Lynn Dudenbostel’s creations are some of the most coveted acoustic instruments built today. They are also some of the priciest. Readers of this magazine may remember the in-depth story we published on the luthier in the Fretboard Journal #14 or the companion video we shot of Dudenbostel in his workshop. We figured it was high time to interview “Dude” for a Bench Press column and see what he’s working on today.
“I like to usually have no more than about three instruments in the works at any given time,” says the Maryville, Tennessee-based luthier. “I like to have one that’s just about finished. I like to have one that’s mostly assembled. And one that I’m starting.” In this week’s Bench Press, he describes two of the instrument’s he’s currently working on, a relatively modest A-style mandolin and a 00-style guitar.
Fretboard Journal: What’s on your bench right now?
Lynn Dudenbostel: I’ve got two things going right now. On the bench in front of me at this moment is an A-style mandolin that I built and completed a little over a month ago. I sold it to a gentleman at the Mandolin Symposium and brought it back home to do a little final setup on it for him. I plan to ship it out next week. It’s kind of a bare bones A-style – an F-hole instrument, not an oval hole – based on the old Gibson A-Jr. oval hole, but [it’s] a modern version of it with f-holes and a longer neck. We’ll pack it up this weekend, and probably ship it Monday.
But the one that’s really kind of been in the works here for the past few weeks is a guitar that I just finished. I just put the last of the finish on it the day before yesterday, so I’m kind of waiting for the finish to cure. It’s a 00, 12-fret and it’s a 28 style with herringbone trim. Brazilian rosewood, Adirondack spruce… a really nice set of Brazilian. I wish I had more of it, but this was a set I got probably 15 years or so ago from Mike Longworth’s brother. It was only big enough for a 12-fret 00, and I don’t get a lot of call for 00’s, so I kind of hung on to it until it was time to build something special.
FJ: Tell us a bit more about the mandolin.
LD: It’s a snakehead-style headstock. This is kind of my basic bare bones model, I don’t make any options available on this, that’s for the more deluxe models. You may have seen Steve Gilchrist is doing an oval hole kind of A-style. It’s kind of along those lines, only this has f-holes and the longer neck.
It’s a varnish finish, as all of my mandolins are. It has an Engelmann spruce stop. This particular one has a one-piece curly maple back, curly maple sides and neck and pretty standard appointments. It’s kind of a uniform brown finish all over the back, sides and neck, and kind of an amber stain on the top. And pickguard, and – abbreviated pickguard using the James tailpiece and Grover tuners on it.
It’s built exactly as I would build my deluxe A-style, but it only has bindings around the top; no binding on the back, no binding on the peghead and none on the fingerboard.
FJ: And the guitar?
LD: The guitar is going to a friend out in North Dakota. It was a custom order. It’s a 12-fret 00. I’m seeing a lot more interest in smaller body guitars these days. I haven’t built a 00 in a quite a number of years, but I’ve been doing a lot of 000’s and OM’s here of late. I just shipped out a new 000, 14-fret guitar last week.
This 00 has an Adirondack spruce top that I got from John Arnold with nice tight grain, which is kind of hard to find. Brazilian rosewood and a mahogany neck. Lacquer finish on the back sides and neck, and varnish on the top. Slotted peghead with Grover vintage-style tuners. And herringbone trim around the top. It’s a very, very traditional construction.
I’ve been doing more guitars lately, it seems. It seems like it’s either [mostly] mandolins or guitars. I’ll build mandolins for a few months, and transition back to guitars, and back and forth. Right now, I seem to have a little bit of both going.
FJ: Is that by design or just the way the orders seem to come through?
LD: I guess it’s the way my mind is wired. A lot of time, I seem to do better with one or the other, and not both at the same time, because the construction is so different. I guess I’m kind of going into a phase right now where I’m going to have a little bit of both going. I’ve got two more f-style mandolins started. I’ve got the tops and backs roughed out, and some sides bent. I’m getting ready to start two more guitars as well.
I like to usually have no more than about three instruments in the works at any given time. I like to have one that’s just about finished. I like to have one that’s mostly assembled. And one that I’m starting. And so as soon as one gets finished, I’ll start another one. I don’t work in really big batches. It makes for a pretty good workflow for me.
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