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Actually you don't want to stretch the outside too much, especially on flamed maple the stretching is reason for all the splits during bending. Generally wood bending is done by removing as much...

Many people don't play those notes regularly, and I have suggested to them to place the bridge for better intonation on the frets where they do play regularly.

BTW, I shorten the distance from the...

It's really not much better than ordinary wood unless it is harvested by leprechauns, and since leprechauns are not normally from the Swiss Alps they must be brought in at considerable expense. The...

John Bertotto, I've enjoyed looking back at this thread. Thanks for bringing it up. There is a typo in one of my early posts. I thinned the sides down to .065" before successfully bending. I tried...

Those pictures are great you guys! Mike that video slide show has a slight glitch it only shows the top quarter of the vid. In the thumbnail but if you go full screen it is all there. Look sleek she...

I've worked with cherry before and enjoyed it, but it didn't involve bending. My mistake was using highly-figured cherry, and the figured areas would snap just looking at them. I started bending at...

Sunburst is correct, 0.080" wide wire probably goes on 90% of new mandolins these days. I'm also with Mike, EVO is the only wire I recommend these days and has gone into the last 7 refrets I've done....

I think it's time to start a build thread for my first mandolin. So far I've resawed, jointed, and glued up the blank for the soundboard and glued up and roughed out the neck blank. The neck blank...

Here is another handle variation on an Ibex plane:

Here is a bone source that I found in western NC. I've bought from them online before but, this time my wife and I were up that way and I bought in the store. The bone is un-dyed and a nice cream...

A slight back tilt towards the tailpiece is what I aim for.

A few years ago I attempted to build a mandolin, no experience, no tools and no knowledge. It made a wonderful clock for my shop wall. Once again I am in the process of building my first mandolin....

Hi--Have any of you used ebony or any other mater for the corner points along with curly maple binding? Just wondering what types of point material builders have used besides celluloid or bone and...

Mandolins (and other stringed instruments) are under constant, though somewhat variable, tension/compression/push/pull. As a result, instruments are not infinitely stable. Most are made of wood which...

There are many, many formulations of plastic, so you have lots and lots of options, all with differing stiffness, friction, and impact resistance. Moreover, each type of plastic can usually be...

In the case of the Ranieri pick (see above), there was no way to get that elongated shape from an existing pick but Ultem sheets are relatively affordable so it was possible. Plus I knew I liked the...

Early last year I purchased a vintage tenor banjo (c. 1915-ish) just to learn to play. It needed a little work, which I knew when I bought it. After it arrived, I saw some potential and began the...

While I was setting up lights for pictures, I decided to keep this "glamor" shot.
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Greetings: I'm a long time builder of all kinds of stringed instruments. A couple friends challenged me to build them an F5 style mandolin. I told them:"I've never built a mandolin" and they said,...

I don't think the surgical gauze is worth it. I sanded it off on my first one after I tried it. If I feel like I want to add reinforcement to keep splits from occurring, such as with my pointy...

I planed the bindings down in width. I used 1/4" bindings rather than the 3/16" i usually use on mandolins, but I didn't want them to be fully 1/4" wide, just potentially a little wider than 3/16"...

Bindings have cured for a while and I've carved the edge of the top and back of the scroll to the chosen binding width. I'll continue carving the scroll. I've left it very rough-carved until now. The...

I make my own--I'd say it's around 7/32" thick and 3/8" tall (it ends up a little shorter after leveling the rim assembly.

I realized I forgot to show you what the extender looks like.
I've never liked the look of an extender that hides back up under the end of the fingerboard, especially when it is obvious that no...

As many opinions as there are builders. I string 'em up in the white to be able to make several decisions about fine tuning the individual instrument. I've observed that it takes about 3 weeks for...