Official Luthiers Forum!

There's a "$100 Acoustic Challenge" over on MIMF, and here's a mandola I made for that. All the woods are local (Norwegian), and the cost of the instrument is just under $100. I got done just in time, as the instruments have to be done by March 15th. Some of you have seen my progress shots here and on other forums, here are the pictures of the finished product


Front








Back








Front








Back








Side








Headstock, front






Headstock, back








The maker, taking her for a spin.








The final budget
Spruce: Free
Pearwood: Free
Plywood: Free
Birch : $3
Tuners: $62
Fret wire: $2
Carbon fibre truss rod: $5
Side position markers, end pin, wood plugs, nut: $5
Finish , glue etc $10
Tail piece: $10
Total: $97

Thanks for looking!

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

ok someone has to ask , so here goes can you play the song Norwegian wood ON Norwegian Wood ?

That is an absolutely beautifull piece of work ! Stunning !!

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The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

Beautiful, Arnt. I especially love the sapwood treatment...very creative and effective. Soundclip, please!

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

I agree with JJ on all counts. Lovely instrument!

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"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck

You've heard it before from me, Arnt, but I think it's great, too!

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Thanks folks!

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

If ya wanna ship those to the usa , Ill give ya $200.00 apiece Double yer money what a deal huh what is that 5.00 an hr

Just kinddin

_________________
The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

beautiful instrument for any price.

Hi, Arnt,
I watched your challenge instrument step-by-step at MIMF. Good to see these photos. I think it's a beautiful instrument, with a look of quality and elegance that seem totally apart from the materials cost.
I am inspired! Oh....by the way....I love the knot in the back.

Patrick

Hi Arnt,

Can you please tell me what the width of the fretboard is at the nut and 12th fret?

Thanks,
Brad

Brad, its 35 mm at the nut and 43 mm at the 12th fret.

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Thank you, Arnt

I'm a little late. I just got back from a vacation.

Looks great! Really nice clean work Arnt. You're rosette looks flawless and from my limited experience that's not as easy as it looks. Do you find there is much fussing with the neck joint to get the angle right? The only one I've done was a bolt on. It worked, but I think I like the look of yours better.

And congratulations on being in the money in the Challenge.

Cheeri O,
Danny

Hi Danny, I use the Siminoff style straight, tapered joint, so there is no dovetail. It is quite easy to fit, as the "cradle fixture" that I use to align both the neck and body ensures that everything lines up both sideways and up/down.





The joint is also doweled, so combined with the substantional glue surfaces it is quite sturdy.

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Great photos Arnt. I had a hard time wrapping my head around this part of the build and I couldn't find a decent photo of what it was suppose to look like at this point. That is a very strong looking joint. I like it. Did you have to plane the finger board side of the neck prior to attaching the fret board, to get the angle/bridge height right on? Or is the cradle you use built so if the top just touches it the angle will be right? What scale did you use ? It looks like it would be fun to play!

Thanks,
Danny

The latter


I used a 25.5" guitar template, with the nut at the 7th fret position (if I remember correctly), for a scale of 420 mm or so (16.5"), and yes! It is!

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

What is the soundboard thickness? I assume that it is spruce.

What are the dimensions of the feet on your standing bridge? I assume that it is maple.

Beautiful workmanship.

Bob

Bob, the soundboard is indeed spruce, it was cut right here in my back yard. It is graduated, from about 5.5 mm in the middle, to 3 - 2.5 mm or so in the recurve area, and a bit thicker between the bridge and tail piece. Not sure exactly how big the bridge's feet are, they should be about 15 % larger than a standard adjustable Gibson type mandolin bridge...

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin