John Troughton

[Mark Simcox]

I ment to put Building a Mandolin from his book!!!http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

[Mark Simcox]

Well I've finally started. Thanks mainly to the thread started by crawdad entitled "Spiritual Journey of Building". I printed the thread, all 14 pages of it and read it many times over last weekend. So many of the comments were me - Lacking in knowledge, IMPACIENT, trying to Get it Done instead of doing it right.I've had John Troughton's book for over a year but have never had the guts to try.

So on Monday a sat down with the book and some 1cm graph paper and transfered the 3 main templates of Back and Belly, ribs and neck. I glued them to some thicker card and then cut them out.
On Tuesday I went to my local timber shop to source the wood for the templates and the mould for the Ribs. I then transfered the cardboard templates onto the wood.
Over Wednesday and Thursday a spent about 4-5 hours cutting out the templates, sanding them and varnishing them always saying at the back of my mind "it's not going to be finished in a couple of days, take your time and be patient.
Finally tonight I have just cut 46 15mm sections from a piece of 19mm quadrant and sanded them. Well thats it so far. Not a great deal but a start at least and all thanks to crawdad and the other contributers to his thread.

[bullrun6]

Mark, Bravo! I had the same problem. I bought The Troughton book and the Siminoff book and read them both but was afraid to get started. Then I had the good fortune to attend the Mandolin building workshop held by Don Kawalek (Luthier). That was a year ago, I just finish number 4, an F-5, and I'm ready to start on number 5. Just press on and come to the cafe if you need advise, the good people here will go out of their way to help. Keep at it and keep us posted. Good luck...

Patrick

[kbarry]

Mark:

I am at the same stage as you. #The quadrants are glued and the cams cut but not yet drilled and attached. #My wife has allocated $100 for my birthday in May and I will buy the top, back, sides, neck, bracewood and kerfing and get started building.

I know upfront that this will take some time to get the first one built, so I am patient - my main motivator is my existing beginner mandolin which is a daily reminder that I need a better mandolin.

Good luck,

Ken Barry

[danb]

Troughton is a local (now!) Suffolk chap, met him in a pub one night. Nice guy!

[Mark Simcox]

Good to see I'm not the only one who found it difficult to start. Nice also to see that Ken Barry is at the same stage. I have now got the quadrants stuck on and all the holes drilled. I have cut and drilled the cams ready to go on to the board. Patience, Patience, Patience!!!Keep us informed Ken. Thanks everyone for the input, it's mch appreciated

[crawdad]

Hi Mark--Thanks for the nod! You've got the right attitude--just take your time and make each step as perfect as you can. The first one is the hardest, but you'll learn so much that the second one will be better. I've started my second. Its gonna be an "A" model--no frills. No binding, no fancy inlays, no stain--just plain and simple. My goal is to get all the basic construction details--cutting the dovetail, carving the plates, etc, all done clean and neat, all with the sole intention of making a great sounding instrument. I figure that once I can learn to do that, I can start on the eye candy stuff.

One of these days, I want to build an OM from that book, which I have.