KR Strings Octolindo F Model Maestro Octave Mandolin Sunburst

The Octolindo F Model Maestro is the top of KR Strings' F Model line, and it features a carved Swiss Moon spruce top with a carved curly maple back, curly maple sides and a curly maple neck. That is the same carved spruce and carved maple recipe you find on a traditional F-style mandolin, built into a guitar-shaped octave body about the size of a parlor guitar, so it sits comfortably on your lap while it gives you the GDAE range an octave below your mandolin.

David Benedict reviewed the F Model Deluxe on his channel this month and called it one of his favorite octave mandolins he has ever played. In a blind comparison against KR's flat-top S Model, he heard the carved top and F-holes give the F Model a clearer, more focused note that cuts through and sounds more like a mandolin, and he found he could dig in hard on the A and E courses without the instrument complaining. The Maestro shares that carved-top, F-hole design along with the slim neck, the 1.38-inch nut and the 21.5-inch scale, which is short enough that David gets by with his normal three-finger mandolin fingerings, depending on your hand size.

The bridge is a custom Octolindo bridge from Cumberland Acoustics, the strings anchor to a nickel-plated brass KR Strings tailpiece, and the neck carries a radiused ebony fingerboard. KR finishes the Maestro in a thin gloss nitrocellulose sunburst over all that curly maple. We have this Maestro in stock, and it comes with both a deluxe hardshell case and a deluxe gig bag. It is the Octolindo for a mandolin player who wants an octave voice with the carved construction and the look of a fine mandolin, and if you would rather have the darker, guitar-like sustain of a flat top, take a look at the S Model.