The Andylin ???
Photo by Frank Hermann
."Mandolinists really don't come any more tasteful than Andy Irvine, and I think he's a remarkable musician for the sensitivity and sheer invention of his song accompaniments." Simon Mayor
The Andylin ?
Andy Irvine was a mandolin player long before becoming an Irish Bouzouki player.
Today he does not play as much mandolin but he does play two instruments that seem to
be somewhere in between a mandolin and a mandola. One, made by Stefan Sobell
of England, and one, by Davy Stuart of New Zealand. This new breed is not
exactly a mandolin, nor mandola, nor octave mandolin, so what do you call
it ?
“The instrument is actually a 16" scale rosewood/ spruce 'mandolin'
(whimsically called an Andylin or Mandylin) tuned down one tone and
Generally tuned FCgc, except when Andy wants a 'conventional' mandolin in
which case he will retune the top two strings one tone up and capo on the
second fret.
Rens van der Zalm now also has one of these 16" mandos and hopefully US listers may hear both together shortly on the Mozaik tour of the US.“ Davy Stuart
Infact, this is not a new invention, meerly a progression over time, as in the early years Andy was often seen playing an old Gibson mandola ( also a 16" scale ) with the same FCgc tuning. It was a very common sound on the early Planxty recordings.
Andylin 1
This instrument is another thorn in the side of all the people that are desperately trying to label these instruments. I can hear them now, it’s not a mandola, it’s not a mandolin, it’s not a……………………….To be very honest, I don’t care too much what you call them, it is the sound that matters after all. Davy Stuart is the maker and he calls it a Andylin………………..thats good enough for me! Andy Irvine
The Andylin was finished last year and was picked up by Andy in September 2003, in Australia. Just in time for the Mozaik tour. I am not sure how much or even if it was played on the Mozaik tour but it was definitely used on the Planxty reunion gigs 2004, and present in Andy’s recent tour of Germany 04, with Rens.
After only picking up the Andylin for a few weeks Andy appeared on ABC Radio Australia, 18th December 2003. I never caught the whole radio show ( sure would love to hear it, if you recorded it ) but the track that was played on the internet used the new Andylin to great effect on a track called “Empty Handed”. Andy sang beautifully and his words were wrapped up in a very haunting and wonderful tone of this new instrument. The track "Empty Handed" can still be heard here if you would like to here it.
Above is a photo of Andy with his Andylin, taken at ABC Ballarat studios in Australia. It was used on the ABC South West Victoria website and is reproduced here with very kind permission of Jarrod Watt.
Andylin 2
The first real built Andylin, was actually made by Stefan Sobell and was not called this (obviously) it was simply called a long scale mandolin. Though I have heard it called a mandola for years.
“Stefan also made me a mandolin/mandola. Never quite know what to call it. Its two frets longer than a mandolin. I used to play a Gibson mandola which had the same string length as Stefans. Classically, a mandola should be tuned way down to CGDA but I always thought this stupid with a Gibson because it didn't have a big enough body, nor a long enough string length to cope with the hawser-like strings required. So I thought it logical--as it was two frets longer than a mandolin-- to tune it a tone lower, using mandolin strings. So I tune it FCGC (I nearly always have the top string tuned down a tone)” Andy Irvine
This instrument has been played by Andy now for many years, and is still an incredible sounding instrument. I have seen him play this a few times now and it is still one of my favourites. Andy playing The Blacksmith or they never believe its true just blow you away.
The Sobell is fitted with a magnetic pickup and almost always backed up with a AKG C1000S condenser mic. The Stuart is fitted with a sunrise magnetic pick up.
