Derek Christianson
Oct-21-2004, 1:55pm
I am starting to layout a mandola design. I have the body shape established using an H5 as a model. My question is in determining the contours/graduations for the top and back. Can I simply use my F5 contours and stretch them laterally and longitudinally to “best fit” the H5 shape? Is an H5 thicker when measured from outside of top to outside of back or is it comparable to an F5? Intuition tells me that an H5 should be proportionally thicker and that using the F5 as a model, I should be able to establish appropriate contours for an H5. Also, are the top and back plates themselves thicker than an F5’s plates? Any confirmation or insight regarding this matter would be greatly appreciated.
douglas2cats
Oct-22-2004, 4:14am
Derek - I wish I had answers for you instead of just more questions. I've been wanting to try a H5 mandola but haven't had a lot of luck finding decent plans. Siminoff's site FAQ promises H5 plans available in Jan '05 and has this to say about F5 vs H5 scaling (unfortunately nothing about top contours) H5 vs F5 (http://www.siminoff.net/pages/siminoff_parts9.H5&F5diff.html). Also, somebody posted a link a few weeks ago to Watson Bailey Mandola plans (http://www.watsonbailey.com/plans/mandola_f-style_plans.pdf). These also don't seem to show anything that would answer your question.
Wish I could be of more help. Please keep us updated as you go. There's at least one person here that's VERY interested in seeing you document the heck out of this.