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Thread: Post a picture of what's on your bench?

  1. #1451

    Default Re: Post a picture of what's on your bench?

    Brescian mandolin in walnut and maple ready for the finish.

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  3. #1452
    Barn Cat Mandolins Bob Clark's Avatar
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    Default Re: Post a picture of what's on your bench?

    Working on a prototype of a nylon-strung, four string piccolo mandolin (Cgda, a fourth above a mandolin). Finally strung it up today. It has modified Torres bracing (like a classical guitar) with a very thin top. Went with a floating bridge rather than a fixed bridge, to keep it more mandolin-like. Made a tailpiece specifically for this purpose, of black walnut and brass. Ribs and sides are local cherry. Neck is hard maple, bridge is local black walnut.

    Have to do a little set-up work, and try a heavier, wound C string. Will post more about it when it's actually done.

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    Purr more, hiss less. Barn Cat Mandolins Photo Album

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  5. #1453

    Default Re: Post a picture of what's on your bench?

    Quote Originally Posted by John Bertotti View Post
    I used to fix medical equipment. So, how did that 3D printer work out? That was what you were assembling wasn’t it?
    Still sitting there while my teenagers laugh at me when I try to coach them about persistence and grit.

    My CNC machine died, so that turned into a year-long project and rebuild. It's pretty nice now, I just made some stainless steel guitar parts on it (which you're not "supposed" to be able to do).
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  7. #1454
    Registered User jim simpson's Avatar
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    Default Re: Post a picture of what's on your bench?

    Finally got the neck out of my Kalamazoo KG-11. I first used steam then switched to heat rod. Will be doing a refret, new nut and saddle in addition to the neck reset.
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    Old Hometown, Cabin Fever String Band

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  9. #1455

    Default Re: Post a picture of what's on your bench?

    I think the excess string has to exit the head to the sides for the kitten vibe; maybe about 4” each side.
    The tailpiece is nice, and novel. Are there grooves in the brass to keep the strings located?
    Let us all know when you get the string gauges worked out, and we can hear this one!

  10. #1456
    Barn Cat Mandolins Bob Clark's Avatar
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    Default Re: Post a picture of what's on your bench?

    Quote Originally Posted by Richard500 View Post
    I think the excess string has to exit the head to the sides for the kitten vibe; maybe about 4” each side.
    The tailpiece is nice, and novel. Are there grooves in the brass to keep the strings located?
    Let us all know when you get the string gauges worked out, and we can hear this one!
    Good for you, Richard, you figured out what I was going for with that headstock shape. I like your idea for the whiskers! Here's a photo of it as I was beginning to put on the finish. Note that the left ear is 'tipped', which is the sign of a spayed or neutered feral cat. My barn cats all have the tipped ear, as they all were feral earlier in their lives, but now have a home and an occupation. Here's a picture of the headstock as I was beginning to apply finish.
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    The tailpiece was an experiment, and I learned a lot from it. Hopefully there will be a next one and if so, it will be slightly wider, and will have the grooves you mention. If this one works out, I'll make a regular mandolin match to it.

    I've been terrible about putting up recordings, but I plan to put up a video comparing this one to one of my typical metal strung piccolo mandolins so others can learn from my little experiment as well. That should follow in about two weeks.
    Purr more, hiss less. Barn Cat Mandolins Photo Album

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  12. #1457

    Default Re: Post a picture of what's on your bench?

    Sides for my first attempt at a violin.
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  14. #1458

    Default Re: Post a picture of what's on your bench?

    Necking again in the shop while waiting for 'monsoon' season to pass. Ebony/quilt, African Blackwood, Brazilian rosewood, Macassar Ebony, brw/curly, ebony, desert ironwood, brw, brw, ironwood. Below is part of the ebay old Kay bass brw fingerboard stash....
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  16. #1459
    Registered User John Bertotti's Avatar
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    Default Re: Post a picture of what's on your bench?

    Is that from the stash you got from the lady in the other side of the mountain! The violin guy who passed? That’s what one my OldWave Oval A. Best choice O made was when you asked me if I wanted you to use that!
    My avatar is of my OldWave Oval A

    Creativity is just doing something wierd and finding out others like it.

  17. #1460
    Registered User TheMandoKit's Avatar
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    Default Re: Post a picture of what's on your bench?

    Quote Originally Posted by oldwave maker View Post
    Necking again in the shop while waiting for 'monsoon' season to pass. Ebony/quilt, African Blackwood, Brazilian rosewood, Macassar Ebony, brw/curly, ebony, desert ironwood, brw, brw, ironwood. Below is part of the ebay old Kay bass brw fingerboard stash....
    Really liking 1, 2 & 4.
    Kit
    Guitars, Mandos, Violins, Dulcimers, Cats

  18. #1461
    Mandolin tragic Graham McDonald's Avatar
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    Default Re: Post a picture of what's on your bench?

    When someone posted some pics of a 1920s Stromberg-Voisinet mandolin a few weeks back, I was reminded that I had traced the body and head outline of one that someone brought in for some repairs a few years back. Wanting a break from carving the quartet instruments I thought a canted-top, 13"scale diversion was required. Soundboard is Sitka, Back and side Tulip Satinwood, neck is Queensland maple with an ebony fingerboard, Ivoiroid binding. The neck is not carved yet and the back binding has yet to be trimmed. I made the neck with 11 frets to the body rather than the original 10. The head had to be adjusted in length to take some Gotoh tuners, as the original had some patent tuners where each tuner was in a little metal cylinder an inch or so across and was inserted into the head from the front.

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  20. #1462
    Registered User
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    Default Re: Post a picture of what's on your bench?

    Not "on" the bench. But recently left the bench and headed to Green Mountain Bluegrass & Roots in Manchester, VT. Andy built this instrument for the festival's instrument raffle to raise funds for a local non-profit.

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    Andy Mueller
    Muleskinner Instruments

    https://www.muleskinnerinstruments.com/

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  22. #1463

    Default Re: Post a picture of what's on your bench?

    On the bench: A maple Brescian and a renaissance cittern also in maple.

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  24. #1464

    Default Re: Post a picture of what's on your bench?

    Maple octave back, and one of the f holes. No luncheonettes were harmed in the making of the binding, as far as I know!
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  26. #1465

    Default Re: Post a picture of what's on your bench?

    [IMG]Untitled by Gary Davis, on Flickr[/IMG]

    [IMG]Untitled by Gary Davis, on Flickr[/IMG]

    [IMG]Untitled by Gary Davis, on Flickr[/IMG]

    Halfway through the violin varnish process on my first mandolin.

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  28. #1466
    Registered User sunburst's Avatar
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    Default Re: Post a picture of what's on your bench?

    The customer who is patiently waiting for this mandolin has expressed interest in seeing some progress photos posted here so I'll go back a little bit and then catch up to current progress.
    This is the first Griffith Loar-inspired mandolin that I have made. It is not a replica, but a near copy with custom features making it different from the original.

    The back wood was in my wood rack and it turns out to have figure somewhat similar to the Griffith.
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    The top wood is (of course) red spruce. This piece has some reaction wood. It is very hard and a bit heavy, but I've had good success using it for strong sounding, loud mandolins when paired with hard maple.

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  30. #1467
    Registered User sunburst's Avatar
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    Default Re: Post a picture of what's on your bench?

    Here's the back being carved to shape.
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    After completing the carving of the arches I used these graduation measurements that Bruce Harvie (IIRC) posted online.
    Here I'm carving the back to the specified thicknesses in the specified places.
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    Same thing with the top:
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    You may notice the "dorsal crest" toward the neck end of the center of the back. It is a feature of the Griffith that we decided to use in this tribute.

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  32. #1468
    Registered User sunburst's Avatar
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    Default Re: Post a picture of what's on your bench?

    With the thickness established in the indicated places, carving the inside of the plates is basically an exercise in connecting the dots. I stayed pretty close to the published thicknesses with a little smoothing of the surfaces and thicknesses.
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  34. #1469
    Registered User sunburst's Avatar
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    Default Re: Post a picture of what's on your bench?

    Rather than using mahogany for the head and tail blocks we went with a much lighter head block wood (paulownia) and a heavier tail block wood (hard maple) to help with the balance of the instrument. The tone bars are red spruce, very close to Loar specs in terms of size, shape and position.
    Also, while I usually use solid wood linings in mandolins, we went with basswood kerfed linings as a nod to the original.
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  36. #1470
    Registered User sunburst's Avatar
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    Default Re: Post a picture of what's on your bench?

    The carved back looks like this:
    Attachment 204552
    The carved top looks like this:
    Attachment 204553

  37. #1471
    Registered User sunburst's Avatar
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    Default Re: Post a picture of what's on your bench?

    We're using the snakehead shape for the peghead, but it will have a custom inlay when I get it done. As of now I have the logo ready to inlay and I'm slowly working on the main inlay design. We chose a shorter fingerboard (22 frets) rather than the long, 29-fret 'board that was on the original. The frets are Evo gold and larger than the originals.
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    Attachment 204554

    This catches us up to what is actually on my bench as of now.

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  39. #1472
    Registered User sunburst's Avatar
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    Default Re: Post a picture of what's on your bench?

    I see the forum software didn't like my attachments again. I'll try once more to see if they will work.
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  41. #1473
    Adrian Minarovic
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    Default Re: Post a picture of what's on your bench?

    Now that is some reaction wood in the spruce!
    I noticed Gilchrists tops often show somewhat stronger summer wood, too. I've got one just like yours (though local european) with such prominent reaction wood that I plan one day to turn into a simple no frills "player" just to test how it will work.
    Adrian

  42. #1474
    Registered User bbcee's Avatar
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    Default Re: Post a picture of what's on your bench?

    Really nice work, John.

    For those of us who don't know, what is reaction wood?

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  44. #1475
    Registered User sunburst's Avatar
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    Default Re: Post a picture of what's on your bench?

    Reaction wood (also called compression grain) comes from a stressed, off-balance tree. Often, a spruce tree will grow on a steep mountainside. Each year of the trees youth, it will lean a little down hill and the next years growth will "try" to straighten it back up. Especially the down-hill side of the tree will develop the prominent grain lines and added density that make it "reaction wood". It can also be caused by a tree having one or more very heavy limbs on one side. Basically anything that affects the balance of the tree on the ground so that it is heavier to one side can cause reaction wood, if the imbalance is severe enough. It is somewhat similar to limb wood, though more stable because the effect is not as severe.

    As Adrian said, reaction wood can be seen in Gilchrist mandolins.
    I've had a lot of reaction red spruce for years and I didn't really know if it was usable, but I began hearing that Gilchrist preferred it. Whether or not that is true, I decided to try using it to see how it would work out. At first I tried wood with only a portion of reaction grain and found no particular difference between the results and my usual results. I then tried a piece similar to this top with reaction grain throughout. It was the thinnest yet heaviest top I had carved at that time and the sound of the mandolin was very strong and loud with good "tone". That has been true each time I have used it in a mandolin, although I would not have expected it.

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