Flinthills #4

**Mark Franzke** · Jun-11-2006, 8:16pm

I just finished my fourth mando. I did this one with all wood bindings; maple and rosewood. I've never been a real fan of blond instruments, but with the dark binding and all the detail I hate to obscure it with a dark stain. Maybe a light reddish brown overall? I'll string it up after I finish the nut and bridge, and play it for awhile, so I have a little time to think about it.

**Mark Franzke** · Jun-11-2006, 8:20pm

Here are some closeups.

**sunburst** · Jun-11-2006, 9:01pm

If you had been planing to make that one a blonde, you would have carved into a pitch pocket, a black bark inclusion in the maple, a worm hole, anything to keep it from being easy to leave it unstained...
Well maybe not...it's like when you wash the car it always rains...

The point is, not always does the wood turns out that clean looking. That, coupled with the problem of keeping the stains off of the wood binding, makes this a good opportunity to have a blonde.

**Mark Franzke** · Jun-11-2006, 9:32pm

This is all from scratch. The fingerboard and peghead binding are curly maple and the body is bound in rosewood. The peghead veneer and truss rod cover are rosewood as is the heelcap. I put a thin black stripe between all the bindings and the body to give me a good place to mask if I choose to stain it.

**otterly2k** · Jun-11-2006, 9:46pm

It's gorgeous. Keep it blond. Just a little amber to bring out the grain and figure. Optimize the contrast with that lovely binding you put on.

**ab4usa** · Jun-12-2006, 9:32am

Mark,

I would go for the color of a fine Bourbon. In fact you should get several samples to find just the correct hue.

**bluegrassplayer** · Jun-12-2006, 10:07am

I'm like mandopluker, I'm don't like the blonds very much but this is definately an exception. I say go for a blond, but like the rest are saying, an amber tint would look nice.
( Of course, that is just me so you can just ignore this)

**Lane Pryce** · Jun-12-2006, 12:15pm

Nice mandolin and good clean work too. I would have to pass on the blonde and go for the bourbon or a very lite amber colored stain. Not too dark but enough to enhance the figure in the wood. I am not a fan of pick gards but it would look dang cool on this one. Lp

**testore** · Jun-12-2006, 7:05pm

NICE NICE NICE. You know,I wasn't a real fan of blonde's either(mandos and women)but I'm just finishing this one and can't wait to do another.I've really enjoyed doing this blonde ha ha.