This multifaced book begins with a history of the mandolin and moves on to examine several important representative instruments. In the chapters that follow, the author provides design details, a discussion of the underlying physics of the mandolin, and specialized information needed for new designs. There is detailed collection of dimensions, arching profiles, and other specifications and engineering methods laid out in this easy-to-use reference. The book includes contributions from accomplished luthiers and major manufacturers and concludes with a gallery of new instruments so that designers can have some context for their own ideas. Professor French is himself a skilled designer and builder of many instruments who previously published three authoritative books on the technical aspects of acoustic and electric guitars.

Dr. Mark French is 150th Anniversary Professor of Engineering Technology at Purdue University. He began his career as a civilian aerospace engineer in the Analysis and Optimization Branch of what was then the Flight Dynamics Lab at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Over the course of 10 years there, he worked on a range of problems in optimization, aeroelasticity and photomechanics. He then moved to the automotive industry, where he spent nine years as an engineer and a lab manager, specializing in noise and vibration problems. While there, he also began to do informal work for the guitar industry. He came to Purdue University in 2004, where he is now a professor in the School of Engineering Technology. He has authored numerous papers as well as three books on the technical aspects of guitar design and one on optimization. Dr. French developed the Purdue Guitar Lab, where students learn engineering through designing and making stringed instruments.