1920s Regal Octofone Octave Mandolin

So -- this is the second Octofone we've worked-on recently. It got much the same treatment as the first -- a neck reset, board removal and installation of a non-adjustable truss rod (in this case a Martin-style steel rod), some seam repairs, and setup work. This one also got a board plane and refret which has turned it into an almost boutique-feeling instrument. It feels delightfully modern to play it.

Tim did the truss rod install, I did the neck reset, Jose and Jacobi fixed some seam problems, and Jacobi gave it the board plane, refret, and setup-side work. We were lucky-enough to be able to reuse the original bridge without much fuss. The owner wanted it strung in octaves on the lower courses like an Irish bouzouki and I think it's a lovely sound for this guy. 

I've written-up these instruments on the blog before, but suffice to say the ad copy suggested that the Octofone could be "eight instruments in one" -- a tenor guitar, a mandola, a ukulele, a tiple, a... who cares? It's on the shorter scale side for a tenor guitar and is roughly shaped like a 2-point mandolin. This is why most folks use these as octave mandolins. The issue there is that, from the factory, they are extremely underbuilt, so one has to take precautions (reinforce the neck! ...reset and bolt the heel from the inside!) before stringing them up this way as normal octave mandolin strings will destroy a stock Octofone lickety-split via warped-neck and pulled neck joints. Oops!

My final comment is that these always sound great because the tops are paper-thin and lightly-braced. This version is "as per the usual" with a solid spruce top, solid birch back and sides, a poplar neck, and ebonized/faded maple board and bridge.