Mandolins in progress

[Marty Jacobson]

Clips from the transverse-braced prototype above:

http://martinjacobson.com/heron.mp3
http://martinjacobson.com/heron2.mp3

Same (cheapo) recording setup as the last prototype, if you care to compare.

[Pete Jenner]

That sounds fantastic to my ear Marty. Nice playing too.

[billhay4]

Sounds very good, Martin. This is coming along nicely.
Bill

[hank]

SHUT THE BACK DOOR! This thread is what keeps me coming back to take a peak at the Cafe.. New baby mandolins being born and singing right out of the crib. They should name this the Mandolin nursery. I listen forward to hearing your classy A model Dan. Those F holes seem to mirror the larger lower area of an A models pear shape. It really pulls that ones look together to my eyes. Bravo! Martin Your Nouveau look and construction have broken the mold. Thank you all for sharing.

[Kip Carter]

SHUT THE BACK DOOR! This thread is what keeps me coming back to take a peak at the Cafe.. New baby mandolins being born and singing right out of the crib. They should name this the Mandolin nursery. I listen forward to hearing your classy A model Dan. Those F holes seem to mirror the larger lower area of an A models pear shape. It really pulls that ones look together to my eyes. Bravo! Martin Your Nouveau look and construction have broken the mold. Thank you all for sharing.

It is very engaging to be sure! More Octaves though please!!
Kip...

[Dan Voight]

Here is a short clip of the A style in the white. After about 4 days, it is starting to clear its throat. I cant wait to hear this one in a year from now. Engelmann top and red maple two piece back. The recording was done with a pair of stereo condensers and there is no EQ or reverb in the clip. Keep your eyes and ears peeled for the 3-point sometime this weekend.

#12 clip.mp3

I'll record better clips soon and try to be more broad stylistically. This was just a quickie.

[Clicker]

After about 4 days, it is starting to clear its throat.

It's hard to put what I appreciate about sounds into words but whatever is better than good is what I heard. -Harry

[Steve Sorensen]

Fitting the final piece on a new "Fancy Floral" inlay for the next F8 . . .



Steve

[hank]

Dan I got computer script on your sound link. Anyone else having trouble playing Dan's mp3? I'm using an IPad is this the problem?

[Bill Snyder]

hank, I don't have an IPad or any Apple products for that matter but I do remember 2 or 3 years ago some Mac users were having some problems with some mp3's. For some reason when the files were downloaded some extraneous characters where being added to the file suffix. You might check to make sure the file name is correct. It should be #12clip.mp3, if it is not then change it and try it again.

[Marty Jacobson]

Dan, that's an awesome sounding mandolin. And quite competent playing, too...

Would be interested in talking shop with you sometime. We luthiers under 30 gotta stick together!

[Marty Jacobson]

Here's my tailpiece that I am probably going to go with....
0.050" 6061 aluminum or 360 brass. The strings hook onto #4-40 screws, I think I got the idea from Gary Nava (I think Corrado Giacomel uses threads as string posts, too). Thanks, Gary. For extra security I use little threaded finger nuts as well.

The upper black part is Garolite XX (phenolic, bakelite), which is stronger and lighter than ebony in this application. It has a little rubber gasket embedded which acts like a Wood Nymph, but integral to the tailpiece and easier to use.

I can make five in an hour. It costs $1. Can't argue with that.



(obviously, this one hasn't been formed into an angle yet.)

[Jake Wildwood]

Super cool tailpiece!!!

[davidmonk]

thats awesome

[J.Sloan]

Nice tailpiece Marty! That opens up a whole new can of worms that I haven't even considered yet....awe forget it! This first one has been tough enough without even going there! Here's a pic of #2. Gonna fit the bridge and try and string it up this weekend. This is actually my first one....#01 is put away for now...the neck joint did not wanna cooperate!
I'm using my wife's Kindle and hope I can get the pics to load.

[Skip Kelley]

Dan, love the sound and tone you are getting out of your mandolin! Awesome playing too!
Steve, I love the floral inlay; that is as nice as I have ever seen!!
Marty, I like your tailpiece design! That will look perfect on your mandolins!!
JSloan, Nice work on #2! Lets see a picture of the back!!

[billhay4]

Nice design, Martin. Very nice.
How hard will it be to slide strings past the gasket when you're changing strings?
Bill

[Glassweb]

Dan I got computer script on your sound link. Anyone else having trouble playing Dan's mp3? I'm using an IPad is this the problem?

i had to change the file to read #12 clip.mp3

then it played fine. by the way... that mandolin sounds spectacular and Dan's playing is superb. Hat's off!

[Marty Jacobson]

Thanks, Bill. I was concerned about that, too, so the rubber is slightly undersized. E and A slip right through, slight resistance on the G and D. Lets you know it's engaged, but doesn't make the strings kink or anything. The smaller strings are snugged against the gasket by the slight upward pressure from the break angle.

Same design works for ball end strings, just remove the screws that serve as string posts.

[wwwilkie]

Marty- Beautiful design work all round. Congrats!

[GarY Nava]

Here's my tailpiece that I am probably going to go with....
0.050" 6061 aluminum or 360 brass. The strings hook onto #4-40 screws, I think I got the idea from Gary Nava (I think Corrado Giacomel uses threads as string posts, too). Thanks, Gary. For extra security I use little threaded finger nuts as well.

The upper black part is Garolite XX (phenolic, bakelite), which is stronger and lighter than ebony in this application. It has a little rubber gasket embedded which acts like a Wood Nymph, but integral to the tailpiece and easier to use.

I can make five in an hour. It costs $1. Can't argue with that.



(obviously, this one hasn't been formed into an angle yet.)

Hi Marty,
Thanks for the acknowledgement! Looks a really good design.
5 in one hour! You’re right I can’t argue with that. I take it that you have a CNC mill for this sort of work. It literally takes me 5 hours to make one tailpiece by hand!
Building in some method of dampening the strings is a good idea, I find that the passing the strings through a hole in the wooden part of mine has that effect. That said, you really only need to worry about dampening them if length of string between the bridge and tailpiece is too long.
Look forward to seeing a completed one.
Cheers Gary
http://www.navaguitars.co.uk/mandolins.html

[Nick Gellie]

On a slightly different tack here is my Silver Angel A-5 economodel in the white and strung up and ready to play. It won't be long before she is being played at my place.



Here is what Ken Ratcliff says about her:

"Nic, your mandolin is strung "in the white". Here's a picture of it. As for the sound, I'm very pleased with it. It is powerful and has all the ingredients you could want in an instrument, bass, mids and highs. I really enjoy playing it. I wish I had the knowhow to send a soundclip. Maybe I can, I think about it."

It has only taken Ken two months to make her. I have yet to give her a name which is the protocol among Silver Angel players.

[Dobe]

[QUOTE=ArtDecoMandos;1084734]Heron inlay for the transverse braced prototype's fretboard...

So, is that the board before slotting ? Really fine inlay BTW !

[GarY Nava]

The client whose mandolin I’m currently working on, ordered an armrest from Doug Edwards, inlaid with a tree motif. So I thought that it would be nice to do a matching one in the head.

Cheers Gary

[Kip Carter]

Very cool!
Kip...