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Type: Posts; User: Audio Artillery

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  1. Replies
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    Re: Multi-Scale (fanned-fret) MandoCello

    The m'cello I built a couple years back has a 25.5" scale and I use the standard D'Addario strings. The C strings seem pretty happy, quite decent bass response. However fingering chords is a real...
  2. Re: CNC'd Plates, Basic handtool needs, Caliper, 1st Build ?'s

    Some day you need to post some pics of your robots gone wrong. I'm sure there's some perfectly good spruce you've destroyed in the process.
  3. Re: CNC'd Plates, Basic handtool needs, Caliper, 1st Build ?'s

    I roughed out my 1st (and only... so far) plates with a router and an angle grinder. Finished with hand tools (spoke shave, rasp, scrapers). That and the neck shaping (spokeshaves!) was really fun....
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    Re: Nice sounding aluminum guitar

    Carbon fiber is far more expensive than aluminum. You don't see too many airplanes made out of CF :). Fiberglass... I think aluminum is still cheaper. I think the bulk pricing of aluminum is on...
  5. Re: How many of you would like to build "pro"

    I don't want to get into luthiery as a business. It's just plain easier to work my day job. But it has become apparent to me that all these instruments have to go somewhere so I better start making...
  6. Re: Body Binding - Does it serve a purpose?

    Binding is there to distinguish professional, quality luthiers from hacks like me. The below photo shows some practical issues with unbound plates.

    On the top right you can see some tearout...
  7. Re: Finish question: do you finish the neck?

    Depends on how thick you build it up. While shellac scratches easier than other finishes I don't know that it wears any faster. I wouldn't worry about it.



    It feels perfect to me. You can...
  8. Re: String and bridge design choices for semi hollow mandocello

    Very cool. I've been toying with doing an electric m'cello next. I did an acoustic last year.

    As Bernie says it is surprisingly mandocello-like in sound. I would have to say it's lacking some...
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    Re: Harmony Mandolin?

    "Modern" Harmony's were all nitro finished. Never hurts to test though.
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    Re: Harmony Mandolin?

    The leading digits in that model stamp are insignificant. You may find a date stamp elsewhere.



    The "batwing" Harmony's are the most obsessed over but I think this is a more serious model. If...
  11. Re: Guitar mandocello conversion strings and tailpiece

    What scale are you going for? The m'cello I built has a 25.5" scale and the standard D'Addario strings work great.

    I've been meaning to find a dirt cheap electric for a conversion and doing a...
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    Re: Good source for plywood?

    I've gotten 1/4" "project board" plywood at Home Depot. It's not bad though a nice veneer would make it awesome.
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    Re: Projects at large: Let's GO!

    So... what is this thing? A "doe"? What is that?

    Having built my first instrument from scratch my advice is to do it as quickly as possible. You learn so much during the first build. You're...
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    Re: Cheap mini plane?

    At that price it can't really hurt. I think the biggest risk is the irons aren't terribly well heat treated and wear out quickly or don't take an edge easily.
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    Re: HHG question

    This is pretty genious. I keep mine in a sealed mason jar in the fridge, but I bet in the freezer it will keep forever. Good tip for us hobbyists who aren't doing glueups all the time.
  16. Re: Alternate Sound Board Carving Methods for the Mandolin

    If you can get a topo map of your plate then a palm router really makes short work of roughing the outside. It's also really messy. Round-bottomed spokeshaves can smooth out most of the steps...
  17. Re: How to fix clouding from alcohol damage to nitro finish?

    Indeed, most of it has rubbed out with some white polishing compound and elbow grease. I need to get some naptha and strip off whatever gunk is on top of this finish.
  18. How to fix clouding from alcohol damage to nitro finish?

    Picked up an old guitar on Friday. Needs some work. It had a bunch of paint splatters on the back of it (go figure). I found it cleaned off easy enough with denatured alcohol.

    About 15 minutes...
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    Re: Clear Nail Polish-lacquer?

    It would appear that is a nitrocellulose lacquer:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nail_polish#Constituents

    Exactly how suitable it is for finish work... dunno, but Erlewine surely isn't 100%...
  20. Re: A recent observation from another sound searcher.

    Pefjr, you're wrong. It's a widely known secret that a wider fingerboard produces a quieter sound with more purple overtones.
  21. Re: A recent observation from another sound searcher.

    Those mandolins with 3" nuts really sound amazing.
  22. Re: Longer Scale Axes: Flat Top vs. Induced Arch vs. Carved Arch

    Well it certainly takes a lot fewer trees to make a flat or arched top mandocello vs carving.
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    Re: Magnetic Capo?

    It doesn't matter that you change directions, the current is always opposing your movement, thus dampening the oscillation.
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    Re: Magnetic Capo?

    Appalachia, you would be better off with a steel insert rather than a magnet insert in the fretboard (or steel bindings? at least you'd get some stiffness out of it). That way it will leave the...
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    Re: Building a mandocello...

    I don't have feeler gauges handy but I think about .006" relief at 7th fret. All I did was make the neck, plane it dead flat, glue on the fretboard, and bolt it to the instrument.

    You can adjust...
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