Been looking at these great close-ups of #17 and one of your Bowties, and it got me to checking out something from your website. If I'm reading correctly, what appears to be binding is actually the colors from different layers of wood you use in building-up the sides? Nice concept. Is that something you set out to accomplish from the start, or did you notice it after the fact, back down the line, and just run with it? As someone with REAL problems with attention to detail (I seriously think I had ADD way before it was ever recognized) stuff like this is what amazes me about someone who can see something in their head, and bring it into reality!
Just wanted to chime in and complement Marty for the excellent photos and fine fit and finish on #17 - wow!
Yeah, Marty is an excellent photographer. He managed to take one at the Tasting that made me look like I knew what I was doing. Now THAT'S talent!
Mike, the whole idea with the Nautilus concept was to eliminate as many parts and as many steps as possible. An F-5 mandolin has dozens of pieces: 6 or 8 strips of kerfing, point protectors, about 20 pieces of binding, back headstock veneer, corner point blocks, etc. The total number of parts which must be made to finish the mandolin approaches a hundred. In manufacturing, a rule of thumb is, plan on at least an hour per part. I'm trying to make these in about 20 hours (at least eventually), so the design has to be really optimized. Long story short, the sides-as-binding idea is, as you said, very difficult to accomplish. It is definitely the hardest woodworking detail I have ever attempted. It took me two years and 13 completely different procedures to get it working right. I don't think anyone will ever rip off the idea, because it's not that great of an idea, due to the difficulty of implementing it. But it is functional (provides protection for the edges of the plates), it is structural (laminated sides are lightweight and very dimensionally stable), and it is pretty. So I think I'l keep using it. Here's the write-up on my site: http://martinjacobson.com/id/?page_id=1131 And Mike -- I am super ADD myself. That's why I built this process. Get all the annoying repeat work automated, so I can do the fun stuff by hand! I think it will work out, since lutherie is always full of surprises, and there are always more directions to push the instruments and learn about. Thanks Steve! #17 is a really cool instrument. Aesthetically extreme, with all the fancy wood details and inlays. But when you hold it in your hands, it blends together cohesively and doesn't seem extreme at all.
Marty, You building or have built one of your mandolins for yourself? What other mandolins do you have in your personal stable? Just curious.
Heh, Kris, yes, I have a few other instruments. I have never really spent much money on instruments.. I think the most I've ever spent is $800 on a 1931 National. When you can build them, it's really hard to justify spending money. A $1200 saw is a really nice saw, but doesn't go nearly as far when you apply it to musical instruments. I'm sure this isn't everything... Nice stuff: -#1, an F-style built off the Siminoff plans. It's not horrible, but the nut is about 1", painfully narrow. -Bohm waldzither -Root-Durer violin given to me by a friend of my grandparents when I was a kid.. I put way too many dings on it during high school... and surprisingly good $45 carbon fiber bow from China -Telecaster-shaped nylon-string mandolin I made for my kids -AXL National tricone knockoff -Alvarez rosewood dreadnaught I got at a pawn shop for $200 when I was in college. Needs splints in the top, never got around to fixing it because it sounds great -Les Paul I made one summer break from college... Macacaube and mahogany neck-through.. carved top and back. Needs a new nut after it fell off the wall -Nautilus #14 (Heron) ... my primary instrument. I wouldn't mind having a parallel-braced model with Noveau holes. Maybe I'll be able to afford one some day. -Yairi ribbon mahogany 12-string -#7- Basilisk mandolin -My hippie grandmother's Allison classical guitar. She was a music teacher in the 60's. My dad was in her class, and she played this guitar as she was teaching them. It needs a new neck. Junk: -Cheesy import octave mandolin... looking forward to getting a much better octave mandolin in trade from Mark sometime soon -Plywood tenor guitar -Kid fiddles - 1/8 and 1/4 Rejects or projects: -#2, which is the crazy D'Angelico inspired monstrosity that failed -- the redwood top wasn't thick enough. -#4 is also in the shop, a 90%-complete Monteleone Grand Artist copy. Just needs back binding and a little work on the neck. -A prototype for the Basilisk (dragon soundhole mandolin) that I was making for my uncle's wedding present. His 10th anniversary is in a few weeks. So I think he's given up on it. -White violin body I am finishing as a present for someone -A walnut OM guitar I made at the same time as the Les Paul. Needs fret work, maybe a new fretboard -An Old Kraftsman archtop from the 30's. It was a fun guitar, I had just gotten it and I let my 5-year-old hold it up for me while I was putting up a hook for it. I heard a crash, and it had fallen, splitting the head block and sides in a bunch of cracks a foot long. It's repaired, but needs finish work. It might turn into a bouzouki... -A 1937 Slingerland archtop, converted to a beast of a mandocello. Getting a new dovetail, 1 3/8" nut width, and radiused fretboard. - 2 complete Nautilus mockups (correct, but made out of cheaper materials) - Reject of Nautilus #12 - Reject of #17 - Reject of #18 - Reject of #19 (yeah.. that was a bad week...) - Three Yeager lap steels, a cool lap steel design I came up with. They need finish work - Bits and pieces for an ES-335 I was working on and never finished - Bigsby, handmade P-90's, roller bridge, etc. - Bits and pieces for a five-string electric mandolin I am just starting on- splittable Alumitones humbucker
Marty, Quite a collection you have there. Since everybody's asking you somewhat random questions. I have one for you. One of my favorite woods is cherry. I really love the look and the deep rich color. I know it makes good looking furniture. Would cherry work for the back and or sides of a mandolin? How would it compare to maple or some of the other woods you use as far as sound and tone? If I remember correctly I think you used cherry for the back of one of the instruments you recently repaired, maybe the Bohm Waldzither? Have you ever considered using cherry on one of your mandolins? Thanks, Scott
Scott, I have several boards of nice cherry that I am saving for mandolins in upcoming batches. It is very similar to maple in may ways. It is one of my favorite woods to work with and to look at, especially once it's aged to that awesome nut brown color it reaches after a couple years of soaking up some rays. I also want to do a couple instruments in curly oak, curly ash, and figured eucalyptus.
Wow Marty, that's awesome all the cool and intresting stuff you have! I guess your wife plays a couple of instruments as well I thought a read. That must be fun. Bohm waldzither very cool sounding instrument I remember hearing in a previous post.
I'm not nearly as far along, musically, as Marty is, but we've finally started playing together, and it's been really fun. Eventually we're going to record a couple of songs -- basic stuff, nothing fancy, but we'll see if and when that happens. Using several instruments makes it complicated. We were trying to do a mandolin/tenor guitar/violin/tin whistle mix a month or so back, and are still trying to get around to re-recording the violin and tin whistle back-up. There's nothing like a recording of your own playing to keep you humble. Or humiliated.
Sounds like fun, a cool mix of instruments. I had that same experience recording, painfully honest feedback.
Listening to yourself play (or sing) on a recording can be brutal! You'll never have a more honest critic. I think that's a good thing?!?
