These braces were made of honduran mahogany; it was an experiement that worked. Normally, Sitka Spruce is the brace wood of choice, but with all the stress mandolins are under, I reasoned a dense, open-pored vertical grained mahogany would add a dimension of stiffness to this “flat-top” instrument. This mandolin has all the vocal range and projection of the famed archtop F-5.