A new Brazilian rosewood Condino dreadnought headstock + snakewood button Waverly tuners.
A new Brazilian rosewood Condino dreadnought headstock + snakewood button Waverly tuners.
I am a luthier specialising in historical and world stringed instruments. You can see more info at my website.
Last year's extra-curricular project:
De-lumberizing a 1960's Goya TS-4 12 string guitar. The so-called bridge plate was a piece of plywood 3 1/2" wide x 14" long by 3/8" thick.
My original plan was to go back with either a Stella or Holzapfel bracing pattern, but as the project progressed, I decided to go in a different direction.
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Re-braced. The unusual "half X" bracing pattern was based on the bracing of the rather unique 1929 Gibson L-1 that was used for the sound track of the campfire scene in the "Oh Brother" movie.
The instrument has been re-assembled. My new bracing turned out to be too heavy, so I have since done quite a bit of re-graduation through the sound hole. I tapered and thinned the V braces, rear ladder brace, and front tone bar; reduced the wing braces, and took about 1/3 of the rear tone bar out. She sounds pretty good and projects well, but she's still a little heavy in the mid-range and could use a little more bite in the treble. I've removed as much wood as I dare, so I might pull the rear tone bar out and replace it with one at an opposite angle, a la Larson Brothers.
DIY go bar system with an old flat top mandolin restore. Anyone know what brand?
Old Hometown, Cabin Fever String Band
Love that Koa!
My avatar is of my OldWave Oval A
Creativity is just doing something wierd and finding out others like it.
Skip,
You are spot on. I am using this for a stronger neck block for the dovetail. No matter which way you cut solid wood, grain direction is not optimal at the dovetail.
In my opinion this is a stronger solution. Less chance for a cracked block at the dovetail. I have plywood from Europe used in concrete production. (My previous career.) Made for high density and vibration transmission for production pallets. No flaws in the hardwood laminations. And 40mm thick to start with. The mahogany gives a better glue surface for the plates and a stronger glued lamination. Not all my idea. I have seen someone else doing something similar. When I saw this plywood in use, the lightbulb went off.
Steve, thanks.
See you at IBMA Juneman!
A second of the D'Aquisto inspired mandolins. I was at a meeting the other week and the table in the meeting room was veneered in Blackheart sassafras, a timber only found in Tasmania, it it struck me that it would go well with the art-deco design of that mandolin. Here are the sides bent up and glued. Each side is bent in three sections from the same strip, overlapping by half an inch or so, with shaped spruce blocks to glue them.
http://www.mcdonaldstrings.com
The Mandolin Project on building mandolins
The Mandolin-a history
The Ukulele on building ukuleles
That is gorgeous, Graham. Please keep the photos coming on this one's progress! Thank you!
I'll bet that is going to look awesome!
Thanks for showing how you solved the structural problems created by the multi-piece sides, the spruce block is a clever way (at least to my non-luthier eyes) to provide long grain surfaces for gluing.
Clark Beavans
That's a beauty!
Fantastic.
Richard Hutchings
[IMG]Untitled by Gary Davis, on Flickr[/IMG]
Last edited by GaryDavis; Aug-26-2021 at 8:07am. Reason: wrong image
Hi Gary,
Thanks for posting this. I really like this purfling and am tempted to try something similar on an upcoming build.
I have not been binding mine because I really like to show off the care I put into the joinery. I like nice tight joins between the top and ribs or back and ribs and fear I would get lazy about that if I were putting on binding. But for those who don't like my unadorned approach, your approach here would enable the best of both worlds. Please show us the finished instrument.
Thanks and best wishes,
Bob
Purr more, hiss less. Barn Cat Mandolins Photo Album
Thanks for that Bob. This is my first mandolin so it is a work/dream in progress. Every step now is heart-rendering but I get through it.
I'll post more as it progresses.
Gary Davis
http://www.mcdonaldstrings.com
The Mandolin Project on building mandolins
The Mandolin-a history
The Ukulele on building ukuleles
What a beauty! A unique mandolin, for sure.
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