All of my models are unique body shapes designed by myself. Each shape provides a quality aesthetic that wraps itself around a well planned resonant air chamber. The concise footprint of my standard guitar bridge is placed in the center of the vibratory area of the top plate for the most efficient transfer of string energy to top movement.
Highland flat top guitars are spherically domed for increased strength and resistance to seasonal movement. Tops are a true section of a sphere heavily arched to provide better projection and more clarity from note to note. Backs are X-braced in an almost mirror image of the top to better hold the curvature and vibrate as a single unit for better sound wave reflection and tone contribution than a ladder braced back.
I have developed my own arching and plate graduation for Highland mandolins that accompanied by traditional tone bar placement that create a complexity of tone and volume usually associated with older vintage instruments. All my mandolins come standard with an oil varnish and French polish finish for that that vintage look, sound, and feel.
I use only quality solid woods in the construction of my instruments including bindings and natural unbleached bone nuts and saddles. You won't find plastic on my instruments even in the tight curves of a mandolin.
I hand select most boards I use for color, figure, rigidity, weight and tap tone. I then resaw and mill the wood myself. This means headstocks, backs, and sides come not only from the same tree, but from the same board. Bridges and fingerboards come from the same timber, as does binding, end graft, and heel cap. All of this care in my millwork creates an integrated unity in strength, stability, and appearance that is difficult to find in many other instruments.
Power tools are used to expedite the rough milling of parts, but I rely on hand tools for refining the work. The final forming and fitting of each part of each instrument is achieved with well-honed chisels, finely tuned planes, and carefully selected files and rasps held in my own hands.
I use hot fresh hide glue in the assembly of tops, backs, sides, braces, body blocks and neck joints. Hide glue, while centuries old, is still the most rigid, creep resistant, and acoustically transparent glue available. I use other adhesives for some aspects of construction, but hide glue is the most commonly used glue in the body of a Highland instrument.
