The Travolin Mandolin Fits in a Carry-On!
From Logs to Mandolins
From Logs to Mandolins
When I decided to design and build the Travolin Mandolin, I discovered that Central Maine had many log yards with Adirondack Spruce and Maple. So I decided to purchase some tone wood logs, buy a sawmill and build a solar kiln to process the. Here is a nice example of a Maine Curly Flame Maple highlighting the Unibody design of the Travolin.
Maine Adirondack Spruce Top
89% of Maine is wooded. Some of it produces top quality tone wood like Adirondack Spruce and Maple. Log yards are a great direct source for converting logs to stringed instruments.
Belizean Rosewood
Cut by Chop Kiralis in Belize, a friend from Maine. Chop was a great sawyer who drove to Belize towing a sawmill. Once set up he worked with local farmers for some of their trees by helping them build banana plantations. He sent a container of some of his wood to Maine before retiring. I feel fortunate to still have some left as he is no longer with us and it's nice to know that his wood is making music around the world.