Sarah Jarosz

"Jarosz’s octave mandolin was built by Fletcher Brock, a one-man operation based in Idaho. “I’ve been seeing Sarah since she was around 12 or 13,” Brock says, “and she ended up buying an octave mandolin I had with me at an IBMA show in Nashville. Kym (Warner) from The Greencards was there and he was playing it and other people were playing it, and I think collectively everyone liked it so that may have helped her decide to get it. When you’re buying something like that it’s always good to get the opinion of another good musician.”

As it turned out, Jarosz had been planning to buy an octave mandolin anyway. “I’d actually been saving up for years to buy one,” she says, “and within five minutes of playing the one Fletcher had I knew I had to have it. I’d heard guys like Mike Marshall play, but I especially heard Tim O’Brien play one and I really grew to love that sound. I thought it would be cool to play something to give me a little more of a fuller sound while I sang than just a regular mandolin.”

Jarosz’s octave mandolin is guitar-shaped, with a carved, x-braced Engelmann spruce top, two f-holes, curly big leaf maple back and sides, a 14 3/8-inch lower bout, and a 21 1/2-inch scale length. It has Gotoh mini tuners and a Monteleone style tailpiece made by Allen Guitars and a bridge and pickguard made of ebony. The neck is red maple and has two carbon fiber rods which flank a Martin style adjustable truss rod. The case is custom made by Cedar Creek Cases. As for strings, Jarosz has her own method of finding the right ones. “For some reason I really don’t like regular octave mandolin strings, they sound kind of tinny to me. So I use medium sets of guitar strings in different combinations to get the right gauges.”

Brock says that, while he builds other instruments, the octave mandolin is in high demand these days, due in part to Jarosz’s playing one. “Close to half of my orders now are for octave mandolins,” he says. “Most conversations start with, ‘I just saw Sarah Jarosz, what was that thing she was playing, I want one.’”

• Interview with americansongwriter.com (https://americansongwriter.com/2012/04/sarah-jaroszs-string-garden/3/)

"When it comes to guitar Jarosz concentrates mostly on rhythm and arpeggios of her not-so-traditional chord progressions to back up her acclaimed vocal abilities, and is studying guitar in Boston. Her guitar is a Collings D1A dreadnought with an Adirondack spruce top, as opposed to the company’s D1 with its top of Sitka spruce. The D1A has a Honduran mahogany back and sides, flamed mahogany neck, 15 5/8-inch lower bout, and 25 1/2-inch scale length with an ebony fingerboard and bridge. “When I started getting more into guitar,” she says, “I got my D1A from Collings, in ‘05. They had made two guitars for (multi-instrumentalist) David Bromberg to choose from for his birthday, and I wound up playing the one he didn’t keep. I love that guitar so much, it’s great! I don’t have the biggest hands, so I really like it because it fits my hands but still has a big sound. It doesn’t have a tiny body, and it just fits me really well.'"

From the article "Sarah Jarosz String Garden" for Americansongwriter.com (https://americansongwriter.com/2012/04/sarah-jaroszs-string-garden/2/)

"'I got my Collings mandolin in June of ‘03, and thankfully they really helped me out with a good deal when I was so young and trying to get a good instrument. It’s been a great mandolin for me, and it’s aged nicely over the years like a good instrument should.'

The mandolin is a Collings MF5, an F-style model with a carved red Adirondack spruce top, maple back, sides and neck, and a 22-fret radiused ebony fingerboard. It has an adjustable ebony bridge and a Collings original one-piece tailpiece."

• From an article on americansongwriter.com (https://americansongwriter.com/2012/04/sarah-jaroszs-string-garden/2/)

In this session video Jarosz is using a Edwina condenser microphone by Ear Trumpet Lab. She probably got introduced to the Edwina when she was touring with the Milk Carton Kids, who are known for only using this particular microphone live and when recording.

In an interview with americansongwriter.com Jarosz stated that she had used a borrowed 1959 Les Paul Goldtop on her 2011 album "Follow me down".

According to this 2012 interview with americansongwriter.com Jarosz uses this Pickup on her mandolin, her octave mandolin and her octave banjo.

In this photo Jarosz can be seen using a silver Kyser capo.

In this Instagram post Jarosz can be seen playing a Senn Model One on stage in 2016.

In this Instagram post Jarosz can be seen using a Gibson Advanced Jumbo during the recording sessions for "Undercurrent".

"I've loved using Elixir Strings Medium Gauge for mandolin and guitar for many years now. As a full time touring musician, I'm thankful for the high quality and long lasting nature of the strings. Something I can always count on!" - Sarah Jarosz - See more at: http://www.elixirstrings.com/artists/sarah-jarosz-elixir-artist.html#sthash.XSqMHomb.dpuf

According to this 2012 interview with americansongwriter.com Jarosz uses a Fishman Matrix on her Collings D1A guitar.

"I've loved using Elixir Strings Medium Gauge for mandolin and guitar for many years now. As a full time touring musician, I'm thankful for the high quality and long lasting nature of the strings. Something I can always count on!" - Sarah Jarosz - See more at: http://www.elixirstrings.com/artists/sarah-jarosz-elixir-artist.html#sthash.XSqMHomb.dpuf