Post a Picture of your Shop

[WireBoy]

All these mando pics are just delicious. #There's always a bit of background in these pics of shop table and/or tools. #The builders thread is always yakking about this tool and that.
#
Let's see how folks have arragned their work space for smooth workflow. Or how many obstacles one must overcome just to do a simple task. #Or show off a fancy new tool or jig.

Sorry I don't have a pic of my own to kick this off. #Right now i'm just a player not a builder, but the more i hang a round here, the more fun it sounds. #I may just have to give it a try soon. #

Post a away boys !

[ArtDecoMandos]

Great idea, Eric... I'm intrigued to see how folk have their shops set up, as well.
Mine doesn't even pretend to attain to the slickness of John Garrity's. But it's definitely seen its share of sawdust.

http://www.martinjacobson.com/process/pix/home.jpg

(Though I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up looking more like this, at the end of a project... I somehow missed out on my Dad's Neatnik genes.)

http://www.martinjacobson.com/mess.jpg

[Jim Hilburn]

I'll see if I can help get this one off the ground.
This shop, which is part of a 700 sq.ft. addition on my house, was built by Drew Horton in exchange for mandolin #17. It was the first one I ever built for someone other than myself. Drew went on to win Winfield in 2001 with it.
Things to note are the guitar in pieces hanging in the corner. My first attempt at an electric guitar, and a disaster.A reminder to know what your doing before you do it. And the actual Sahara craps felt, to remind what a crap shoot it really is.

[Yonkle]

SHOP? Wish I had one. Here is where I have built 3 Mandolins...In my computer/flytying/Mandolin Making Room.
I stole my wifes butcher block from the kitchen for a bench and have all my tools packed around me in boxes.Blueprints and templates are under the couch, and the computer is on for building tips.
Kinda crude but it works, just a pain to clean up sawdust every day, and that one time I spilt the yellow stain all over the wall....thats another story! JD

[zeke]

Now that I can size these pix, I feel like I just can't stop. So, even though I didn't have any really currant shots, I still had a few from last year, so here goes:

[zeke]

here's another angle:

[zeke]

Man, you guys with those immacculate shops, do they really look like that every day?

And last but hardly least:

[Bobbie Dier]

This is a cool thread.

[Dru Lee Parsec]

Here's the expansive and utterly extravagent estate of Brouelette Musical Instruments. Nearly 400 square feet of mess.

http://www.brouelette.com/dulcimer/images/shop1.jpg
http://www.brouelette.com/dulcimer/images/shop2.jpg

[Dru Lee Parsec]

Can't post 4 photos in a single post, so here's the other half of the shop

http://www.brouelette.com/dulcimer/images/shop3.jpg
http://www.brouelette.com/dulcimer/images/shop4.jpg

During the day I get so much natural light through those windows that I don't have to turn the lights on. On warm days it's just a pleasure to work in there.

We came Too Dang Close to losing the shop during the San Diego Cedar Fire. Here's how close it came to us (http://www.brouelette.com/fire/index.html)

[mandopete]

Ha Ha Ha - I got ya'll beat.....here's my "shop"

(yes that's an electric guitar on the bench, I wouldn't dream of trying to build anything as complicated as a mandolin http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif )

[zeke]

Holy crap, Batman! That fire was soooooo close; glad to hear it was a near miss rather than a light hit.

Go play in your shop, Pete.

[mandopete]

Go play in your shop, Pete.
Well maybe I'll just put on some pants and do just that! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[Dru Lee Parsec]

I should say that not only did I build those cabinets, but I built the whole darn shop! I dug the hole for the foundation, I framed the concrete forms. I hired somebody to pour the concrete (didn't feel like mixing about 2000 bags of cement by hand). I framed the walls and roof trusses, set the doors and windows (3 of the 5 windows and one of the 2 doors were recycled from when we remodeled our home. So I also had to build new door frames). I hired somebody else to put the roof shingles on ($330 including materials and it was done when I came home from work. What a deal!) I hired somebody else to do the rough and final electrical. I hung the drywall, did the mud work, and did the paint inside and out.

So yes, this really is MY shop. I put in the sweat and pain and money to build it and it's wonderful. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Russ(String-Alley)]

That is awsome. You really did a great job. The planning you must have put into it really pays off from the look of those pics. It has everything spaced out real clean and correct for great mando ( or hell, ANYTHING) building. being able to create with your hands and tools is what they call true talent. I wish I was capable of even an 1/8 of that skill. That was some fire, how many folks by you lost thir homes? have any of the greens grown back at all?
Cheers!
Russ

[Dru Lee Parsec]

Thanks Russ:

The shop actually wasn't planned to be a specialty shop for any kind of woodworking. It was just the biggest shop (18x22) that I could talk my wife into lettting me build. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif I only had one wall big enough to put my cabinets against so that's where they went. I needed a certain amount of clearence around the table saw so it went in the middle of the room. So the shop arrangement sort of "grew" to where things are now rather than coming together as a plan.


That was some fire, how many folks by you lost thir homes? have any of the greens grown back at all?

Over all of San Diego we lost about 1200 homes. One of the worse hit areas was just north of us about 5 miles in Scripps Ranch where they lost about 600 homes. I personally know of 4 people who lost their homes. When I went to a bluegrass jam up in the mountain town of Julian I met about a dozen more people who lost their homes. Julian lost about 300 homes in the fire.

Near the city the grass is growing back, but the mountains are desolate. It's all still black ash on the ground and the trees are either burnt black or have died from their trunks getting burned. There's a blackend area that runs from the 805 freeway in the west past the sunrise highway about 30 miles to the east. South to north it's about 20 miles wide so the whole burn area is roughly 20 miles by 30 miles. But that was one of 3 fires that were burning in San Diego in the same week not to mention the ones that were burning up in Los Angelos (That was a bad week). Overall Southern California lost about 1500 square miles of open space to the fires.

It's so surreal to drive through the moutains and see nothing but black sticks of trees on black ground all the way to the horizon.

[WireBoy]

I'm glad the ball got rolling here. # its good to see the variety. #Mr Simpson has a spotless universe and poor Yonkle is builiding on the head of a pin.

Dru Lee P,
#Great looking shop to poke around in. Faboulous that you built it too. #great side posting with all the fire pics. #that must have been one scary day for you. #I live in Glendale CA and that was one bad week-fires everywhere in So Cal. #Glad to see you survived it. #i'm curious, coming that close to losing everything, do you do things differently today?

[Zemper]

Question...

On avereage, how many man hours go into a mandolin produced in one of these home based or semi pro shops... again , #on average.....

[Dru Lee Parsec]

i'm curious, coming that close to losing everything, do you do things differently today?
Well, when the fire was coming and we were evacuating our home I went into my shop, looked around, and broke down crying for a minute. Then I realized that things are about to get really really bad in the next few minutes or so and I had a family to protect so it's time to cowboy up and do what needs to get done. So I looked around the shop one more time and realized there was nothing there that I couldn't buy or build again. I left everthing behind, closed the door and just said "goodbye" to it all. We saved our art collection, tax papers, insurence papers, and mortgage papers, the animals (one cat, one bunny) and 2 of my 5 guitars and my mandolin. We took the computers because all our business records are on them. I think we had one change of clothes. By the time we were packing up the cars the police were driving through the streets telling us to get out NOW! BTW, the pictures that were taken during the fire were taken by friends who stayed behind. I'm glad they did, they saved our house with garden hoses and shovels. Next time I'm staying with my home.

What we did learn was that we had put some old brick pavers behind our fence. Everywhere that had that 2 foot brick boundary the fence didn't burn down. Every place where the brush was up against the fence the fence burned down and the fire came into people's yards and up to the houses. I'm going to take brush clearing much more seriously now. After the burn it was really obvious where the fuel path was and wasn't. In the photos at my web site you can see exactly where my fence didn't burn, but the next 2 houses lost their fences and the fire came much closer to their homes.

[mandopete]

Sort of puts things in perspective doesn't it? Glad to hear that things worked out okay!

[oldwave maker]

4/16/04- adobe walls sheathed with 2" styrofoam, all dust and chip generating power tools are outside under the tin roof of the former garlic processing shed. used to curse the wind, now look forward to it! centerfold pinups courtesy of strad magazine.

[John Jesseph]

here goes...

[John Jesseph]

that last one is the disaster zone you step into when you enter my shop. here is what's on the bench right now...

[Keith Newell]

I dont have everything up or out yet but this is the main idea of my new place. Istill have stuff piled on the other side of it from moving...someday I'll get that put away.
Keith Newell
http://www.newellmandolins.com

[Keith Newell]

Coarse you probably wont see it ever this clean again.

[Keith Newell]

Another

[Keith Newell]

Last of 4 pictures.

[Kent Barnes]

All these pictures of these nice shops just makes me sick!
http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
Here's where I have to work.
http://www.kentium.net/mandolin/mando2pics/shop.jpg

[WireBoy]

KB,thanks for keeping the thread alive

[Jim Hilburn]

Hey, Kent, that makes me respect what your doing even more.
I got to check out KayBee's #1 at the Arlington Guitar show last year, and he did a great job, and to top it off, it sounded huge! A killer mandolin.

[Bill James]

Hey mandolinkgn, is that a Gerstner?

[mandough]

Exactly what kind of sandwich was on that paper plate?http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[Kent Barnes]

That was a nice mixture of black epoxy (doing the inlay on the peg head)!! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[Keith Newell]

Hey Bill. Yes it's a Gerstner. A WALNUT one not oak. I bought it new in for $383. The factory burned down or something a bit after that and I feel the boxes they made after that were never the same quality.
Keith Newell
http://www.newellmandolins.com

[Bill James]

Sweet, I love Gerstners. I've also got a Walnut with the riser box that I purchased new in 1983. Can't remember the cost but at the time I was single so it didn't matter. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

I like your shop.

[Rob Powell]

Hey Kent...

You've actually got more space than I do at the moment (sad but true) and it just goes to show you that having the space and all the fancy gadgets doesn't make the mando!

That's not to say that those who do aren't doing great work just that it isn't necessary to the final product.

My only question is: Does 10-30 produce a better tone than 10-40? http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif

Rob

[Damnation Gulch]

Everyone of you has a sweet shop, some VERY nice works in progress too!

[Rob Grant]

The bars are to keep me in... hee, hee, hee.

[grandmainger]

Rob,

That's a GORGEOUS back over there on the left! #What wood is it?

[keithd]

Rob,

Great looking mandolin; could you say something about the bracing?

Thanks,

Keith

[keithd]

Also, it seems like you've minimized the size of the scroll-area blocking, no? I'm not not a builder, just curious.

Keith

[Tim Saxton]

Rob,

The "TP" has me confused. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif

Tim

[Jim Hilburn]

It appears to be a hybrid X-tonebar. You can run it on gas or batteries.

[keithd]

Yeah, I've heard this referred to as "K" bracing. I think it's what Rigel uses, at least on some of their mandos...? Do other makers use this configuration? I'm curious if anyone could chime in on what it's properties are, like what having the tone bar on the treble side vs. the base side delivers....

Thanks,

Keith

[Magnus Geijer]

Had to move due to the wife getting a new job. Here's my mando-work area now. Progress seems slower than before the move, somehow.

/Magnus

[Rob Grant]

Jeeeze... didn't expect so much "action" from posting a pix of me humble work space!!!

The timber back shown is a rather "flash" bit of what's #called (North Queensland, Australia) "Queensland maple" or Flindersia brayleyana. This was cut locally from the butt of an old scrub (rainforest) tree. By the way, this is not a true maple or Acer. The early settlers gave names to the local timbers based on how they resembled woods in 'mudder England.

The bracing is an experiment. I've played around with tone bars without great success. X-bracing works for me, but I thought I might try combining the two. Still have to finish this sucker, but the tap tone sounds interesting. I'll try to post the results when it's finished. I'm not binding the back... just in case!<g>

Trying to make a real light mando (for a change) so I've cut out the excess where possible... hence the headblock.

By "T.P." Tim, I guess you're referring to the instrument tailpiece and not the Manray photo in the backround?<g>
The normal tail block is in position. I fabricate my own tailpieces from sheet stainless steel. The only thing I don't make are the tuners and strings. Poor dollar exchange rates are the "mother of invention and creation" around here.

Thanks for all the interest.

Rob, FarOutNorthQueensland,Oz.

[Jim Hilburn]

I think he's referring to the toilet paper roller.

[Rob Grant]

Oh, that T.P....

1.)Quick, cheap way to wipe a bit of glue off the work when one hand is occupied holding down the project.

2.)Handy for blowing the wood dust out of your nose or wiping a watery eye from the same. (we've got some soft "dunny roll" here!<g>)

3.)Useful when things are going wrong and the project is really giving me the s....! <G>

[Rob Powell]

Ain't fancy but here's a few of my shop and mando's in progress...

Glue up on a flat top...

[Rob Powell]

Another of the glue up

[Rob Powell]

General pic...wood stash I think...

[Rob Powell]

General pic...

[Rob Powell]

Last one...archtop in progress...been in progress fer a while http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

[WireBoy]

Beergeek,
#thanks for keeping this thread alive. #nice little corner you carved out of your garage.

[oldwave maker]

pic I sent to Ginny to use in upcoming Mando Mag artice- ol' wave luthier performing tonal adjustment on mandobanjo!

[french guy]

Ol'wave , I have a b@£µjo to setup , can I contact you http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif

Here is my mandolin maternity .

[Steve Stahl]

Beergeek,
#thanks for keeping this thread alive. #nice little corner you carved out of your garage.
I think Beergeek's shop is in his basement, just like mine, and right over on the other side of the Potomac. I am on the Yankee side. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif
Boy does that wall look ratty.

[Steve Stahl]

I keep the drill press on the floor in the corner, so that when I use the Wagner Safe-T-planer, it keeps the sawdust somewhat contained.

[Steve Stahl]

The contraption on the floor is a duplicarver that I am building. My tonewood stash is under the table.

[Steve Stahl]

The drawback of a basement workshop is the paucity of natural light. Just one little window well.

[WireBoy]

steve,
i like the wooden wine case lids as 'wall tile'!

[brandon]

killer thread!!http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif