Official Luthiers Forum!

I know we have some mandolin fans here so I thought
Id show two I am building.
I planned to wait until 07 to start these but I guess
that did not happen. No excuse just felt like it.
As you can tell both are "flat top" or should I say
radiused. Both will have x-braced tops.
The Guitar shaped one is curly maple with a Doug fir top
It is my design and is one of my standard builds.
The "Harp mando" is based on a picture of a Larson Style 35 (Circa 1916)from a picture in The Larson book.
I did modify the harp mando shape and depth for reasons
of my own. Black Walnut/engelmann.
Hope you enjoy them.





Tom

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http://www.moriciguitar.com

Tom, i'm very interested in following these 2 builds evolve into 2 magnificient instruments my friend, i'm in love with mandolins too so i'll try to resume my F-5 building as well, thanks for sharing your neat work with us!

Serge

Hi Tom,

My first post and well into my first guitar. A classical cutaway and what
was I doing building cabinets all these years? This is way more fun! I'd
really like to know yours and anybody else's opinion on fir as a top
tonewood since I just finished my interior home trim with about 800 bd. ft.
of cream. I don't think my wife will like me tearing it out.
Please keep us posted on the progress. Very cool!

OOOOOH, a harp mando...

Please keep us up to date with the build, PLEASE!!

I really do love the innovation I see on this site!!!Sam Price39082.163287037

Hi Dan, welcome to the OLF! Great folks and great place to get all your answers regarding lutherie!

I never tried fir but i think that if you find a top set that is well quartersawn with lots of growth lines per inch and taps nice, that you should use it but there are so many alternatives such as Lutz spruce, adi red spruce, Western red cedar, Engleman spruce etc to choose from that for a first build, i'd go with tradition and use something that has proven it;s tonal qualities so you can compare with other tops in the next builds because, i can assure you that you will build more than one!

Good luck!

Serge

I'm (still) carving the plates for an A-style mando. Got a 12mm Ibex for
Christmas, so that's made the process possible (there's only so much you
can do with flat planes, chisels, and gouges). Glued up the neck blank
yesterday, so with any luck I might start roughing out the neck soon.

Jay

I have heard about 5 Doug fir topped instruments and to me they all had a crispness to their sound that I really liked. One was an A-style mando And to me it sounded better than any of the spruce mandos that I have heard. I have not heard any really high end mandos in person yet though. The sound of doug fir to me seems to really fit with mandos.

To me the two problems with dough fir are, it is very pitchy and remains so forever, and as it gets older it can tend to want to split along the early-wood late-wood juncture more than most other woods.

In my limited experience it sounds slightly darker and crisper than spruce. Less sure about this but it seemed to have a strong initial tone but with less sustain and overtones. I have only built one dulcimer using a piece of 90 year old old-growth that I salvaged from an building that was being gutted and rebuilt. I try to listen with a careful ear but it is so subjective that I would take what I say with a grain of salt and ask for more experienced ears for their opinion.K.O.39082.7310069444

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Serge,Hesh,Sam
Thanks for your interest in my mando builds,
I will try and keep you updated of the progress.

Dan
Welcome to the OLF! I have yet to build a guitar with
Fir. I did build a mountain dulcimer, and one other
flat top mando with fir. My fir was cut in 96 It rang
as I split it from the log rounds. Much better tap tones
now that it has dried for ten years. I think if you try
fir look for the lighter weigth boards with good straight grain. I have found wider grain lines equal
lighter weight tops. I do plan on using it for guitars
just have not done it yet. K.O. made some good points,
and I would agree sounds crisp compared to spruce.
Be careful of pitch pockets.Make sure it is well seasoned,it shrinks a bit more than spruce.
Hope this helps.

Tom

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http://www.moriciguitar.com

Thanks for that! I do come across some at my buddies mill that is very light
and much softer than the more pitchy stuff. I'll keep my eyes open for it.
Cheers,Danny

Looking forward to following this, Tom. I love the Larson style mando's.

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin