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lmii.com sells head plates of a wide variety of woods, including flamed maple. I've purchased a number of them there, and it's always been really nice looking wood.

Gotcha. I saw your other thread and just assumed.

I've used Tru Oil several times, and have gotten good results, like you said, tons of coats and sanding. But that's just finishing I suppose...
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Awesome. And I love the walnut/redwood combo. Looks great!

I assume this is a Tru Oil finish? If so, what's your finishing schedule look like, if you don't mind me asking...

Absolutely! I put the other C string on yesterday, and it's a noticeably louder and fuller sound! Really really happy with it!

I've got a buddy at work who won Winfield many years ago, and I plan...

Folks, I'm pretty excited.

Over the last decade or so I've built about a half dozen instruments. But all electric guitars and basses and whatnot. They were really cool, and fun projects, but the...

Dug my 'guitar bodied' mandola project out of storage over the holidays and finally got back to work on it. Got the box closed yesterday.

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Husk is a great restaurant for southern food in downtown Nashville.

Seeing them Friday at The Ryman. Can't wait!

Speaking of the complexity of their music, one of the most impressive musical feats I've ever seen occurred when I saw them this past summer. Their...

Pretty fired up that I'll get to hear them perform it at The Ryman on its release date!

My wife loves Amazing Grace, it's a song she's sung to our daughters when putting them to bed ever since the first was born. So, I thought she'd really enjoy hearing our girls singing it for her. The...

Understand that mistakes are an inevitability. The art of luthiery is learning how to deal with those mistakes. Take your time and enjoy the learning process.

I personally never would have thought of it, but then I heard it. Sarah Jarosz does Prince's 'When Doves Cry' on mandolin and it's pretty great.

Using chisels and a hammer to thickness wood is an enormous waste of time. Five bucks worth of tools at harbor freight would save you hours of time and loads of frustration. Honestly, you should know...

No, the oval hole is photoshopped on.

Ivan,

Thanks for the compliment. It's an electric bass actually. Here's the rest of it:

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You mention using a coin, which I think is a cool idea. Round is good! For my first handful of builds I had some logos cut into 1" plastic disks which I was then able to inlay using only a 1"...

I was at their show in Atlanta last Saturday. Great show, they really knocked it out of the park. Even though the Variety Playhouse was at best a 'blah' venue...

I really love their new CD. But it...

You need a plan before you start buying things. Otherwise you may (likely will) end up wasting money at some point in the process.

The Franklin show was sold out.

Spalted wood is not uncommon in electric instruments, where it is typically laminated with other, more structurally sound, woods. It's all for aesthetics.

Spalted wood is often very soft, or...

It was a great show! I was next to the stage as well, table 3, right in the middle.

I saw her and Ethan not long after Weighted Mind came out, a couple of years ago, and they are even better...

Of course if you enjoy the 'coziness' of carpet there are alternatives...

We just moved, and I've been in the process of renovating a blank beige box of a room into my office/music room. Carpet on...

Looking good Jim.

I've always been a fan of the look of a backstrap transitioning into the neck. Here's the neck to the mandola I'm working on:

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Nick,

You mentioned coating with shellac. What was your finishing procedure here? French polish style, sprayed shellac, or something else? I really like the vintage satin appearance.

Here's the 'gitdola' that I'm working on. The scale is 17", body depth is 1.75". Curious to see how it sounds once it's all said and done. I'm actually a little further along than this picture, in...