Welcome to my Home Page.
My name is Martin Edwards and I am a hobby luthier from Northern Ireland, and, I am proud to say, the designer of the Mandonaught mandolin.

There are two versions of the Mandonaught.  The standard is the MORE guitar shaped of the two.  The Mandonaught S is slightly shortened which moves the bridge deeper onto the body which gives slightly more volume and more bass.

After much evolution and experimentation I have settled on a 12th fret neck join. And as a few people find themselves playing above the octave mark, a cutaway option is available .

I'm very slightly a tree hugger, so where possible I will use wood that while it is still top quality, it is in relatively  small pieces  discarded by a major shop fitter in my area.  These pieces are still big enough for a dreadnaught guitar back & side set,  so don't think I'm skimping on quality, just the world's resources!!

I'll have a go at building pretty much anything with strings so if you want something unusual, (like a guitar shaped zouk or a doublenecked guitar, then drop me an email, and I'll certainly discuss the possibilities.  For mandos I glue the necks in, for bigger stuff I use a bolt on neck system.

Cost?  Well, it IS my hobby and not my means of feeding my children, so it'll be a LOT cheaper than a handmade guitar or mando from a pro builder.

As I get a lot of the wood for free, I pass that on to you, the customer. A basic mandonaught is £250, guitars start around the £400 mark, Doubleneck  guitars start at £750 and crazy custom things are fully open to negotiation!!

Electrics in acoustic instruments I'll fit for cost, and I'll ship for cost too, though I recommend a hard case for guitars.

I have a blog where you can watch your new baby in progress (loads of pics….. not advisable if you're on dial up!!) and a soundclick site where you can listen to me playing some of my creations (badly!!)  I also write worship music for church use.  If you want to listen, it's here…..

You can email me at [email protected] or you'll often find me online at the following fora….

Official Luthier's forum
Jam Session
Christian Songwriters forum
Acoustic Guitar forum