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Thanks, Scott, for dealing with this and all of the 'cafe back (and front) end!
Related: apparently someone is using AI to battle scammers: ...

Good music and good folks! It was great to pick tunes and meet some 'cafe members.
I specifically built the A5 I've got, with Sugar Maple, Red Spruce and tone bars, to fit in
and cut through in...

I'll be at the Jahnke Rd (Baptist Church) session tonight, pickin' OT and BG...maybe will see you there.

Hello folks,
I'm here in Chesterfield, visiting my mother and the old home place, on my way to the Violin Society of America convention in Baltimore. Besides the violins, I'm travelling with a...

...that's not really a good option.

Maple, quite plain, but well quartered is what you want for bending. Otherwise, it'll be a whole world of twist. Shouldn't cost much, but if you can't cut it...

I haven't followed the design/thread up 'til this point but have the following suggestions:
Use well-quartered maple, as plain as you can get, until you're comfortable with the process. Not all...

+1 for hand planes!!! Use toothed blades on difficult or curly grain, plane to within a couple of tenths of a mm and scrape finished. Once you've achieved a certain level of competence in...

I like the Golden Age as a baseline tuner, but found that the "relics" were extra stiff, as in, maybe the process causes a change in how the gears function. Maybe they've gotten better in that...

Yes! I can safely say that they are by far my favorite Estonian band :)

Hi folks...I just wanted to direct your attention to an up and coming Estonian string band, Curly Strings, who recently released a lovely and joyful video: Curly Strings "Maailm heliseb".

The...

The Golden ratio should only be one of many in your toolbox as a designer. Some are simple, others more complex, but none truly more golden than the others. I think it's foolish to hitch one's...

Another vote for UV, maybe masking as Paul suggests. It doesn't take that long to see some color; 2-3 days, with deeper in a week or two. If you use any stain or dye, go VERY light, and make sure...

Some more knife info in this thread.
also: Japan Woodworker has some of my favorite blades--very fine tools which hold an edge for a long time. They are very thick, so better to use the Hock blades...

A Loar-era Gibson or a Stradivari violin is musical, artistic, historical and cultural phenomenon. They're singular, rare, and even modern science can't fully explain their musical and cultural...

Since the question was specific, it deserves a concise answer: No.

CF has its uses, and we may find more, but it's difficult to work with, destroys your tools, and you don't want to breath the...

A question: Are the braces still glued, or coming off of the top in that area? Check with a mirror.

Observations: Graduations and arching could certainly be part of the problem, but I think...

Do I understand correctly? Is it too thick? If so, your solution is to carefully (heat) and pull frets, plane the board dead flat and refret. You may even be able to correct slightly for a better...

+1
It doesn't look that bad (plugs/touchup), and could look much worse. Alignment is going to be a nightmare for gluing, and CA at this scale is a recipe for disaster (gluing hand to instrument...

One thing to remember about carving plates, is to make sure that the plates are a minimum dimension BEFORE you cut them into the shape of the mandolin. Don't get excited and cut your shape out of a...

Forget antique violins. Go see the Vettori family for new masterpieces.
http://www.vettorifamily.com/home/menu2.htm

I guess that's when I'll finally relax a little bit...a little bit of setup tweaking left, and she'll be ready.

This winter, I had an amazing experience, when Soovin Kim, a friend and incredible...

I just wanted to start a thread to publicly thank some of the suppliers who make such high quality fittings, parts and cases for the instruments that we love so much. Tomorrow I deliver a new...

I worked on that asymmetrical Porayko last year, and it was a surprisingly good sounding mandolin. Also, well built, as many of you have commented on the OP's mando. I think that he was a...

Titebond photobomb!! Used for the nut only.
All HHG construction, and not a bit of plastic on the entire instrument.
Thanks for your patience Matthew, you'll see it tomorrow. The flame really...

Ciani Two Point
Jim,
I found this thread after stumbling on this very mandolin when I recently visited the NMM on a cross-country drive. I must admit I was so stunned by the whole of the...