One Piece Back, Which direction the grain?

[mandough]

Hi,
I'm about to carve out a one piece back for a mandolin that I am building.
I seem to have forgotten which way the grain should run.
With the grain running in this direction (U), which should be the outside and inside?
I have it marked as the bottom of the U being the outside. Is this right or wrong?
sean

[Chris Baird]

By grain do you mean growth rings? I'm not sure I understand your post but if you have a slabcut one piece back I'd design such that the side which would be the outside of the tree to be the outside of the plate. So yes I suppose put the outside on the bottom of the "U".

[mandough]

Yes,
I'm sorry, I did mean growth rings. #Thanks alot Chris.
Now I can get to cutting and shaping. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[ngzcaz]

Regarding the one piece back, fiddle players
seem to have this ongoing battle about which sounds
better, a one or two piece back. Any thoughts on the
mandolin one vs two ?

[mandoJeremy]

I used to prefer a one piece back on all of my mandos but I have come to realize that it is only visual. I may be wrong but I personally can't tell any difference in sound at all. Maybe a one piece is a little more structually sound but I don't build, just play them.

[Spruce]

I have it marked as the bottom of the U being the outside. #Is this right or wrong?
There is a lot of debate, especially in the violin world, as to which is the right way to orient the grain on a slab-cut back...

Good points can be made for either way....

I like to put the grain closest to the outside of the tree on the face of the plate, i.e. "the bottom of the U being the outside" simply because the figure is better with that orientation...

[amowry]

Maybe I'm not picturing this right, but if the top of the "U" were on the outside, wouldn't the annual rings be more perpendicular to the carved face of the plate, for better figure (assuming we are talking flame, not quilt or birdseye)? Am I not seeing this correctly?

[Spruce]

"the top of the "U" were on the outside" is exactly opposite from "the bottom of the U being the outside", no?...

Sometimes this stuff is hard to describe on paper...

It's better figure with the outside of the tree closest to the outside of the plate simply because the figure is better the closer you get to the outside of the tree.

Sometimes that 20mm of depth can make a lot of difference in how much figure is displayed...

[amowry]

Ah, okay. I guess I was just thinking that flame is most apparent when the annual rings are perpendicular to the cut surface, which would be the case if the curve of the rings is opposite the curve of the plate. I see your point, though.

[mandough]

Well,
I guess we'll get to see the results of both. #Since I'm working on two backs sort of simultaneously.
I marked off my first back and cut it's shape out. #Lo and behold...backwards.
DOOOOOH! #Luckily, it wasn't my better piece of maple.
Again, I would like to reiterate.....DOOOOOOOHHHHH!!! #http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wow.gif

[Spruce]

"Again, I would like to reiterate.....DOOOOOOOHHHHH!!!"

Hey, there is no "right" way to orient the grain...

A lot of violin makers are very adamant about orienting the grain concave-side down, thinking that it's more stable that way.

So-ooo, you're golden...

It was obviously a hot topic of controversy back in the 1600's, too. #
You see the grain oriented both ways in those instruments, so there's really no "right" way to do it....