That's a question I'm asked many times at a gig when I play my Dorahy Mandocello. I explain that it is a large mandolin, approximately guitar size, strung with eight strings, specifically four double course strings and it's title is a Mandocello.
I have tuned my Mandocello identically to the bottom four strings of the guitar i.e. E A D G and I often drop the low E down to D, i.e. Drop D.
This is not the traditional tuning for this instrument which is normally tuned in 5ths starting from a low C but this guitar tuning certainly works for me. When playing single note lines on the instrument the Mandocello can take on a somewhat Oud-like quality but unlike the Oud the Mandocello can be played chordally. Chords and rhythms sound incredible with lots of punch with a huge dynamic range to work with. Great definition of the individual notes in chord voicings is extremely apparent.
In my wildest dreams I never would have imagined playing a Mandocello and I have discovered that the sonority of the instrument makes me think and hear things that would best be described as new creative territory for me in my long journey of music-making. Suffice to say, the instrument inspires me.
The Mandocello is a delight for one's eye and upon closer inspection one would observe that it is expertly and beautifully put together using only the highest grade timbers. There is one word that I can truly sums up my Dorahy Mandocello in both looks and sound and that word is EXOTIC.
Jim Kelly, guitarist, composer and Head of Guitar Studies
School of Arts, Southern Cross University.
Jim Kelly - Selmer style gypsie jazz guitar
From the outset I would like to state that I had no intention of owning a Selmer style Gypsy Jazz Guitar but that has changed since playing one built by Les Dorahy and I now have one on order from Les.
When Les placed the instrument in my hands, it was only the second time that I had played this type of guitar. The first time was an English-built instrument and although I quite liked the instrument I wasn't driven to go out and purchase one. That all changed in thirty minutes when playing the Dorahy instrument.
After playing the instrument for a half hour or so I asked Les if I might borrow the guitar for an upcoming concert with three other guitarists where I would be playing all acoustic instruments, specifically steel-string, nylon-string and mandocello. Les graciously gave me the green light and I used the instrument for two tunes in the concert. Now I was absolutely sold on it's potential for me.
Once again, I wasn't looking to use the instrument in it's traditional setting of Gypsy-jazz a la Django Rheinhart. I don't really play the style but I realise the potential of the instrument to use in my own way for my jazz gigs in a variety of settings and all manner of concerts.
In my opinion, sonically the Selmer sits somewhere in between my steel-string acoustic and my electric archtop jazz guitar. The Selmer has lots of drive but it is also very warm and silky sounding. The Dorahy instrument is not as harsh or brash as all of the other similar style guitars that I have heard played many, many times. The Dorahy guitar is equally as forceful as any other but for my ears has a more musical, more lush, smoother sound. 'A velvet boxing glove' comes to mind.
Attention to detail abound with the construction of the instrument. The action was extremely friendly with no string buzz or thin quality or thin, harsh quality on the B and E strings. The bottom end is astonishingly big and lush but not boomy, so a great sense of balance between the high and low strings was present.
My Selmer instrument is a few months down the track so in the interim... would you please pass me my Mandocello!
Jim Kelly, guitarist, composer and Head of Guitar Studies
School of Arts, Southern Cross University.
Robert Bruce - Wiessenborn style guitar
“I write and perform songs and poetry. My words and music derive their impetus from my travels, particularly the years I spent in Amazonian and Andean South America working and living with folk healers and farming peoples. My music is also inspired by North American and celtic folk traditions.
I recently purchased a Dorahy Wiessenborn style guitar in Byron Bay in order to add new dimensions to my sound. I am very glad I got this Dorahy instrument. The tones are so rich and sweet, the craftsmanship is light and superb. The astounding resonance of the instrument impresses everyone who plays and hears it, and makes playing it an absolute joy. You know that feeling when an instrument seems to largely play itself. I have already recorded with it and its performance in the studio was great.
Traditional guitars of this style were made with koa. I looked at a koa instrument but found the Dorahy with its Tasmanian Blackwood back and sides and sitka spruce soundboard possessed far sweeter and livelier tones. I can wholeheartedly recommend Dorahy ‘Wiessenborns’ to anyone seeking a finely crafted and balanced instrument of the highest quality that offers the sweetest, richest tones.”
Robert Bruce
Peter Martin - Baritone Resonator guitar
Les Dorahy came by one day to show me one of his first guitars: a baritone–resonator. I played one note mid-register with the flesh of the thumb, and it went on ‘forever’. I played through a scale, working my way towards that big bottom string, hitting the low B natural with both flesh and nail and I was hooked! I immediately put in a request for Les to build me one, knowing then and there that a guitar such as this would become one of my most played instruments - as it has.
The intonation is terrific; the sound, for its low register, is without ‘boom’, but large, rich and haunting. Yummy!
Peter Martin, guitarist lecturer in Composition Music Program
School of Arts, Southern Cross University.
Steve Dorahy - Baritone Resonator guitar
Our duo presents creative interpretations of original and traditional Irish dance tunes The Dorahy SD30 Baritone Resonator Guitar is a fine instrument and is perfect for our music and changes the musical angle of my backings for Kevin's flutes and whistles.
I tune my instrument B E A D F# B (Concert intervals dropped a 4th). In this tuning, everything below the 5th fret would be inaccessible on a concert guitar. As a result I find there are far more fingering and voicing options for our style of music on this instrument than on a concert or dadgad tuned guitars.
Sometimes I may drop the sixth string in pitch down to A to play in a dropped D type fingering which gives quite a large sound.
This instruments bass end exudes a slow grinding sustain which can be a real bonus as a rhythmic tool. The bass tone itself is like the hum of a very fat Queensland bee in February. There is also a slight high edge on the lower bass, (emanating from the cone).This has the effect that I can hold down and fingerpick arpeggios and chords way down on the bottom 4 strings with much clarity.
The instrument also likes a capo and displays a spacious sonority in that application. This gives more fingering ,voicing and textural options for arrangements if needed. Capo'd at the 5th fret the instrument turns into a big loud concert pitch dobro. There is a lot of wood in the sound of this guitar so the tone is not overly metallic and the treble notes are long and glassy.
As with all resonator guitars, there are percussive and harmonic incidentals that add to this instruments rather large charm and grace. My SD30 was made to fit and I am inspired by its many sonic dimensions.
Steve Dorahy, guitarist and member of the duo "Kevin Higgins and Steve Dorahy"
