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Well, I finally got around to taking some pictures of the mando I buffed out a while ago.

This is a traditional F5, built after Don McRostie's plans, with Sitka spruce and flamed maple. I originally wanted a really red mandolin (like the early F4's) but I think it ended up a bit too dark and browish in the end. Sprayed shellac finish, hand rubbed and air brushed 'burst.

Full front:



Back:



Headstock:



Body:



Scroll:



...and some Norwegian wood:



Thanks for looking!

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

You should give Burst lessons bro - that finish KILLS.

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Beautifull finish!

I love it....very classic appearance of an amazing handmade playable piece of art.

Arnt

Thats Beautiful one Scroll would give me nightmares, you have 3 perfectly executed scrolls on that one Mando

Arnt,
Great job on that! It looks pretty red to me from the pictures, so you should be very proud of that one. I'll be building my first mando in the fall, but I won't attempt scrolls. I'm too much of a baby, and don't have the stomach for it. Great job!
Tracy

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Tracy
http://www.luthiersuppliers.com

Thats one beautiful mandolin. Love that finish.

Totally Awesome!!!!
Love the burst!!!!! Very fitting for an F Mandolin
I have thought about building an F style mandolin.
Where did you get your plan?

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

Great job Arnt. I'm always amazed at the skill it takes to build a top notch mandollin. You definitely have the skill as that binding is absolutely perfect.

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Don Atwood
Arlington, VA

Outstanding! That's beautiful!

Praise be unto you, Arnt! That is quite a stunning mandolin. I only wish that I could play it!

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Mark Swanson
Swanson Guitars
http://www.MarkSwansonMusic.com

SuhWEET! Arnt, that's really gorgeous! Mark said it...it's a stunning instrument.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Sweet mother of...!!

The F-5 is one of the, if not THE, toughest instruments to make and make nicely, and you've pulled it off really, really, really well!

My hat's off to you, Sir.

Thanks guys!

I'm pretty happy with the finish on this one, but I must admit I have selected pictures where the mistakes are more or less hidden. The F5 is one tough instrument to do well, and I am humble enough to know I have miles to go.

Anyways, the burst is done with hand rubbed wated based powdered aniline dyes on the bare wood and air brushed liquid alcohol based tobacco brown around the perimeter, followed by blonde shellac sprayed top coat. The finish is pretty thin, we'll see how it holds up; it is my first done this way and an experiment in many ways.

Andy, Stewmac sells the McRostie plans. There is a new set of plans by Adrian Minarovic available from Elderly that is supposed to be even better.

plans

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

XXX-quisit! Knocks me out

Oh, I forgot to mention: I got a custom made tail piece from Bill james for this one, it is great! Much more solid than the stamped style, but it has the tradional appearance.

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

arnt, i wouldn't worry too much about the colour; the only f4 i've worked on belonged to another fellow regular at a session i frequented for a few years. his dated from 1924 if i remember correctly and was a great deal darker than yours.

you should be justly proud of that instrument!!!!!!

Really nice work, Arnt. My hat's off, too (and mind you, my hat rarely comes off -- it's quite necessary to keep my hair out of my face). Congratulations!

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

That's a mighty fine mando, Arnt! I'm curious as to why you started your 'burst with hand-applied water-based aniline, then switched to sprayed alcohol-based. From what I've read, the water/aniline tends to remain translucent, while the alcohol/aniline is more opaque. It seems like you might have gotten closer to the effect you wanted had you stuck with water-based, though I think it looks great as it is.

That is stunning, Arnt!!! Absolutely beautiful workmanship.


Ron

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OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......

Holy Cow!!!!!!!

Arnt, what a GORGEOUS Work of art!

As you know, i'm a mandolin player as well but you just reinforced my will to build these awesome F5s in the future!

Excellent craftmanship!

Wow Arnt! That is a stunner. I love the colors of that burst. Outstanding!

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I'd like to be able to prove, just for once, that money wouldn't make me happy...

Very VERY sweet! I hope mine turn out that well someday! I think the color is stunning Arnt!

-Mark

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Pullman, WA

The more I know, the more I know I don't know.

trippguitars.com
OR
Find me on Facebook

Nice, very nice.

Thanks again for all the nice comments, I'm blushing over here!    

[QUOTE=CarltonM]
I'm curious as to why you started your 'burst with hand-applied water-based aniline, then switched to sprayed alcohol-based. From what I've read, the water/aniline tends to remain translucent, while the alcohol/aniline is more opaque. It seems like you might have gotten closer to the effect you wanted had you stuck with water-based, though I think it looks great as it is.[/QUOTE]

The liquid aniline stains that I use are the very concentrated "Colortone" ones that Stewmac sell, and they are completely translucent. I have used them to rub sunbursts before, and it works well too, but the alcohol doesn't dry up as nicely as the water and you sometimes get unevenness if you use too much alcohol with them. Since I had planned to use a shellac top coat on this one, using alcohol based stains would be very difficult as the alcohol would dissolve the colors and make a mess (I did try on scrap!).

The trick to getting even color transitions on spruce is to use lots of liquid, and the opposite is true for maple. On this one I lightly sprayed the top with water to raise the grain and sanded back 2 or 3 times, then sprayed again so the surface was pretty damp immediately before the really wet stains were applied with rags.   The maple parts were dyed with a lot less liquid, just enough so the colors would blend nicely and the dye would soak up well into the end grain part of the curly grain, which is important to intensify that amazing 3D effect. For me the hand rubbed, slightly uneven coloring is what gives the old time instrument much of their visual appeal, so I don't mind if it looks a little funky here and there. The problem is getting this type of burst dark enough, so after the hand applied colors were done, I sprayed a couple of shellac seal coats and airbrushed some tobacco brown wherever I thought it needed it (or I had something to hide!).Arnt38904.4420833333

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin