The construction begins of the mandocello

[Keith Newell]

Here are some pictures of a mandocello I am starting for a repeat customer. I received the wood a few months ago but now is time to start the forms etc.
I cut the profile of the form on the CNC router and added the two dowel alignment holes as you can see in the pictures. I should be glueing these together tonight or tomorrow. The MDF thickness of each peice is 1.1". I will then epoxy coat the inside surface after sanding to get the shapes blended and seal it against moisture. I'll try to keep updated pictures as I go. Hope this can be informative or at least entertaining.
Keith Newell

[sunburst]

Cool!
Yes, please keep us posted.
I have a customer who says he might have the $$ in January to start a 'cello. I'm looking forward to the adventure (if it happens) and if you can solve all the problems before I get there, that would be great!!

[Keith Newell]

Yeah, well there are a lot more subtle issues you don't think about at first. They hit you as you start designing and making prep.
Keith

[Skip Kelley]

Keith, Nice work! That is one sweet looking piece of maple. Keep us posted!

[Audio Artillery]

Keith, I'm just getting started on a mandocello right now. I'm still drawing it up. I've got a few questions (ok, a million) if you don't mind.

What scale length are you using? I played a K-1 and found the C course a little flabby. So I'm using a 25.5" scale hoping to tighten that up a schmidge at the expense of reach.

Other than the scale I liked the K-1 quite a bit. So I'm going for that style - oval hole, "A" body shape, transverse bracing.

Do you have an idea what is a good fretboard radius for a mandocello? I will probably order a pre-slotted board, if I could decide on the radius I will have it pre-radiused as well.

Regular mandolin tuners will work for this, yes?

I've got more questions but I won't flood you with them just yet. I'm very interested in seeing pics of your progress, hope it goes well.

[amowry]

I'll be excited to watch your progress, Keith! That's a nice piece of bigleaf!

[Lefty Luthier]

I recently started a custom instrument that has a 19.5 inch fret scale with a body about halfway between a mandola and a full-size mandocello. Though I have built a few full size ones over the years, one soon forgets the magnitude of the effort to carve and finish such a huge backboard and soundboard. I just started the binding process so am a bit ahead. I will follow this project with great interest and hope to pick up a bit of expertise along the way. Good luck.

[Darren Kern]

Stunning!

Some of you pros may not realize how helpful posts like these are to those of us who are still just learning. Threads like this are so educational and thought-provoking.

(Consider this post my subscription, )

[sunburst]

We're all still learning, yes, we realize...

[Keith Newell]

I am going with a 23.5" scale because the customer did not want the 25.5" scale. They wanted as short as possible because of hand size so I felt I could not go any shorter than 23.5" and still get good sound. Yes regular mandolin tuners will work fine. The fretboard radius is going to be a compound radii of 10" to 13".
My daughter took my camera on a trip or I could get some pictures of the bent sides etc. I may try to do it with my iphone and see how they look.
This instrument is going to be similar to an F style I built for the same customer that had a dragon theme to it. They still want a dragon theme but I'm going to come up with different headstock shape, inlays and tailpiece I think. Depending on headstock shape I may use a combo of F and A tuners but it will be up to the customers approval.
Yes I am learning a lot and over the years have really learned not to rush into a new project without working out some very important issues before hand like bridge placement on the body and soundhole placement in relation to the bridge. Also neck angle, neck joint, fingerboard profile not only at the nut but the full profile in relation to the string spacing at the bridge. I'm sure there will 10 or 5 things that will cause me to go "hmmm" on this one.
Keith

[Audio Artillery]

Thanks for the reply, Keith.

The 23.5" scale choice surprises me. I'm interested to see how it sounds when you get to that point, and also what string gauge works well for that. It certainly sounds a little easier to play.

What is your thought on neck thickness? I don't have my drawing in front of me but I think drew up something like a 1.75" (including fretboard) thick near the heel tapering down to 1" at the nut. I think this is in the ballpark of the old Gibsons, but I'm planning on having a truss rod so this may be overkill. I'm leaning towards a V neck profile.

[resophil]

"The construction begins of the mandocello..."

I hope the 'cello turns out better than the sentence did...

[Keith Newell]

Thanks Resophil for the insight. You must be a recent English major graduate and still working on justifying going down that road or dealing with the real world...
Back on topic now, here is a shot of the sides in the form, the top and a size reference.
Thanks for all the POSITIVE feedback.
Keith

[Charles E.]

Wow, that should be a boomer! How do you determine the plate thickness for your top and back on this build?

[Audio Artillery]

Very nice. I too an interested in the plate thicknesses. The advice I've collected on this so far is something like 1/4" in the center and 3/16" near the edge for the top, and 1/4" to 1/8" for the back. What's your take on the center thickness? I'm concerned the string tension will overcome the 1/4" spruce top.

What's the black overspray on your mold from?

[sunburst]

I assume the customer made the F-hole decision. Any particular reason for F as opposed to oval?

[Dale Ludewig]

Excellent! I love it. I think I've gathered that you cut the plate on the CNC...? If so, did you draw it in something like Rhino, or do a mockup and probe it? Graduations- are you winging it or basing off of something? Tone bars or X bracing or....?
As John is, I'm interested in the F-hole decision. That would be my inclination to do but perhaps just out of habit.
Thanks-

[Keith Newell]

Hello Dale, good to hear from you. The top was CNC'd and then finished with sanding. The top is basically like my regular F models just bigger. I have reduced the arch a bit and thickness is a bit different but not too much because of how strong the archtop design naturally is. I am going tone bars also. The customer wants the same instrument I built for her 7 years ago just bigger. I like the F hole sound, I figured that the bigger body is going to be pretty boomy sounding anyway and I like the way an F holed top works. The F holes isolate the top a bit and let it vibrate in a more free state (my personnel opinion). I love the sound this top has when tapping it so I am looking forward to hearing it under tension.
Keith

[MandoNicity]

Lovely, and fascinating to follow.

JR

[Rvl]

I have a Newell Flat Top and really like it
I want one of these too
Message sent

Thanks

Robert