Caleb
Feb-23-2008, 10:46pm
Here are some (lousy) pics of my StewMac campfire kit that was just completed today. #Please don't pay any attention to the 110 year-old sofa in the pics. That is one of my wife's projects. #
First of all, if it weren’t for my good friend David Mayo, this would never have happened. #He loaned me his shop, tools, know-how, and tons of his time to help this thing see the light of day. #Thanks, Dave!
As you can see, this mandolin doesn’t look anything like the standard StewMac campfire kit. #We changed up just about everything about it. My favorite part is the headstock overlay in rosewood. #The M.O.P. design looks great up against it.
We added flamed maple binding, which didn’t turn out that well in the pics, but it looks really nice in person.
The rosette is a ring of mahogany with 2 small pieces of ebony randomly placed in there. #One of the ebony chips broke in half while we were installing the rosette, so there is a random piece of shell that fills in the gap. It looks pretty cool. #I think my favorite part about the rosette is that it has no rhyme or reason; it just is.
The finish is a matte that has been polished up almost to a gloss. #I am really pleased with the finish on this instrument. It was going to be sort of a French polish look, but it sort of evolved into what it is. #The thing just kept getting better looking with each round of polish, so we just glossed it up nice. #My friend Dave really knows his stuff when it comes to finishes, and if I’d have tackled this on my own I think the finish would be pretty substandard.
Now, to the most important part…..tone. #The tone is really nice. My expectations were that it would sound a bit brittle and thin, but the volume is nice and the tone is very well-rounded and quite complex, in my opinion. #I played it quite a bit with a set of lights on it and then switched to some mediums. #I think the lights sounded much better and more full. #The tone tended to stiffen up a bit with the mediums. I’m really looking forward to playing this mandolin as my main instrument. #
Anyway, I hope you enjoy taking a look at it and please give me your input on this instrument.
Dave, feel free to chime in with your comments, as this was just as much your project as it was mine.
http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/coffee.gif
First of all, if it weren’t for my good friend David Mayo, this would never have happened. #He loaned me his shop, tools, know-how, and tons of his time to help this thing see the light of day. #Thanks, Dave!
As you can see, this mandolin doesn’t look anything like the standard StewMac campfire kit. #We changed up just about everything about it. My favorite part is the headstock overlay in rosewood. #The M.O.P. design looks great up against it.
We added flamed maple binding, which didn’t turn out that well in the pics, but it looks really nice in person.
The rosette is a ring of mahogany with 2 small pieces of ebony randomly placed in there. #One of the ebony chips broke in half while we were installing the rosette, so there is a random piece of shell that fills in the gap. It looks pretty cool. #I think my favorite part about the rosette is that it has no rhyme or reason; it just is.
The finish is a matte that has been polished up almost to a gloss. #I am really pleased with the finish on this instrument. It was going to be sort of a French polish look, but it sort of evolved into what it is. #The thing just kept getting better looking with each round of polish, so we just glossed it up nice. #My friend Dave really knows his stuff when it comes to finishes, and if I’d have tackled this on my own I think the finish would be pretty substandard.
Now, to the most important part…..tone. #The tone is really nice. My expectations were that it would sound a bit brittle and thin, but the volume is nice and the tone is very well-rounded and quite complex, in my opinion. #I played it quite a bit with a set of lights on it and then switched to some mediums. #I think the lights sounded much better and more full. #The tone tended to stiffen up a bit with the mediums. I’m really looking forward to playing this mandolin as my main instrument. #
Anyway, I hope you enjoy taking a look at it and please give me your input on this instrument.
Dave, feel free to chime in with your comments, as this was just as much your project as it was mine.
http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/coffee.gif