The WaveLength Octave
Making more waves in music—catching more chances to create something new. Our Wavelength Octave is a welcoming invitation to the world of possibilities that the octave mandolin lays at your fingertips. As the newcomer to the mandolin family gathers momentum, the whole mandolin community continues to approach music and songwriting differently and more openly. That’s the kind of opportunity we live for at Northfield.
We’ve been thinking about this for a while. Making an A-style octave isn’t a new thing—but getting it right; with proper proportions, weight/balance, and the ratio, between the body chamber and the appropriate scale length, has all been harder to find in the market. Even strings for a shorter-scaled octave have been nearly impossible to find. So we went all the way …
Price: From $2,795
Looks can be everything: Sometimes our eyes just tell us what we want. Other times it’s what we need. A familiar shape means a familiar feel… and feeling is believing.
Around the shop, we refer to this addition as “The mandolinist’s octave mandolin”. The response and character of the lower octave register in the familiar teardrop shape. Fitting comfortably into your lap, your right arm hangs naturally over the edge—your left hand has the room it needs to access the frets, all the way up to the body and beyond. This allows for a much more natural feeling for a lot of players with the octave mandolin. At 19” the scale length is still a reach for 4-finger chord voicing, yet still a lot more accessible for playing those fiddle tunes we all learned first. One part adventure : one part homecoming.
Stretch Out: It's not a 14” scaled mandolin, it's still a little bit more of a spread, but we feel that 19” is perfect. Going much shorter than 19” runs the risk of having issues with string tension and drive. Going longer than 19” like our GBOM at 22" requires that the instrument is held and played in a different way than many mandolinists are accustomed to.
The WaveLength is a different approach to the music that you know and love; leaning into accompanying dynamics with singing and songwriting, ensembles, textural contexts, and beyond… even as a lead instrument, this Octave truly performs.
Short scale: Your left hand can play through fiery, fiddle tunes, and so on, a lot more easily. But slow down and the lushness of the bottom strings might take you somewhere else entirely.
Specs
Top: West Virginian Red Spruce
Back / Neck / Sides: Highly Figured Michigan Maple
Bridge / Fingerboard: Striped Ebony
Tuners: Gotoh
Scale Length: 19”
Tailpiece: Nickel-plated engraved Gilchrist/Northfield
Binding: Black
Nut Width: 1 & 3/8” (35mm)
Fingerboard Radius: 5.87” (149.2mm) at nut, 7.75" (197mm) at Fingerboard end
Finish: Satin Spirit Varnish
Strings: Northfield Custom MED set, Phosphor Bronze, Loop end: G (.058), D (.038), A (.026), E (.016)
Case: Gig Bag
Made 100% in our Marshall, MI shop.
Price: From $2,795
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