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

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

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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

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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