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Thread: Mandola plans... kinda

  1. #1
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    So, i'm getting ready to start my #1 and i want it to be an a-style arch top mandola since i already have a mandolin that i'm satasfied with (for the moment.)

    I used the gud ole search function and found the free plans that were floating around the internet, and i noticed they dont have measurements, or more importantly the gradations of the plates in the plan. I'm assuming that if you were to print the .PDF version at 100% they would be to scale, so the measurements dont worry me too much. The gradations are still a problem though.

    I do, however, have the siminoff (sp?) book and i was wondering if it would work to just scale up the gradations for the plates in his plans (which i remember reading were a little to thick) and use them.

    Is this a viable plan or am i way off base?

    Thanks!

  2. #2
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    Roger Siminoff has full size plans with measurements.

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    excellent, thank you. (a slightly stupid follow up question, but how do you buy stuff on his site? There arent any links from the page on which the plans are, is there another section of the site for purchases or do you just have to e-mail him?)

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    I called him and he is a big help and will talk you through what ever problems you might have, you can order over the phone with him also!

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    Roger is a neet guy. Rates up there with can beer and indoor plumbing.

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    I took a set of plans and drawings from the Siminoff book and enlarged them on a printer at local stationary store till I got the desired diminsions of body and total length and width. i made it acording to this plan I got, I have a nice F5 style mandola. I paid to get the Luthiers mercantile in Healds burg , Calif to cut me a finger board and slot it. I built it back in 1996, it sounds deep and woody, I guess because I didnt use traditional wood for the back, I made it out of mesquite a tree that grows pretty readily here in the southwest, it just sits in the corner. I play it every once in a while, if I knew how to take photo's and send over internet I would send a picture................Dennis in Yuma Arizona
    DENNIS RUSSELL

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    Dennis, thats what i'm looking to do (since it saves me $30) the only problem is i dont know the dimensions i'm looking to get too, anyone want to cite me a dimension for scale length or the width of the toneboard or something? Thats all it will take to have me on my way.

    and again, thanks for all the feedback

  8. #8
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    Here is the measurements for you, I just took them from my Mandola,,, the fingerboard is exactly 14 inches from the nut to the end of fingerboard. you might get it slotted and cut at Luthiers mercantile in Healdsburg or I think the new place is in Windsor , calif.
    herfe is remaing measurements overall length from tip of peg head to end of body is 32 inches,, the width of body at widest part is 11 inches.
    The Body part with out neck is 15 1/2 inches,, the tickness of the rib all around is 1 3/16 inches good luvk I hope it turns out a nice instrument, If I had the knowledge to send photo I would................Dennis in Yuma, Arizona
    DENNIS RUSSELL

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    Thank you very much!
    With that bit of info the gears on this project are slowly but surely starting to turn.

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    Siminoff's plans are blueprints from a 20s Loar H-5 and as far as I know are the only accurate H-5 plans available. Up until they came out a little over a year ago we were all stabbing in the dark and several threads discussing size and dimensions suggessted that the H-5 was simply around a 15% enlargement of the F-5. (I even made a mold based on that.) After gettting Roger's plans this proved to be far from the case. Roger worked with Gibson in the mid 70s and also got to know the widow of Mr. Loar. From these connections he was somehow able to obtain the H-5 blueprints. I recently completed my H-5 using these plans and you can check it out on page two of the Builders forum if you'd like. The scale length is 15.125" which is real close to Loar specs and makes it a whole lot easier to play than longer scaled boards . The body is a little wider and deeper and the scroll is quite a bit fatter. The peghead is also fatter and not that much taller. I think I paid around $25-30 for the blueprints.

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    If you are looking to get a better reference of the various mandolin family sizes and specs, I'd reccommend an old issue of American Lutherie magazine, available from the Guild of American Luthiers (www.luth.org). I don't have the exact issue here (the new shop is downtown, away from my computer). The article was written by Lawrence Smart on the Modern mandolin family and the cover shot has an open harmonic bar bracing photo of one of Jeff Elliott's guitars on it. It is one of the better issues they have ever come out with. Search their database and you'll find it.

    The article is loaded with specs on the full historic Gibson family of instruments, Lawrence's personal variations, and is a good primer on thoughts and techniques from a great established builder.

    j.
    www.condino.com

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    James,
    It looks like that issue isn't available for individual sale anymore, but it is in one of the "big red books" so i might consider flipping the bill anyway. It would be worth all the information i would get, thanks for pointing me in that direction.

    I love your work by the way, i'm a much bigger fan of fresh style than of loar replicas, and i love your colors, do you mind if i borrow from your pallet a little bit for my first one?

    ~Chris

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    Howdy Chris,
    Here's a link to the article in question on A L Smart's website. It's been discussed before somewhere in the archives. consensus opinion: mandola dims are "correct", mandocello dims are wrong(same as mandola). I made an archtop dola last year as my first scratch built.

    Best of luck, bennyb

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    awesome.

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    Chris:

    Thanks for the kind words. Feel free to give me a call at the shop if you want to nerd out a bit on mandolas...

    If you run into anything like needing back issues or out of print material, most of the well known builders have a library shelf full of them. I can't count how many times I've had folks "randomly" drop by towards the end of the day with a couple of very dark malt beverages, find a comfortable seat on my old church pew in the shop, read through about a dozen issues of the journal, and laugh a bit....

    j.
    www.condino.com

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