cedar mountain mandolin company
EST. 2008 | usa
Archtop Guitars
“Never settle for less than what you love.”
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Working from a 400-sq-ft shop in the foothills of Washington’s Cascade Mountains, Cedar Mountain selects premium tonewoods, applies acoustic plate tuning (modal analysis), and uses a tension-compensated fret scale for truly even intonation across the entire neck. Instruments can be tailored to the player—alternate woods, neck/fretboard/nut geometries, body styles, sound holes, custom inlays, and finishes—always with the goal of delivering a traditionally styled archtop voice refined for modern performance.
Gary Lewandowski | luthier
cedar mountain
demo
Eli West Plays Cedar Mountain “Rincon” Archtop | La Conner Guitar Festival 2022
From Cedar Mountain Mandolin Company, the Rincon Archtop takes the stage with Eli West at the La Conner Guitar Festival 2022. Inspired by early-1920s Loar-era designs, this hand-built guitar pairs an Engelmann spruce top with highly figured curly maple back, sides, and neck—boutique tone and craftsmanship on full display.
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gary Lewandowski
“This is music, this is engineering, and this is woodworking—that’s the holy trinity. I’m going to build mandolins.” — Gary Lewandowski
Retired Engineer to Master Luthier
In this episode of The Instrument Makers, Gary Lewandowski of Cedar Mountain Mandolin (Renton, WA) shows how engineering, modal analysis, and meticulous handcraft produce Loar-inspired mandolins, mandolas, and archtop guitars. Step inside his shop and hear the results.
GARY LEWANDOWSKI | LUTHIER
“This is music, this is engineering, and this is woodworking—that’s the holy trinity.”
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Gary’s designs are rooted in early-1920s Lloyd Loar tradition, then elevated through his engineering lens: modal analysis to tune plates for responsiveness and balance, and a tension-compensated fret scale so chords ring true from the 1st to the 22nd fret. He builds for accomplished musicians who demand consistency, projection, and nuance—whether on a concert mandolin or the Rincon L5-style archtop that brought Cedar Mountain to BGS.
