The Octofone 2.0

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Mark Swanson
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The Octofone 2.0

Post by Mark Swanson »

Here are some photos of an "Octofone". This was an instrument that was originally made by Regal, in pre-WW2 times. it is meant to be played as an Octave Mandolin. I own one of the originals, and I re-designed it and here is version 2.0! It has cherry back and sides, A nice old spruce top and mahogany neck. The fingerboard and bridge are Osage Orange, which I baked according to one of the recent discussions here. It darkened nicely.
I am pretty pleased with the tone, it's bigger and louder than I expected, and I actually like the sound better than the wider and flatter octave mandolins I have built before.
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Mark Swanson
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Re: The Octofone 2.0

Post by Mark Swanson »

I had an idea for a cool soundport insert...if I cut a round tube at an angle, I got a section that looked like this and I inlaid it into the soundport. I'll be doing this again!
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Mark Swanson
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Re: The Octofone 2.0

Post by Mark Swanson »

The back and sides are tinted with a bit of tobacco brown. I did a slight burst on the back...the color looks blotchy here, but that is something the photo did. It doesn't look that way in person.
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Mark Swanson
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Re: The Octofone 2.0

Post by Mark Swanson »

Thanks for looking!
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Bob Gramann
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Re: The Octofone 2.0

Post by Bob Gramann »

Very nice! I like the shape, the coloring, everything I see. What kind of top curve do you have? Did you x-brace it? I recently did a fingerboard with Osage Orange the same way. I was very pleased with it.
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Hans Bezemer
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Re: The Octofone 2.0

Post by Hans Bezemer »

Mark, That's a very nice instrument.
Great that you took the design a step further.
Is there a 3.0 in the pipeline?
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Mark Swanson
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Re: The Octofone 2.0

Post by Mark Swanson »

Thanks! I used a 15' radius on the top and back. 3.0? Not yet, this is the first 2.0 I have made, I'll stick with this for a while!
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Bryan Bear
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Re: The Octofone 2.0

Post by Bryan Bear »

I like that a lot! How about a sound clip?

That soundport is all kinds of cool. What type of tube did you use (what is the material)?
PMoMC

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Mark Swanson
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Re: The Octofone 2.0

Post by Mark Swanson »

I'll put up some sort of soundclip soon...For the tube, I actually used a piece of shipping tube, some kind of plastic ABS or PVC. I painted it black. For the next ones, I think I'll get some carbon fiber tube from Dragonplate. The woven stuff would look great.
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Bryan Bear
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Re: The Octofone 2.0

Post by Bryan Bear »

I agree woven carbon wold look cool. What about wrapping a long strip of veneer (with glue) around a rod or pipe building up thickness like a roll of tape to form a short section of wooden pipe. Then cutting that on an angle. You could then, in theory, match any wood bindings you wanted to use. Or glue up a tube similar to a rosette stack, then instead of cutting out several flat slices, you cut them on the angle. If you had a simple repeating top perfling pattern you could match it. Both of those ideas are probably more trouble than they are worth; I'm just brain storming.

How did you go about matching the hole in the side to the section of tube?
PMoMC

Take care of your feet and your feet will take care of you.
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Patrick DeGreve
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Re: The Octofone 2.0

Post by Patrick DeGreve »

Very, Very nice Mark! I love it. I too would like to hear a sound clip. It is a beautiful instrument. I noticed some nice variation on the binding. Is it wood, or vinyl. I like the cherry very much. I am using cherry for the first time on a 3/4 size classical, now. The two toned bridge is also very nice. I am not familiar with the octofone, how is it tuned?
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Mark Swanson
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Re: The Octofone 2.0

Post by Mark Swanson »

Ok, here is a soundclip. It's a bit quick and dirty, and I got carried away at the end...but I was having fun!
https://soundcloud.com/markswansonmusic ... -soundclip
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Mark Swanson
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Re: The Octofone 2.0

Post by Mark Swanson »

And here is a photo of an original ad, from the 1920's.
I tune it as a regular mandolin, one octave lower. There are other ways to do it though.
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Hans Bezemer
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Re: The Octofone 2.0

Post by Hans Bezemer »

Nice soundclip, (again) a really nice (sounding) instrument.
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Bob Gramann
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Re: The Octofone 2.0

Post by Bob Gramann »

That sound makes it worth building that instrument. Very nice! What is the scale length?
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Mark Swanson
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Re: The Octofone 2.0

Post by Mark Swanson »

Thanks, Bob! It's a 22 inch scale.
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Wayne Brown
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Re: The Octofone 2.0

Post by Wayne Brown »

Love the sound! Are plans forthcoming ?
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Mark Swanson
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Re: The Octofone 2.0

Post by Mark Swanson »

Thanks, I haven't thought about the plans. It's something to ask MIMF plans guru Jamie Unden about.
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Jason Rodgers
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Re: The Octofone 2.0

Post by Jason Rodgers »

It's an Octofone renaissance! Very cittern/bouzouki-ish in sound.

I sure do like the warm color schemes you've been doing, especially with the Osage you've been incorporating into these mando builds (and you know how I feel about Osage).

Your stringed instruments give me warm feelings in general! Good work!
-Ruining perfectly good wood, one day at a time.
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Mark Swanson
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Re: The Octofone 2.0

Post by Mark Swanson »

Thanks, Jason!
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