Mark Farrell of James Reames and the Barnstormers

Welcome to

Smith Creek Mandolin!

              Dennis Stokes from Nampa Idaho with his band, "Chicken Dinner Road"

Available Instruments:

H-5 Mandola - #118

(click on picture)

From the Builder

The label placed in each Smith Creek Mandolin states "Every Smith Creek Mandolin Is Built With Pride To The Best Of My Ability."  I stand behind that claim and hope to give anyone taking a few minutes to investigate some of the pages on this site an idea of what That means.  Whether it's four days a year in the woods of Maine logging the finest Adirondack Red Spruce or hand-brushing an oil based varnish finish on every instrument, my goal is to produce the most beautiful looking and wonderful sounding mandolin available.

I started building instruments in 1992 out of a love for bluegrass music and beautiful vintage instruments that I could not afford.  I have been fortunate enough to be a full time luthier since 1999.

Over the years I have come to believe in two basic principles for building stringed instruments.  Machines have a place in building mandolins, but to understand that place, you first you must learn traditional hand building techniques.  This allows you to understand where machines can be helpful and where hand tools are essential.  With good tools and practiced technique, you can achieve far more precise and clean results with hand tools than a machine.

 Freddie Harris, former member of Jimmy Martin's Sunny Mountain Boys now with the Harris-Ellis Band from Southeast Michigan.

Second I always look for a better way to do every single task in building an instrument because I know there's always one to find.  So even though I am adamant about perfecting my techniques with hand tools, I've found many uses for the most modern tool available, a CNC-Router.

The marriage of traditional technique with modern technology is what keeps my interest and love for the craft as strong now as it was for the first instrument I built.

Thank you for your interest,

Dave Smith

Contact Information

I can usually be reached by phone 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. EST Monday-Friday, or feel free to drop an email anytime.  I would be happy to answer any questions.

Telephone

401-596-7433

Postal address

46 Summer St., Westerly, RI 02891

Electronic mail

General Information, Sales: dave@smithcreekmandolin.com

                    Chad Cormier with "Blistered Fingers Bluegrass Band"