My guitar collection - Acoustics
The mandola is to the mandolin what the viola is to the violin, a slightly larger instrument tuned a fifth lower. In practice this means the double courses are tuned C-G-D-A instead of G-D-A-E. Interestingly enough, it has been part of the Collings lineup for about as long as their mandolins. However, the mandola only comes in the traditional A-style, though still in 2 distinct styles. This archived Mandolin FAQ webpage (2016) lists serial numbers for both A-style mandolins and mandolas, interspersed and not separated by model or appointments, confirming a similar approach taken by the manufacturer as for their ukuleles. The MT2 Mandola is the most luxurious, i.e. with ivoroid binding for the back of the body, ivoroid bound fingerboard, Flourish headstock inlay, and gloss nitrocellulose lacquer finish. An MT Mandola lacks the aforementioned adornments and has a satin nitrocellulose lacquer finish. Although, this MT Mandola has been upgraded to a Honey Amber Gloss Top, just like my MT mandolin. What both Mandola versions share is a tortoise bound Adirondack spruce top, f-holes, tone bars bracing, adjustable ebony bridge, Collings original tailpiece, Eastern flamed maple back, sides, and neck, the latter having a rounded-V profile, ebony fingerboard with 7”-15” compound radius, Mother-of-Pearl (MOP) dot position markers, 15⁄16” bone nut, and “Haircut” headstock with ebony veneer, MOP logo, and Gotoh tuning machines here with ebony. The Mandola comes in a deluxe TKL OHSC. As of 2025, MT(2) Mandolas are still in regular production. More info on the MT Mandola can be found here:
Collings MT Mandola (Gloss Top)
The story behind this mandolin
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I purchased this beauty from The Mandolin Store in Lebanon, OH, using their website. Zack Vance was extremely helpful in the negotiations. Most notable thing was he technology hiccup worth calling out. During December, they were confronted with more than 10 fake purchases forcing Zack to add a captcha to the checkout process. When going through the motions and after payment, I was asked to repeat the captcha I thought I had navigated successfully. My credit card was charged already but Zack had no order. Do it again at the risk of a double charge? Hmm. But after returning to the cart, the page was already in the correct state to complete the purchase; no repeated captcha, just checking the “I am human” box, no double charge. Might have been a failed page update or something. The instrument looks absolutely gorgeous in real life as the pictures below hopefully show. Except for the absence of a pickguard and the straighter flame, esthetically it is almost a perfect match to my MT Gloss Top. And I just love midrange frequencies. This model delivers in spades on that. The sound is as loud, complex, and rich as my MT Gloss Top but even warmer. I absolutely love it. If it was just up to me, this is the mandolin I would play. That would not necessarily fit the sound in mandolin featuring rock songs (and bluegrass of course) but it would fit my style.
The story behind this guitar
April 9, 2025
A4676
Honey Amber Gloss top
D’Addario EJ76 Mandola Strings Phosphor Bronze Medium (15-52)
