Official Luthiers Forum!

Owned and operated by Lance Kragenbrink
It is currently Thu Dec 12, 2024 12:14 pm


All times are UTC - 5 hours





Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 25 posts ] 
Author Message
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu May 17, 2007 6:36 am 
Offline
Mahogany
Mahogany

Joined: Sun Feb 04, 2007 9:24 am
Posts: 41
Location: SE Michigan
A while back I began building a pair of mandolins. The body shape is based on Benedetto's archtop guitar blueprint; my thought was to go through the process on affordable woods, on a smaller scale, before taking the round-bottom plane to a $200 chunk of maple. This was a great idea on one hand - it sure has helped to get familiar with the process. It was a lousy idea on the other hand - mandolins are small, and tolerances are tight. Anyway, last weekend I put a coat of shellac on the neck of the first of the two mandos to protect it, and strung it up in the white. Pics below. The second mando is for a friend, who wanted the peghead to resemble his '49 L5 guitar, which presented something of a challenge. You won't have any trouble recognizing it from the photo. Photo doesn't do any justice at all to the beauty of the pearl, of course.







_________________
Rick Jones
Rochester Hills, MI
http://home.comcast.net/~rajones19


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu May 17, 2007 7:12 am 
Offline
Contributing Member
Contributing Member
User avatar

Joined: Fri Aug 26, 2005 5:49 pm
Posts: 2915
Location: Norway
I want one!

They are beautiful, the detail work on the headstocks looks very clean. Are you keeping them blonde? We need more pictures!

my thought was to go through the process on affordable woods, on a smaller scale, before taking the round-bottom plane to a $200 chunk of maple. This was a great idea on one hand - it sure has helped to get familiar with the process. It was a lousy idea on the other hand - mandolins are small, and tolerances are tight

Very true.

_________________
Rian Gitar og Mandolin


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu May 17, 2007 7:18 am 
Offline
Contributing Member
Contributing Member
User avatar

Joined: Mon Mar 19, 2007 7:05 am
Posts: 9191
Location: United States
First name: Waddy
Last Name: Thomson
City: Charlotte
State: NC
Focus: Build
Status: Semi-pro
Rick - great work.  Both of those necks and headplates are beautiful. They are going to be knockouts under finish.

_________________
Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu May 17, 2007 7:21 am 
Offline
Mahogany
Mahogany

Joined: Sun Feb 04, 2007 9:24 am
Posts: 41
Location: SE Michigan
Arnt -

The second one - the commission - will be a fairly dark yellow/amber, to hopefully match his L5 guitar. I'm still on the fence about mine. I've not done a sunburst before, and am really tempted to give that a go. I'm finishing with Target USL. I've got the StewMac guitar finishing book, and have been poring through all the forums reading up about finishing, etc.
Whatever I do, I want it to be something that would look good on the matching guitar, which I'll be starting on when these are completed.


_________________
Rick Jones
Rochester Hills, MI
http://home.comcast.net/~rajones19


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu May 17, 2007 7:24 am 
Offline
Koa
Koa
User avatar

Joined: Fri Jan 07, 2005 3:21 am
Posts: 684
Location: Nashua, NH
Nice Job Rick!
Very sweet looking combination.
How does the sound compair to a regular Mandolin?
What is the scale of this one?

Wade

_________________
Wade
Nashua, NH
http://www.wadefx.com


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu May 17, 2007 8:02 am 
Offline
Mahogany
Mahogany

Joined: Sun Feb 04, 2007 9:24 am
Posts: 41
Location: SE Michigan
Wade -

Scale is the 'standard' 13-7/8". Bodies are sized so the neck meets at the 12th fret - I think the reduction from the full-size blueprint was 64%. They are parallel braced, and braces are position according to F5 mandolin blueprints.

It sounds loud to me, and punchy. Lots of ring. I visited a mando player friend last night who owns half a dozen fairly high-end mandolins - three F-styles, an A, and one much like the one I'm building. This one was right in there with them, by both my estimation and his (I trust his opinion more than my own, for a number of obvious reasons). Will be interesting to see how it changes once a few coast of lacquer are on it.


_________________
Rick Jones
Rochester Hills, MI
http://home.comcast.net/~rajones19


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu May 17, 2007 8:31 am 
Offline
Mahogany
Mahogany

Joined: Sun Feb 04, 2007 9:24 am
Posts: 41
Location: SE Michigan
Thanks, Hesh ...

Ya know, I get out to Ann Arbor fairly regularly to visit a guitarist buddy there. Would be cool to cross paths sometime!


_________________
Rick Jones
Rochester Hills, MI
http://home.comcast.net/~rajones19


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu May 17, 2007 8:35 am 
Offline
Koa
Koa
User avatar

Joined: Fri Jan 07, 2005 3:21 am
Posts: 684
Location: Nashua, NH
Nice Rick,

I forgot to ask, what are you using for tuners?
I picked up some Elite mando tuners last time. They are acurate but a little tight to turn.

Wade

_________________
Wade
Nashua, NH
http://www.wadefx.com


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu May 17, 2007 8:42 am 
Offline
Mahogany
Mahogany

Joined: Sun Feb 04, 2007 9:24 am
Posts: 41
Location: SE Michigan
I've got three sets of A-style tuners right now - two Grover sets, and one Schaller set. The one in the pictures has Grovers; the one with the Gibson-style peghead will get the Schallers, which are very slightly different but will solve a minor problem I discovered (make that CREATED) in the construction of the peghead.

_________________
Rick Jones
Rochester Hills, MI
http://home.comcast.net/~rajones19


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu May 17, 2007 2:23 pm 
Offline
Contributing Member
Contributing Member
User avatar

Joined: Wed Jan 05, 2005 3:45 pm
Posts: 4337
Location: United States
"...and tolerances are tight"

Well, you seem quite comfortable working with those tight tolerances! They look great.

Steve

_________________
From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu May 17, 2007 6:32 pm 
Offline
Cocobolo
Cocobolo
User avatar

Joined: Tue Jan 30, 2007 12:16 am
Posts: 174
Location: United Kingdom

Wow Rick, beautiful, really classy. Your friend is one lucky fella - he must be over the moon to see it taking shape. The Gibson-esque detail is dead cool too.


the speakers on my laptop hardly do them justice, but loved the mp3's recorded with your prototypes. how are they doing - are they holding up?


_________________
www.theguitarrepairworkshop.com


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu May 17, 2007 6:56 pm 
Offline
Brazilian Rosewood
Brazilian Rosewood
User avatar

Joined: Sun Dec 25, 2005 7:58 pm
Posts: 2946
Location: United States
Your Archmando is awesome! Great work!

_________________
Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

"Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur."
(Many fear their reputation, few their conscience)


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu May 17, 2007 10:22 pm 
Offline
Koa
Koa

Joined: Mon Jan 03, 2005 10:29 am
Posts: 556
Location: United States
Those are neat! very cool.

Matt


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri May 18, 2007 12:01 am 
Offline
Brazilian Rosewood
Brazilian Rosewood
User avatar

Joined: Sat Feb 12, 2005 1:07 am
Posts: 2281
Location: Jones, OK
Rick, I see more and more cool stuff on this forum everyday. This has to be the coolest so far. Great concept and incredible execution!

_________________
Dave Rector
Rector Guitars


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri May 18, 2007 12:44 am 
Offline
Mahogany
Mahogany

Joined: Sun Feb 04, 2007 9:24 am
Posts: 41
Location: SE Michigan
Big thanks to everybody for the kind words, they're much appreciated.

Curtis - The prototype didn't fare so well. I began the prototype with the intent ONLY to carve a top; it just sort of progressed from there, as a means to go through the process once on basically scrap wood. The fatal flaw was I grabbed really soft piece of 1x2 pine for the neckblock inside the body, never intending to actually put a neck on it. Well, in the end I did put a neck on it, and about six months later that neckblock gave up the ghost. Mandolins have a LOT of tension on the neck/neck joint, and the soft pine compressed under the dovetail, and the heel pulled away from the body. It's playable - but it's a major handful.

It still sounds good, and I wouldn't mind resurrecting it, if only for the exercise in disassembly. Just hard to justify spending the time on it. It doesn't seem to be getting any worse, so I considered making a really low one-piece bridge for it. I'd lose a tone of volume and tone, but at least it would be playable.


_________________
Rick Jones
Rochester Hills, MI
http://home.comcast.net/~rajones19


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri May 18, 2007 2:42 am 
Offline
Koa
Koa
User avatar

Joined: Thu Mar 30, 2006 4:33 am
Posts: 1518
Location: Canada
rajones19 those are fantastic - Ive been seeing a few achtop/mando-brids lately and they look fab!
The L5 touch is fantasticly suited to this project and ultra cool to boot -
I see no reason that these wouldnt stand up to other high end mandos... as Im sure the archtop elements make for alot of punch and projection,
while the mando bracing would contribute the necessary tone and characteristic sound.
There is an added dimension with these instruments in the originality of them, that would make them truly desirable to mando players as well.
I agree with Arnt - I want one!
Cheers
Charliewood


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri May 18, 2007 2:50 am 
Offline
Koa
Koa
User avatar

Joined: Thu Mar 30, 2006 4:33 am
Posts: 1518
Location: Canada
I forgot to mention that...
once a little while ago
I was selling my (custom shop aged} butterscotch-burst 58'RI LP
and I posted a pic here in case anyone was interested in buying... It was commented by Don Williams I believe at the time that, "that finish would look great either on an acoustic or mando"... or something like that.
I throw that suggestion out there, because oh boy wouldnt these look great in a butterscotch or an iced tea - especially if aging were possible - could you imagine? Vintage cool!
Cheers
Charliewood


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri May 18, 2007 4:16 am 
Offline
Mahogany
Mahogany

Joined: Sun Feb 04, 2007 9:24 am
Posts: 41
Location: SE Michigan
Charlie -

Thanks for the kind words. I, too, believe there would be a market for these, if only because they're relatively unique. There are others building the same type of mandolin, but not many - and they are mostly under the radar.

If you've still got photos of that butterscotch burst, I'd sure love to see it. Will have to Google it, see what comes up.


_________________
Rick Jones
Rochester Hills, MI
http://home.comcast.net/~rajones19


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sat May 19, 2007 7:23 pm 
Offline
Cocobolo
Cocobolo
User avatar

Joined: Tue Jan 30, 2007 12:16 am
Posts: 174
Location: United Kingdom

Rick, i hope you do find the time to dismantle and repair the prototype, its too good to not do! maybe one of those jobs to get onto when you've got an hour or so and its not worth starting anything new that day? i guess with the strings loose it'll last for ever.


i've recently been attacking my poor old squire strat (i learnt a lot from messing with that old thing - and kind of ruined it in the process!) by stripping the neck, refretting again and getting together my ideas for assymetrical super comfy ergonomic guitar necks. as wrecked as it looks, i'd hate to see it in the bin - the hours i spent learning hendrix and cream tunes on that thing!


mandolins in the style of old Gibson's guitars etc is a really great idea, I'm sure there would be a great market for that. I would love to see them, as i'm sure would everyone else - great fun. old jazz boxes etc as mando's, love it. the relic'ing would be cool too - i know a lot of people dislike the relic philosophy, but the best strat i ever played was a relic - and i cant help but get excited at the fender stealth esquire a friend has bought recently (even tho its a let down plugged in)


its all good :)


take it easy


 


_________________
www.theguitarrepairworkshop.com


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sat May 19, 2007 7:52 pm 
Offline
Koa
Koa

Joined: Sat Jun 17, 2006 8:29 am
Posts: 960
Location: Northern Ireland
First name: Martin
Last Name: Edwards
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
beautiful work Rick, great to seemore instruments to show that there's more to Lutherie than 6 string acoustics!!

ESPECIA0LLY beautifl mandos like these!!!

Beautiful

_________________
My soundclick xx luthier blog xx luthier soundclick


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sun May 20, 2007 2:57 am 
Offline
Mahogany
Mahogany

Joined: Sun Feb 04, 2007 9:24 am
Posts: 41
Location: SE Michigan
Curtis -

You're right about the disassembly/repair of the prototype. It would be one heckuva learning experience. It would involve removing fingerboard, fingerboard extension, the neck, and would probably have to remove both the top and back from the rim in order to replace the faulty block - in other words, 100% total disassembly. I suppose the worst that happens is something would break, and it wouldn't be worth fixing. Worst that happens is I still have an unplayable mandolin made of $30 of woods!

The real beauty of the prototype was finding out that cedar siding that cost $8 at Home Depot can be jointed and carved and sound pretty darned nice. The prototype was an eye-opener on many fronts; If I'd had any idea it would actually sound decent, I would have planned better in the first place, and used something besides 1x2 pine for the neckblock!

What Curtis is referring to is a prototype mandolin I made from about $30 of Home Depot woods as a sort of training project before beginning on the really nice woods. There's a page about it on my website.

Thanks to everybody for the encouraging words!

_________________
Rick Jones
Rochester Hills, MI
http://home.comcast.net/~rajones19


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sun May 20, 2007 4:28 am 
Offline
Contributing Member
Contributing Member
User avatar

Joined: Mon Jan 03, 2005 7:40 am
Posts: 2694
Location: United States
First name: John
Last Name: How
City: Auburn
State: Ca
Country: USA
Hi Rick, I can't comment on your sealer question but that sure is a nice looking Mando. I've been wanting to do a similar project but I will build it as a very small 12 string guitar and the nut will be where the 5th fret is so I can keep it sounding mandoish. One of these days I'll get started on it.
Post more picks when your finished please.

_________________
Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sun May 20, 2007 3:06 pm 
Offline
Brazilian Rosewood
Brazilian Rosewood
User avatar

Joined: Fri Jun 10, 2005 9:51 am
Posts: 2148
Location: San Diego, CA
First name: Andy
Last Name: Zimmerman
City: San Diego
State: CA
Zip/Postal Code: 92103
Country: United States
Focus: Build
Absolutely gorgeous mandolins.
Very well done. One day I will attempt one

_________________
Andy Z.
http://www.lazydogguitars.com


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon May 21, 2007 7:06 am 
Offline
Cocobolo
Cocobolo
User avatar

Joined: Tue Jan 30, 2007 12:16 am
Posts: 174
Location: United Kingdom

i would also love to attempt one of those mandolins in the future.


you might get orders for plans one day, which maybe will make it more of a priority to dismantle


cant wait to see the finished products, keep the pics coming,


take care


_________________
www.theguitarrepairworkshop.com


Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 25 posts ] 

All times are UTC - 5 hours


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 54 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Jump to:  
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group
phpBB customization services by 2by2host.com