I gave a video presentation at the CMSA convention in the cloud last November. In the following zoom Q&A session, a participant asked me if I had ever built a mandolin for myself. I have had various demos, built on spec, hanging around that I have played, but I had to admit that I have not built one specifically for myself. So I decided that I would finally complete one, incorporating an orphaned top plate, for myself. In 2015, I had built a mandolin for a CMSA player that I particularly liked. I had built two top plates for the instrument at that time, and arbitrarily chose one of them for his mandolin. So I incorporated that other orphaned top plate into the mandolin in the photos here. The top plate is redwood, the back, sides, and neck are plain Eastern black walnut (obtained locally, likely steamed, definitely nothing special). The headplate, pick guard, tailpiece cover, and tail inlay are Macassar ebony. Binding is mostly curly maple with some Pau ferro. I'm being good to myself and no longer spraying nitro. The finish on this one is French polish. It's certainly labor-intensive, but a much safer alternative than filling the shop with lacquer solvent vapor.
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