About Round Mandolins
A Round in it's native environment
Driver: I love to play mandolin but dislike that when I play in moderate-sized sessions, it is hard to hear myself and for others to hear me play, even with a top-quality “bluegrass” mandolin or the finest 20’s Gibson oval or the best “Celtic” mandolins being made today. I have owned metal-coned resonator mandolins and they are loud but they just don’t have the shimmer of a fine “Celtic” mandolin. And no matter what mandolin, I have to hit it as hard as possible just to keep up with the session sound, so technique and dynamics go out the window. This is frustrating and a detriment to artistic expression!
Mission Statement: To produce a fine quality mandolin with a bright, lovely tone that can be heard by the session and the player while picking with moderate force.
History: Aristodemo "Michael" Iucci, an Italian-American instrument maker in New York City in the 1910s-20s made round mandolins, similar in construction to my Round-brand mandolins. These instruments had “normal” mandolin scale length and were around 11” across. They have a mid-range focused sound. Other makers including Dewick and Tieri made similar instruments in that time period.
The Paramount banjo company made a few of their own round mandolins in the early 20s, using measurements in common with their resonator banjos and actually using a banjo flange as a structural element. These instruments are said to be quite quiet and had 8 banjo tuners on the back of the headstock.
In 1932, Paramount offered the “Paramount mandolin” in their retail catalog, with a line-drawing depiction, this time with mandolin tuners. It appears that they made either a prototype or custom order, with serial number “1” stamped inside and do not appear to have made any others, possibly due to the Great Depression. I own this one very loud yet tuneful instrument and Round mandolins are strongly based on this one design.
Round mandolin design: Based on most dimensions of the original 1932 Paramount (nearly 14” across and a 15 3/8” scale length), I have implemented some notable upgrades to the soundboard and back design (significantly more arching, by carving, not bending) and neck/body support structures (carbon fiber rods in the neck and beneath the soundboard, which eliminate the need for truss rods and the banjo flange, yielding an almost entirely wooden instrument). In addition, the sides of both the outer and inner body (what would be called the “pot” if it were a banjo) are block construction rather than layered veneers. For sound, appearance, and ecological reasons, Round mandolins are made primarily of curly soft maple with American black walnut and/or cherry highlights, with fine ebony fingerboards and easily adjustable ebony and brass bridges from Bruce Weber and brass/ebony tuners by Rubner. To support the long scale length, very light gauge ball end strings are used, anchored by a hand hammered, unobtrusive tailpiece unique to Round. Sound ports also ensure that the player can hear their own instrument well, which is important in such a front-focused instrument. Lastly, I make custom hardshell cases specifically for the instrument and can also provide some options for well-fitted gig bags. The hardshell cases feature a tough outer covering similar to that used to create truck bed liners instead of easily torn imitation leather, and quality hardware including a comfortable “banana” handle.
Are they banjo mandolins or oval hole mandolins or F hole mandolins or …? Emphatically no to all of those. Definitely not one of the despised “banjolins”. Round mandolins have 14 small sound holes in the inner structure and one very large sound hole in the bottom of that structure, all of which feed into the outer structure and are then projected out to the listener.
Results: I feel that Round mandolins provide the player with an instrument that more than keeps up with an Irish session in terms of volume, projection, playability and tone, which allows the player to use good technique and dynamic range. Round mandolins are not a small, incremental increase in volume – they are truly a game changer.
About the Round luthier – John Liestman I have been playing mandolin in traditional Irish dance music since the early 1980s. My proudest moments have been the several years that I have taught mandolin and tenor banjo at the prestigious O’Flaherty Irish Music Retreat and at the St Louis Tionol. My “home” sessions are in Houston and College Station, Texas, both of which are equidistant from my house.
Beginning in my original career as a micropaleontologist, I moved into the IT realm and worked as an IT Audit Manager for a large bank before retiring in 2024. Prior to making Round mandolins, in the 1990s I made professional quality Northumbian smallpipes and won the annual Northumbian Pipers’ Society competition for building these lovely pipes in 1997, the first winner ever from outside the UK. Building pipes got me hooked on ultra-precise woodworking, which carries forward into Round mandolins.
I created Round mandolins out of the frustration from trying to find a mandolin that sounded great but was loud enough to be an equal partner in traditional Irish sessions. After spending waaaay too much on every fine mandolin I could lay my hands on (old Gibsons, Ellis, Taran, National, Sobell, Siveen, Collings, Vega, and Davy Stuart), I found the instruments discussed here in the “History” section and it was off to the races, taking aspects of those mandolins and enhancing their designs for the sound and aesthetics that I was after. I am proud of the sound and playability that Rounds offer and the way they have resolved the frustration of being “Mr. Irrelevant” in an Irish session which most mandolin players experience.