The best book for Mando building

[carleshicks]

I am 25 years old and I am extremely interested in learning how to build Mandolins particularly Loar F-5 copies. I am in no hurry to start mass producing them but I think that building an instrument would be the most rewarding hobbie. I was wondering what is the best book out there with the most practical info,and maybe a few pictures too.

[Luthier]

Welcome. #Great to have you here. #You have come to the right place. The people of this community are GREAT. They range from first time builders to full time luthiers all bringing with them knowledge to share.

There are many books, and plans available to use to begin.
Luthier supply houses are a great place to start. #Order their catalogs. This will help you learn about the tools of the trade and familiarize yourself with the terms and jargon associated with building.

http://www.stewmac.com/
http://www.lmii.com/Default.asp

A search for Luthier Supplies in your favorite search engine will also bring up further resources.

Building mandolins as well as other stringed instruments is woodworking. If you are not familiar with some basic woodworking skills, you may want to start there in conjunction with your learning about instrument building.

If you ever need help, this is where you will find it. I will warn you.......Once you start, you can't build just one.


Don

[carleshicks]

Thanks I ordered catologs from both sites.
Is there any good books that go inti detail into how to build Mandos.

[twombo]

I believe Roger Siminof'fs book is still the definitive work on the Gibson style carved top mandolin. Additionally, his plans are clearly in the top tier. He has plans for Style 5s and 4s as well as the A5.

I am just finishing a read-through of the new book and the F5 and A5 plans and he has a lot of interesting and informative discussion of the entire building process as well as tuning, wood selection, etc. The plans are very well done and appear to be very exact. The whole enchilada is a major advance over the original book

Roger has a lot of experience as well and has some strongly held theories. On the forum here, I have seen athat he is frequently a bit ofa "lightning rod". Disagree with him as you wish, (and I know many do) but we can always learn from experience and Roger has that in spades... at both the hobbiest and professional level. I have had the opportunity to participate in one of his presentations on acoustics and instrument building and it was a real valuable experience.

From my perspective, Roger's method of tuning is somewhat tedious and time consuming, but it seems to go right to the heart of the thing that most of us are always confronted with.... consistency. Why is one mandolin a "cannon" and the next one not? The ear is wonderful tool but suffers due to memories failings. It seems to me that Roger's approach to tuning helps to achieve consistent individual components and then integrate those components into a total "system". Thereby forcing a level of discipline to our building efforts and help us to see the results of tweaks to the process. To me, it's all just a starting point though... the key is build , build, build!!!

[Luthier]

I know you are seeking information on "the Gibson" styles but Troughton has a book for flat tops. #Just as there is more than one way to perform some operations, you will also find more than one opinion. #Ask questions, listen and learn but I have learned that when someone tells you ...."it is a trade secret".....find someone else to ask. #Knowledge was meant to be shared and there are no trade secrets. #Have you had any prior woodworking experience?

Don

[amowry]

In my opinion, Siminoff is definitely the place to start. His new F5 plans have some major improvements, and the new book is better (although it still has some shortcomings). I would also suggest not overlooking books on other instrument types. Bob Benedetto's book Archtop Guitar Construction is an excellent one for mando builders to own, and there are some good violin books. Some web searching will uncover lots or important resources, and I've found that many luthiers are extremely open to answering questions when you run into them.

[carleshicks]

Yes I have basic wood working skills. I am a Millwright by trade and I am constantly dealing with presision work in the turbine generator field but I have always had a love for wood work. I hope to be an exselent mando player some day as well as a builder.

[sunburst]

I haven't seen the new Siminoff mandolin book yet, so I can't offer an opinion about it, but my general opinion, and the apparent opinion of many others, is that the difinitive mandolin construction guide has yet to be writen.

You can certainly learn from what's out there tho, and you don't need to limit your reading to books about mandolin building.
I recomend several:
Guitarmaking, Tradition and Technology by Cumpiano and Natalson
Making an Archtop Guitar by Bob Benedetto
Understanding Wood by R Bruce Hoadly
And anything else you can find about building or repairing guitars, banjos, mandolins, violins or whatever.

Also, in case you haven't found this yet,Frets.com (http://www.frets.com/) is a good resource.

[carleshicks]

I really missed a good oppertunity. My dad's best freind is Bob Tack who is a noted dulcimer and open back banjo builder.( His dulcimers were almost always picked at winfields national dulcimer festival). I told my dad about 2 months ago that I was interested in building mandos and he said I should go hang out with Bob to learn what he knew but he passed away 2 days latter. It was pretty devistateing to our family and his he was the man that taught me how to play mando and guitar he was very patient and quite the perfectionist.

[Luthier]

That is too bad to hear. #You sound like you have the most important element needed in becoming a builder. #Its all about the Drive and the Passion. #Your Millwright experience will be a great start and as you can see......we are all here to help.


Don

[Yonkle]

http://www.siminoff.net/
Go here and get Rogers new book, blueprints are at Loar Specs. After building one or two you may disagree with some of Rogers techinques in the building process, everyone has their own opinion in that regard, and you can get a lot of tips off this site and others, but for blueprints and a good starting point, try Rogers new book. JD (my last mandolin was built from this and I love it)

[Chris Baird]

Take a look in the back of LMI and Stewmac's catalogs, there are many popular books on various aspects of building. Don't buy any of them but instead put in request for interlibrary loans. I've found that 80% of those books can be obtained and read for free.

[whistler]

If you are interested in building a flat-topped instrument, you might liek to trytry the following book:

The Mandolin Manual - The Art, Craft and Science of the Mandolin and Mandola, by john Troughton (Marlborough Crowood 2002).

The title is perhaps a little grandiose for what it is, but it details one method of building a an instrument of the mandolin family, with plans for a mandolin, mandola and octave mandolin.