Northfield Mandolins

Our Story (and we’re stickin’ to it): In some ways, making these mandolins is about finding the way back home, for the instrument and for myself. For years I had been working with other companies making Gibson-style mandolins, based on the designs by Lloyd Loar during the 1920’s, but had never been that satisfied with the outcome. I had spent several years running back and forth from the USA to China, Japan and Korea. At one point I relocated to China with my family to work as the product development manager for Saga Musical Instruments. I, as well as a couple members of The Northfield Workshop, developed hundreds of items for dozens of companies in dozens of countries. We contributed to the development of some fantastic instruments and learned a lot in regards to what we enjoy about instrument building as well as what we don’t. What we enjoyed was the thrill of getting it right, and getting it right together. What we didn’t like……well, let’s just say that trying to get it right thousands and thousands of times ends up undermining “getting it right”. We aspire to make the best instruments not the most.

Adrian Bagale

Design and R&D, Northfield Mandolins

Visit NorthfieldMandolins.com to learn more.

Northfield Mandolins's Blog

Wavelength No. 68 | Northfield Mandolins Northfield's Derek Smith demonstrated a special Wavelength octave mandolin. Read More

AT2 Octave Mandolin | Northfield Mandolins Northfield founder Adrian Bagale discusses the maple version of his company's popular octave mandolin. Read More

Big Mon Limited | Northfield Mandolins Northfield's Derek Smith demonstrated a special version of the company's F5-style Big Mon model. Read More

Calhoun 2.0 | Northfield Mandolins Northfield's Derek Smith introduces the re-launch of the affordable Calhoun mandolin. Read More

EleOcto with Kym Warner | Northfield Mandolins The Greencards' Kym Warner demonstrates Northfield's electric octave mandolin. Read More

Northfield Archtop Octave Mandolin Maple Peghead Nation instructor Ethan Setiawan demonstrates his octave mandolin. Read More

Elden Kelly and Howard Levy, “Courtly Dance” | Northfield Mandolins A great duo performance captured at the Fretboard Summit. Read More

“Landslide” | Northfield Mandolins Brian Oberlin plays an instrumental take of an original tune on a Northfield Quickstep Mandola. Read More

Northfield Flat Top Octave Peghead Nation co-founder Dan Gabel and instructor Joe K. Walsh demonstrate Northfield’s popular octave mandolin. Read More

“Somewhere Over The Rainbow” | Northfield Mandolins Nate Roberts performs the Wizard of Oz classic on a Northfield WaveLength octave mandolin. Read More

EleOcto Demo | Northfield Mandolins Adrian Bagale demonstrates the new electric octave mandolin's innovative electronics. Read More

Northfield WaveLength John Reischman demonstrates Northfield’s new compact octave mandolin. Read More

The Rival | Northfield Mandolins Jason Dennie plays a medley of "Cannonball Rag" and some Beatles tunes on Northfield's new archtop guitar. Read More

Wavelength Octave Mandolin | Northfield Mandolins Northfield's Adrian Bagale and Derek Smith discuss the company's new short-scale octave mandolin. Read More

Joe K. Walsh and John Mailander, “Tennessee Waltz” | Northfield Mandolins Peghead Nation instructor Joe K. Walsh plays Northfield's new electric octave mandolin in a duet with fiddler John Mailander. Read More

Roger Tallroth, “The Pearl Polska” | Northfield Mandolins The former Väsen guitarist plays one of his original tunes on a Northfield Flat Top octave mandolin. Read More

Flynn Cohen’s Mandolin Setup Peghead Nation instructor demonstrates the Northfield F5S and other gear that he uses on tour. Read More

Northfield 4th Gen F5 #25 | Northfield Mandolins A special one-off version of Northfield's popular 4th Gen F5 Model. Read More

John Reischman, “Little Pine Siskin” | Northfield Mandolins Peghead Nation instructor John Reischman plays an original tune at the 2019 Marshall Mandolin Summit. Read More

Jake Howard and Grant Flick: “Morning Breaks” | Northfield Mandolins An instrumental duet played on a pair of Northfield Archtop and Flattop Octave Mandolins. Read More

Octave Mandolin Woods | Northfield Mandolins Northfield's Derek Smith demonstrates three flattop octave mandolins with different wood combinations. Read More

Gilchrist/Northfield Tailpiece | Northfield Mandolins Northfield's Kjell Croce demonstrates the installation of the new Gilchrist-designed mandolin tailpiece. Read More

Artist Series “4th Generation” F5 | Northfield Mandolins Dan Bui demonstrates a Lloyd Loar-style F5 from Northfield Mandolins at the Music Emporium. Read More

Northfield Calhoun A great-sounding US-made flattop mandolin at an affordable price. Read More

Walnut Flat Top Octave Mandolin | Northfield Mandolins Ethan Setiawan demonstrates a cool octave mandolin at the Music Emporium. Read More

Artist Series F5 | Northfield Mandolins Ethan Setiawan demonstrates a great F5 at the Music Emporium. Read More

Flattop Octave Mandolin | Northfield Mandolins Elderly Instruments demonstrates a great option for a low-tuned eight-string. Read More

Don Stiernberg: “It’s a Good Day” | Northfield Mandolins The jazz mandolin great performs at the Marshall Mandolin Summit. Read More

Sierra Hull: “Grey Owl” | Northfield Mandolins Sierra Hull plays a fiddle tune on her Northfield octave mandolin. Read More

The Calhoun | Northfield Mandolins The making of Northfield's great flattop mandolin. Read More

Sarah Jarosz and Mike Marshall: “Mansinneedof” | Northfield Mandolins A great mandolin duet of Sarah Jarosz’s original tune, recorded live at the Marshall Mandolin Summit. Read More

Don Stiernberg Trio: “I’m Old Fashioned” | Northfield Mandolins The mandolin master plays a great version of the Jerome Kern classic with his trio, live at the Marshall Mandolin Summit. Read More

Northfield Big Mon Comparison | Northfield Mandolins Two Big Mon mandolins, one built with Engelmann, the other with an Adirondack spruce top, played back-to-back. Read More

John Reischman and Mike Marshall: “La Arboleda” | Northfield Mandolins Two mandolin masters play a Puerto Rican tune that John learned from a recording of cuatro player Pedro Padilla. Read More

Sarah Jarosz: “Build Me Up From Bones” | Northfield Mandolins The songwriter, singer, and multi-instrumentalist performs live at the Marshall Mandolin Summit. Read More

John Reischman and Don Stiernberg: “Yardbird Suite” | Northfield Mandolins Two mandolin masters play a great version of Charlie Parker’s classic 1946 bebop composition, live at the Marshall Mandolin Summit. Read More

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

Northfield Mandolins Each Northfield instrument is built with an exacting approach, with dedication and respect to the art of the premier designs of Lloyd Loar. We're here because he was and we know that. Read More

Northfield Archtop Octave Mandolins Northfield’s Adrian Beagle tells the story of the company’s unique octave mandolin model. Demonstrated by Mike Marshall and Emory Lester. Read More