has written six essays about his trade, Dave has photographed Nigels work and environment.

As the book is distributed for reviews, Nigel is in SE Asia. What he is doing there? "Having a break! I meditate a lot these days, and the instruction in this part of the world is the best, it's part of the culture. It's always nice to miss the UK winter too."

"A few years ago it dawned on me that my whole time was being spent in the workshop and that it was maybe time to see a bit of the world before my time is up so my last few winters have been in India, doing a spot of yoga. Twenty years of leaning over a workbench, playing guitar and cycling takes it's toll on a fellers back and yoga has sorted it out. India is a crazy place, but I love it," Nigel says.

Nigel hasn't seen the book, "I've had a copy sent to a friend in Bangkok, as soon as I find a place to stay for a few weeks he's going to send it to me. Can't wait."

"It started as a series of standard answers I had to questions that I used to attach to emails rather than have to spend ages typing every day. These little essays got longer and longer and it dawned on me they might make a nice book," he says.

"I got in touch with Dave Best as I had been looking at the work of local photographers and Dave's work really struck a chord with me. He started coming round on weekends and we got on really well, he's a very affable chap, and a very talented photographer. I'm glad to have met him," Nigel states.

Dave Best says, "Working with Nigel was both a pleasure and an education, watching and documenting his art, skill, imagination and enthusiasm as he crafted the most beautiful looking and sounding stringed instruments."

"During the 20 or so sessions we talked about life, the universe and everything in addition to detailed exposition of his philosophy as a luthier and I came to have a deep respect and envy for his ability to produce guitars and mandolins that incorporated so much of himself in the end product," he continues.

He is really pleased with the book, "especially as this is my first published outing as a photographer. The intention was to use monochrome to portray the manual crafting and honing of wood and to contrast with the vibrancy, colour and form of the finished instruments."

"Nigel had definite views and high standards in his selection of the final photographs used in the book, out of the 2000 or so images, that were originally taken. I hope that the photography does justice to his craftsmanship and artistry," Dave finishes.

Nigel started playing guitar at 13 and soon became interested in how they were made, "A teacher asked me what I wanted to do one morning - I said a guitar maker - he told me a feller up the road wanted an apprentice. Stefan Sobell. Stefan offered me a job after a week long work experience. I was very fortunate."

Nigel has thoughts about many topics. Here are his thoughts about celtic mandolin (CM) design, "The main problem as I see it is being stuck with a customers preconception about what a Celtic mandolin looks like: They should be shaped like an onion. And anything else isn't a Celtic mandolin. Regardless of the sound."

"When my old boss started making CMs in the early 70's, he modelled them on his citterns and bouzoukis instruments which were proving popular. They were basically miniature citterns. People liked them, and bought them, but you have to remember there was not a lot of choice back then, there were, and still are, surprisingly few American mandolins in Europe, and these early UK instruments were far superior to the bowl back instruments which folk were familiar with. So it is a design that has become accepted as the standard, without too much reference to sound," Nigel says.

He continues, "One chap posted a comment on a forum about CMs that the body should have deep ribs, rosewood back and sides and be wider than it was long, and that sums up the feelings of many. But if you take the time and compare this style of instrument to a decent Gibson A model, and compare them in a folk setting - in a noisy session, to my ears the Gibson usually comes out on top, for projection and tone. It's not uncommon for cheap CMs to be loud, but the tone is little more than coarse. OK, if all you want to be is heard, which is common, but if you actually care about the music, and the enjoyment of others then more regard to the instrument is needed."

"Now people started asking me to make mandolins, mainly because Stefan wasn't making them. Fine - it's all work, but what I didn't want to do was just start making more Sobell mandolins. I wasn't a great fan of them. My preference is for the woody bottom end of American mandolins and to be able to combine this with the smooth treble and sustain of the better (Sobell) European CMs would be the ideal to me," he states.

Nigel went to the US a few years ago, "I stayed with a friend and customer who has a fine instrument collection including a pair of magnificent mandolins - a Montelone Radio Flyer and a Gilchrist F model. They were really impressive and wiped the floor with pretty much every other mandolin I'd played or made. I spent a bit of time with the instruments, made a few notes about arching and bracing. I had no way to measure thickness other than looking, and then forgot about them!"

Mandolin by Nigel Forster

"When I came to design my CM the memories of the Montelone and the Gilchrist were put in a large pot with many years of working on Sobell mandolins and simmered gently for a few weeks to see what would come up. What came up was my A model, which combined ideas from all 3 makers and a few of my own," he recalls.

Nigel continues, "So for bracing, and arching I referred to the pair of fine mandolins I played in Texas, for thicknessing, soundhole placement and other constructional details the inspiration is my years with Sobell. Also in there is an idea I was taught by a violin maker a few years ago about the order of construction. The order in which we do things should not be dismissed as unimportant. If we do things in the correct order we are able to insure the top is doing as much work as possible and that the energy put in to the top is processed into sound there, and not absorbed by other parts. There is one more step I am leaving out, and it's a fascinating process, and quite simply never talked about by guitar making or mandolin making communities, and I'm happy for it to remain so!"

Mandolin by Nigel Forster


Mandolin by Nigel Forster

"The A models have sold pretty well, and the owners love them, and every one I sell seems to get me an order for another one, but I knew that some still were not ordering because they were the wrong shape. So, the next step was to make one shaped like an onion but keep as much in common with my A model as possible - as far as bracing, thicknessing, and arching. The result was interesting, my onion - which I call the Celtic model, is a little sweeter and lighter sounding than my A model, which was designed to be the perfect CM, and has a little more sustain," he says.

"On a couple of occasions now I've been in the position to let customers do a blind test - shut their eyes and open their ears as to which one is better, and both times they have bought the A model, but we have to understand that many buy with their eyes and not their ears. What can I do? Offer two models, that's what!" Nigel concludes.

Future plans? "Just to carry on, experimenting in my little workshop, making a living doing things I enjoy. Slowly pushing the materials and design to see what is possible."

Review of Between the Ideal and the Possible

Nigel Forster

Dave Best