A-Style Mandolins

Our A-Style Mandolins are based on the famous “Griffith” Gibson A5 Mandolin #74003 signed by Lloyd Loar dated September 20, 1923.  They consistently exhibit a similar “punch” with powerful, woody tone and significant volume.  We’ve incorporated some innovative engineering advances like a Tension Compensated Fret Scale to eliminate any sharpness of fretted notes higher up the neck, regardless of action height. We can utilize different wood, color and finish combinations for that unique look.

  • Select, solid Alaskan Sitka spruce top
  • Premium figured maple back, sides, and neck
  • Adjustable truss rod reinforced neck
  • Tuned tone bar bracing
  • Tension compensated fret scale 13.960 (standard), traditional 13.875. 
  • Ebony compound radius fingerboard with mother of pearl dot inlays
  • Ebony headstock veneer with mother of pearl inlays: “Lewandowski”
  • Celluloid binding on body, neck, and peg head
    • White\Black\White\Black
  • Nickel plated, James tailpiece engraved “Lewandowski”
  • Nickel plated, Rubner A-style tuners
  • Adjustable Ebony bridge
  • Bone nut, 1 1/8” width
  • Tobacco brown sunburst
  • Spirit varnish, French polish finish top only
  • UV curable finish for rim, back, and head stock

BASE PRICED FROM $4,000

  • Soundboard woods – Bearclaw figure spruce, Engelmann or Red spruce, Redwood or Cedar
  • Sound hole shapes – S holes, bound sound holes
  • Back & Rim woods – downgrade to non-figured maple
  • Neck, Fretboard, Bridge woods – Rosewood, Ebony.  Wide\Narrow Nut or neck widths and custom profiles 
  • Truss rod – Carbon fiber D-shape truss rod
  • Fretwire – Nickel-silver or EVO gold, various dimensions
  • Headstock veneers – Front wood type: Ebony, Rosewood, or special request.  Backside: none, ebonized fiberboard, or special request
  • Binding – Ivoroid, Tortoise, No binding, Various combinations of colors and line orientation
  • Inlays – “Lewandowski”, MOP,  gold MOP, Abalone or alternate species of shell, design complexity is up to you
  • Tuners – Waverly, Alessi, Rubner, Schaller, Gotoh
  • Pickguard – various shapes & materials
  • Tailpiece – James type mandolin, Nickel, silver or gold, custom engraved or plain; Traditional stamped tailpiece, various plating
  • Finish– various colors, sunburst styles, and solid color options. Spirit varnish only option
  • Pickups – K & K Mandolin twin piezo pickup installed

Please contact us for more information and pricing

Josiha Nelson playing a Lewandowski\Cedar Mountain Mandolin A5 with Jim Otto on his new Lewandowski Octave Mandolin at the Wintergrass Festival in 2023.

Ready to Get Started?

If you’ve seen enough and are ready to take the leap towards your very own custom instrument,
the process begins with getting in touch with us!