Sometimes there are instruments that capture your attention, and they seem to follow you wherever you go… and I mean everywhere.
Some months back I went to see “I’m With Her” at the Wilma Theatre in Missoula, MT. “I’m With Her” consists of three amazingly talented musicians; Sara Watkins, Aoife O’Donovan, and Sarah Jarosz. Sarah Jarosz happened to be playing an instrument that caught my attention and had me obsessing over it ever since. It’s almost as if I felt like I saw the instrument before.
The instrument was a Fletcher Brock Octave mandolin. The wonderful thing about this octave mandolin is that it has an archtop guitar body. This allows for the instrument to retain the dulcet sounds of the mandolin all the while adding the bass response from a larger bodied instrument.
I had seen one of these in action before when I saw multi-instrumentalist Eli West. Also, Ben Winship (mandolin extraordinaire) from Driggs, ID has a Fletcher Brock mandolin. Needless to say, I have heard these instruments on plenty of occasions and each time they have stunned me in a big way both aesthetically and tonally.
Tonally these instruments feature everything you want from a mandolin; sweet tone with a presence and projection that is extremely powerful. The octaves have a delicate sound that is balanced by the volume provided by the archtop body.
Fletcher Brock started on the East coast apprenticing with luthier Michael Allison. He then moved West eventually settling on Seattle as his home base. Fletcher makes about 15 instruments per year and his attention to detail is very apparent. For any info on designing a custom instrument or seeing if he has anything for sale, you can contact Fletcher directly through his website.
If you ever get a chance to hear one of these instruments in person, relish in that moment, the sound produced by these fretted wonders is impressive to say the least.
Fletcher Brock Mandolin Links
