Austin Clark has a one person shop in Boise, Idaho, where he builds Clark Mandolins and, brand name notwithstanding, mandolas, octave mandolins, acoustic archtop 6-string and tenor guitars and the occasional flattop (Dreadnought and 000 styles). The short film Austin shared with us for FJFest takes us along for the building one of his F5 models, the epitome of the mandolin tradition, but you might actually be familiar with Austin’s work for one his decidedly non-traditional octave mandolin models — he offers three styles, all of which sport an archtop guitar-style body, one of which landed in the hands of Sierra Hull — check the Clips and Bites page on Austin’s website for a video of Sierra showing off the instrument, and while you’re there, visit the Shop Tour page for more pics and videos.

#FJFest is the Fretboard Journal‘s way of staying connected during these difficult times: Expect to see never-before-seen shop tours from guitarmakers, unique music performances and a ton of beautiful instruments on a daily basis.

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