Unless otherwise noted, all mandolins feature the following: Solid seasoned Colorado Englemann spruce top, bookmatched from hand split billet, curly maple sides/back/neck, 12" radius ebony fingerboard and bridge (13.875" scale) pearl nut, nickel plated Schaller tuners, tone bar bracing (f-hole instruments), ivoroid binding, fresh hot hide glue for center joints, top bracing, and top/sides joint, LMI environmentally benign waterbased lacquer finish over sunburst stain.

A Style Mandolin- Oval Hole or F hole . . . .

The Old Wave A style F hole body is based on a 1976 Mark Taylor PA-S, the F holes are based on a late '40's Epiphone archtop guitar shape. The A style oval hole body is based on a 1917 Gibson.

C# Style Mandolin- Oval Hole or F hole . . .

The C# (asymmetrical 2 point) style mandolin and mandola are based on a Mike Kemnitzer Nugget design.

C# Style Mandola- Oval Hole . . .

The C# (asymmetrical 2 point) style mandolin and mandola are based on a Mike Kemnitzer Nugget design.

F Style Mandolin- Oval Hole or F hole . . .

The F style body is based on the Stew-Mac blueprint.

Octave Mandolin- A Style. . .

Mandolin Brothers' review of:

Bill Bussman (new) "Old Wave" Style A- mandolin, 208, sunburst varnish finish, oval soundhole, H. We are incredulous that Mr. Bussman, working among the cliff dwellers in Caballo, New Mexico, in a place so inaccessible to normal travel that food supplies need to be dropped in by weather balloon and radio transmission by satellite, can make a super fine sounding varnish finish mandolin and sell it, with a hard shell case for only $l300. The interior label reads "Warranted to the Original Owner for the Life of the Maker" which is a claim we've never seen before but it makes a lot of sense. An oval-hole mandolin, similar to a snakehead A-2 with grained ivoroid top and back binding, this sure puts out the true bluegrass tone. It has 10 frets to the body joint, and an extension on the end of the board allows a full two-octave, 24-fret high "E." The bridge is a thin adjustable ebony two-piece with compensated saddle, the slide-off tailpiece cover is plain nickel. Back and sides are modestly flamed while the neck and headstock are more highly figured. In keeping with its modest price, we note that a few of the varnish Bussman instruments we've seen (including this) have had "sample defects" like tiny dings, and on this one there is a slight hint of fogging in the varnish. But the price is right -- really right. Keep in mind at all times that you're buying a great player, a new hand-made, varnish finish instrument that has great tone. . . . .

Mandolin Brothers' review of:

Bill Bussman (new) "Old Wave" Style A- mandola, 207, honey blonde, oval soundhole, H. The flame maple on this mandola is incredible; the spruce top is straight-grained and high quality. Bindings are tortoise shell-colored, very much in the old style and not the pepperoni pizza version. The scale is 16 3/8", the body width 11 3/8". The fretboard joins at the 11th fret, and there are 20 full sized frets and 2 more on the extension. The soundhole is bordered in an abalone rosette while the highly figured flame maple peghead bears the figure in abalone which represents the "Old Wave" in the name. This mandola is sans pickguard, and the bridge is hand-carved with a taller top than is usually seen with a compensated C-string. Interestingly, it is made with an adjustable truss rod sheltered by a beveled medieval confessional door with window at the top in form of a flathead screw. The sound is sumptious, deep and dark, woody and tenoric. . . . .

11-16-07