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I made mine from empty thread spools that you might find around a sewing shop.

I had a little surprise a couple of years ago. My house's previous owner left me a length of 1/2" thick mahogany that I found stored in the ceiling of the basement. I would guess it came into the...

It seems the opinion expressed on the home page is valid but if some collector pays that much, that is what its worth.

About 1968 I was trying to learn some finger picking on guitar and somehow ended up at a small BG festival in Ockockie (Sp?) Florida and heard a band called the 'Big Bend Ramblers' and when I heard...

I have a sense that some of the most renown builders could construct an instrument with Loar class tonality from their reject piles, though there is little incentive to do so - "cosmetics trumping...

First thing I would do is lay a straight edge on the frets and see if you have a high fret or two. If so then that needs attention. If not, I think you may be just past the lower limit of the...

Thanks, I too enjoyed the discussion, but I think the main thing I came away with is that Mike and David have really found a powerful teaching method. I wish this technology had been around 40 years...

I was happy to see Jack O'Brien mentioned by f5loar above. I sure do love an A model he built in '94.

I made sure my labels looked home-made, all two of them.

John, you have been so generous with your good advice on this site that lots of us owe you a satisfying solution to this problem. I'll try. How about letting these naive customers know that you are a...

I can imagine someone building a tuner that would fit in and replace the truss rod cover.

My case and maybe mandolin were saved by a Small Dog cover. It seemed my Daughter's cat found some pleasure in peeing on the cover. Luckily neither my mandolin or case were in the Small Dog. The...

I first assembled a kit (IV a model) and then built a 2 pointer from scratch, Two things I sensed, first I didn't consider myself a 'builder' until the from scratch instrument was finished. Second,...

Those hook tools in the Dale's link remind me of dental tools. Maybe you could ask your dentist for advice on this.

There are lots of luthiers that build wonderful mandolins so it seems they know what they are doing, but I would be willing to bet that you'd have a hard time finding one who claims they learned...

My sense is that new strings on a guitar are wonderful but new strings on a mandolin are unwonderful for a few days and then they start to sound just slightly better than the old ones I took off.

Why don't you just raise (or lower) the bridge and see what happens?

Tiderider, you're an inspiration! Nice job.

As I was watching this thread I kept thinking this is an excellent example of how well this site can work. Lots of useful chit chat, good advice from...

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I am pretty sure that we have the capacity to fill in notes that we missed so I agree with Jeffd above "we tend to "hear" what we intend to play" and I agree recording yourself is humbling.
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In the past 3 or 4 years I have built two mandolins, one from scratch the other a kit, built a small wooden sailboat from scratch (a Shellback), and been riding my Ducati (Monster 796). Guess I am...

I agree with the many posts that mentioned fit/finish, playability, and tone as the important factors affecting the difference between cheaper and dearer mandolins. What has not been discussed is...

Excellent concert! Wow! Saw it in Framingham MA with about 50 others, clapping was reserved- more after Chris wondered aloud about it. I wish they would have given the band a better balance...

Why not a simple pragmatic answer to OP. Sound posts are there or absent because that is what works to promote the desired performance of an instrument. Sure, we'd like to know why this is true,...

I guess it is obvious that Gibson has the dilemma of marketing low volume high value products to rather discerning customers. I think if I were driving the bus I'd get together nice collection of...