A catheter includes an elongated catheter body, a distal assembly, and a lumened tubing of a greater flexibility between the catheter body and the distal assembly. The catheter further includes a mandrel with an elongated body of a lesser flexibility that is situated in the lumen of the tubing. Advantageously, the mandrel has a predetermined curvature that is imparted to the tubing wherein the mandrel is unfixed to the tubing so that it can “float” within the lumen. The catheter as such is configured to allow rotation of the tip electrode about its respective longitudinal axis in response to rotation of the catheter body about its respective longitudinal axis even though the respective longitudinal axes of the tip electrode and the catheter body are angularly offset from each other due to the curvature of tubing imparted by the mandrel.
