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LOL Tom!

MY Other Half is a Luthier, I am useless at woodwork but good at design. My Dear Son is a much better player than I am, so it's lovely to be able to listen to the tone of the new...

Thanks for that John :grin:

Didn't know you were on this site, should have guessed really LOL

You've done a lovely job on designing that tailpiece, it's stunning ! I'm going to have to...

Thanks for the replies :-D

Rob, the internal bracing is the tone bars, big decision re cross bracing v tone bars, but in the end we both felt that tone bars would be better. They sit under the...

The Tuners and bridge came with the kit, the bridge will eventually be replaced with a Maple bridge. The bindings were replaced with figured maple and purfling and the binding was replaced around...

Well, it's only taken 18 months! But at long last OH has finished my Mandolin


To be fair he's worked on it in between the normal jobs as they pay the bills LOL

I've been playing it and DS...

OOH I can't decide :-D

I'm half minded to leave it Blonde, but then the front is going to darken with age anyway ??? So I may go light Honey-coloured varnish ??

Think I'll wait and see how...

Walt, that's right he had a spare Viola Rib that he used, and he finished with purfling. The inside of the soundhole is bound with maple too. The Headstock is faced and bound using two pieces of...

Well, hasn't time flown by?

OH has been working on the Mando Kit since last year !! It's gone slow because he wanted to know he was doing things right and spent a lot of time researching...

It was the distal end of the Ulnar - near the wrist that broke, just before it widens. I've been lucky as the last doctor I saw understood that playing a string instrument requires a lot of...

Well, I was just getting to sound like I knew what I was doing/playing and I get in a tangle with a stupid woman and her 10 foot lead with dog attached. Who on earth walks a dog on a 10 foot lead...

OH makes his own Lamp Black Powder :grin:

Take some Linseed oil, a wick and burn it, allowing the smoke to coat a widebottomed glass jar, put cold water in the jar to stop it breaking. Keep jar...

David Dyke (UK) supplies all sorts of purflings and bindings including the plastic ones

http://www.luthierssupplies.co.uk/

Their prices are very good :grin:

should be cheaper to get things...

If a good instrument makes no difference to tone, sound and playing, why is it that every famous violin player has the use of one of the finest old violins available? :-D I have noticed that...

I want an interesting tailpiecefor the Mandolin my OH is making. I looked at the really great ones from Allen and Monteleone but they aren't available over here, and importing one would be very...

Those are the IV kits :) IV stands for International Violin :)

I imported one a couple of months ago - Oval hole. My other half is working on mine now - in between working on violins

Will...

Wow!

I'll third martinedward's suggestions too. They are the suppliers DH uses, very reliable :)

WOW!

When I wrote that question I had no idea what I'd be starting :))

Our main problem on this side of the pond is that despite being able to work in fractions of an inch and...

As I understand it, the main reason for using hide glue in Musical Instruments is that it gives great strength but should the instrument sustain damage, the glue will break before the wood. This...

I've been looking at measurements for the Mandolin kit and am now totally confused :confused:

what is .040" ? .060"? .090" ? .120" ? We don't have these measurements in the UK we...

This can be repaired with a thin animal skin glue, it's a bit of a three-handed job as you'll need to open the crack slightly by flexing the back and then brush in some glue, wipe away any surplus...

Thank you for that :) will send PM

OH has packaged your Lycopodium and only has to write you some instructions on use, then we can send it.

You got instructions???

That's one thing we didn't get LOL

OH says that Luthiers use Lycopodium (a type of clubmoss) They grind it up very finely and mix with animal skin glue as a filler for this kind of damage. When varnished this then refracts the light...

A few months back I tried Ernie Ball light gauge strings on my Mandolin after breaking an E string. As a mando beginner I was struggling with the tips of my fingers, bit of a change from Violin LOL...