Portland, Oregon-based mandolinist Tim Connell is a busy instrumentalist with a varied repertoire. Regarded as one of North America’s finest players of Brazilian choro music on the mandolin, he is also at home playing swing, classical, or fiddle tunes. Tim plays all of these diverse styles on a single Arrow G-Style mandolin.

Located in Mosier, Oregon, luthier Paul Lestock builds mandolin-family instruments and guitars under the Arrow brand. The G-Style features an original, somewhat Art Deco-inspired shape, which looks modern without losing faint traces of a traditional F-Style design. Tim’s instrument is constructed with a spruce top, native Pacific Northwest myrtle wood back and sides, a maple neck, and ebony fingerboard. Tim uses a Tone-Gard attached to the instrument’s back, and he feels that it improves the sound, especially when playing standing up. He also has a McClung armrest installed on the instrument. For amplification, he uses a Schertler DYN pickup on the mandolin, which is permanently installed, using a ¼-inch jack in place of the pickup’s standard XLR connector.

In this video, Tim discusses how the instrument’s rich tone and deep, ringing G-string work well for both his ensemble and solo work, and he plays Ernesto Nazareth’s choro “Odeon” and Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Prelude” (BWV 1007).

2004 Gilchrist Model 4 Mike Compton demonstrates his oval-soundhole, F-4-style Gilchrist. Read More

2009 Gilchrist Model 1 John Reischman demonstrates his round soundhole Gilchrist. Read More

Lawrence Smart A-Style Mandola John Reischman demonstrates his mandola. Read More

Northfield Archtop Octave Mandolin Joe K. Walsh demonstrates his archtop guitar–inspired octave mandolin. Read More

2000 Gilchrist F-5 Peghead Nation mandolin instructor Joe K. Walsh demonstrates his new Gilchrist mandolin, which was previously owned by Andrew Marlin and Aubrey Haynie. Read More

Maegen Wells A-Style Mandolin and 15-Inch Archtop Guitar Luthier Maegen Wells discusses two of her instruments in the Peghead Nation video studio. Read More

2007 Heiden Heritage F-5 Peghead Nation instructor John Reischman demonstrates his Michael Heiden F-Style mandolin. Read More

Nugget A-Style Standard Mandolin Joe K. Walsh demonstrates his 2016 Nugget, built by luthier Mike Kemnitzer. Read More

2002 Gilchrist F-5 Mike Compton discusses and demos his primary mandolin, which was built to match the tone of Bill Monroe’s Gibson F-5. Read More

A. Lawrence Smart A-Style Mandola Joe K. Walsh demonstrates his go-to mandola. Read More