Post a picture of your IV kit

**Baron Collins-Hill** · May-22-2005, 8:27pm

finished or in progress, just post em up...

**Bill Snyder** · May-22-2005, 10:29pm

Grow had his strung up in the white about a month ago. Grow is yours finished yet?
I have posted pitures of mine in progress on a couple of different threads, so I won't take up any more RAM by posting here until it is finished.

**Jim Rowland** · May-23-2005, 11:56am

Here's the first,built,as you said,about a month ago. It's still in white while I complete a second and third one so I can finish them all together.
Jim

**Jim Rowland** · May-23-2005, 12:12pm

Another.
Jim

**Jim Rowland** · May-23-2005, 12:13pm

And one more.
Jim

**mikeyes** · May-23-2005, 4:48pm

What does it sound like? Is it worth the $89?

I just started mine and it is a first effort. I figure it is a lot easier to screw up with this kit than with a Stew-Mac or other kit and I will learn a lot. In addition as I get better the next ones will get better.

**mario515** · May-23-2005, 8:37pm

nice work Jim, the headstock looks nice with the binding and the inlay, I went ahead and trimed my headstock too did a snakehead,, came out alright too, Thanks for the input on that

**Jim Rowland** · May-23-2005, 9:39pm

Mikeyes,I've mentioned this elsewhere,but I don't mind doing it again. I'm downright pleased at the sound and volume of this mandolin. I carved as much as I could to the specs I use on my scratch made F models (not as much wood to work with),and,basically just stuck it together. In short,a lot of sound for not much money and not much work. I'm wondering now if it's a fluke or if IV 2 and 3 will work as well.
Jim

**Tom C** · May-23-2005, 9:49pm

Just finished mine.

Anyone know where I can get a case for it from?

**mandolinplucker** · May-23-2005, 11:18pm

I finished my IV kit. I had no idea how it would turn out so the plan was to do one with the idea of graduating the plates, tuning the tone bars putting it together,Trying to stain a sunburst and spray on a laquer finish. If it turned out ok I would order another one and try some inlay and see how pretty I could make it. Now I am mad at myself for not trying to pretty this one up. It looks pretty good for a first attempt but -wow- it sounds pretty good. I have a Morgan monroe mm3 that I thought sounded good, But even brand new the kit has much more volume than my other one. It has a brighter sound than the MM but should get darker with time,and it has a good chop. Can't wait to do another one and then try my hand at an "f". It is addictive.

**barricwiley** · May-24-2005, 10:09am

mandolinplucker ---- Picture? Love to look!
Richard

**Bill Snyder** · May-29-2005, 10:54am

Here are pictures of mine.

**dperry** · Jun-12-2005, 3:50pm

Here are a few pictures of my progress with the IV kit. I now have the back glued on and waiting for the glue to dry. I dont have any pictures of that yet.

**dperry** · Jun-12-2005, 3:52pm

Here is the binding

**dperry** · Jun-12-2005, 3:55pm

Tone bars

**dperry** · Jun-12-2005, 4:00pm

And here is the back

**mario515** · Jun-12-2005, 9:25pm

looooking gooood David,, I wish I did a different binding

did you have any problems with the binding or did it all go smooth?

**grandmainger** · Jun-13-2005, 2:38am

Mine is currently strung up in the white:
I too picked a different binding. My top is Black+White, and I used the original White to bind the back.
No real problems with the binding, apart from the slightly difficult areas near the neck. I think the right glue was important. I bought the plastic-binding-to-wood glue from lmii.

More photos in this thread.

Germain

**dperry** · Jun-13-2005, 11:07pm

Germain, that really looks nice. I have my back glued on now and I routed it for the binding. I used a dremel and a bit from stewmac. I am going to admit that it didnt turn out perfect.
And for mario's question. I didnt have any major problems with the binding on the top. I did however break it three times trying to get the bend sharp enough by the neck but did finally get it. I dont know how I am going to get the bend around the bottom of the neck though. Anyone with suggestions on bending that with ebony please help. Well as I have said before I can't wait to finally play this thing.

**grandmainger** · Jun-14-2005, 2:43am

David,
Yeah, binding is quite tricky I think. I'm not looking forward to binding an F Scroll

!
My tip to you is to shape the binding first. I did that with my basic plastic one and it did help a lot. Here's how I did it:
- cut a piece of (chip)board to the shape of the body of the mando. maybe something about 1/2' to 1' thick.
- put lots and lots of pins/nails in the board, on the top and bottom, a few inches from the edge. You will use these as attach-posts for elatic bands.
- starting from the tailpiece end, tie your binding with the rubber bands, and work your way towards the neck gradually and symetrically.
- if you hit a tight spot, use a hair drier to soften the binding as you go along. the heat is the reason why you can't use your mando to this!
- leave to cool, then re-heat the lot, repeat a couple of times then leave it on this "mold" overnight.

When you remove the rubber bands, the binding will be roughly preshaped and much easier to put on!

Good luck! You top looks great

Germain

**dperry** · Jun-14-2005, 9:10pm

That sounds good but I am not sure if a hair dryer would get the wood hot enough. The way I did the top was to dip it in water and then using a curling iron, bend it as close to the shape as I could. I glued and completely covered with binding tape.

**mario515** · Jun-16-2005, 10:16am

lets see if this works ahh, it does

**mario515** · Jun-16-2005, 10:22am

anyway shes a little thick and I just messed around with it some more, I tried to wet sand her but I may have messed up again. and the action on her is killing me. I thought I had it good but it aint. Its not gonna do me any good the way it is so,,,, I guess I'll be foolin around with her some more. I dont mind shes picking up some battle scars though(its my very own distressed model)