Search:

Canadian builder Elmo MacDonald builds mandolins with adjustable necks.

Hot hide glue and spring clamps. Don't rush. Do a practice run and have your clamps laid out so you can reach them without fumbling.
95356

I have a bandsaw fence from Lee Valley that's adjustable to compensate for the blade drift. This works great when resawing spruce and maple. I have a 14' bandsaw with I think is a 1hp motor and use a...

When the final leveling of the oil varnish coats is done, the finish is left looking dull and sanded. The french polished top coats,for me, serves two purposes....to polish to a nice finished look...

Thanks for that posting allenhopkins....touching

I built this one a number of years ago and wouldn't be without it. I bought the drum, the belt, and pillow blocks as a kit from Stockroom Supplies.The kit also came with 2 rolls of sandpaper that I'm...

Sad news. Condolences to his family.

pumpdogg, that is one beautiful looking top. Love seeing the grain pattern like that. I'd be a happy puppy...a..er..dogg, seeing that coming my way.

I use moose bone myself. Works for me and there's plenty of it around up in the wilds of Nova Scotia.:-)

I find some of the compilation LP's (but not all) weren't the best reproductions and don't do the original recordings justice. Most of the Flatt and Scrugs albums I've managed to pick up were well...

Shaun, that's a great sounding mandolin. When was it built?

Is it possible the neck itself is too "chubby" in which case you can remove wood and/or reshape the neck without touching the fingerboard?

I use moose bone. Boil it till it's clean and almost white and away you go. It's good and hard and easy to work with. The moose bone I have borders on being brittle it's so hard and makes good nuts.

I find what works best in adjusting the angle of a James Tailpiece is to remove it from the mandolin and use a vise to do the adjusting. I'm too cautious when I attempt this with the tailpiece...

Hogo's suggestion makes sense and that's the way we'll go, build a proper lefty and flip the strings around.

And to Kitlarson, it's a good HD28 that rings like that. I'm not convinced there's a...

I've been asked to build an F5 style mandolin for a left handed player. He learned to play on right handed mandolins and he plays upside down. So, when he plays an F5 style mandolin, which he prefers...

Here's a tutorial I came across a few years ago, from the Gemini site, for a jig to hold the template and the tonewood for copying.

http://www.wood-carver.com/viola1.html

Sorry to hear about your mishap Keith and thanks for posting that. It's another reminder we have to be very mindful when working these machines. Having said that, I know the bandsaw is a dangerous...

CBC's Land and Sea featuring fiddle maker Otis Tomas
http://www.cbc.ca/landandsea/2011/12/cape-breton-fiddles.html

CBC's Land and Sea featuring fiddle maker Otis Thomas

Levon Helm

I live in beautiful St Margarets Bay, Nova Scotia. I beg to differ about instrument size red spruce. There's awsome instrument quality red spruce here and it's all I use now. I went for a stroll...

Here in Nova Scotia it is sometimes called Acadian spruce or Acadian red spruce.

Grover 309's.

Nice....