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Thread: Mandolin Kits

  1. #26

    Default Re: Mandolin Kits

    The SFM-01 kit is indeed laminated , top / back and side. I just almost complete this kit. Still need to stain and apply finish.
    Not a bad one to start learning building mandolin, I do it to build up my confidence. My next kit will be either IV kit or StewMac which requires a lot more works and therefore will learn more.
    Mandolin building seems to get into me and I plan to turn it into a hobby.

  2. #27
    Registered User Mando Tristan's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandolin Kits

    If you want to start scratch building mandolins as a hobby, visit Roger Siminoff's site. He sells a lot of tools and things for mandolin making. His website is Siminoff.net. Im looking at maybe getting one of kits this summer, if I can spare $570. So hopefully it will be and not
    Beware of DIY-MAS

  3. #28
    Registered User Mando Tristan's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandolin Kits

    After much deliberation and thought, I think I have figured out what I am going to do: I am going to get Roger Siminoff's book and try to build a mandolin from scratch. I will save my money up though so if I change my mind, I can get a kit, or I can get a nicer mandolin until my luthierie skills improve to the point where my mandolins equal or surpass a $500 mandolin. I have my eye on a nice Michael Kelly at a local music shop, curse MAS.
    -Tristan

  4. #29

    Default Re: Mandolin Kits

    Yay!! Get started
    Richard Hutchings

  5. #30
    Registered User Mando Tristan's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandolin Kits

    Got to order the book and find some spruce. Does anyone know if brown or white maple are good for mandolins, I've got several boards of each.
    Also, does Roger Siminoff's book contain plans to make the jig for the mandolin like the ones he sells on his website, or is one easy enough to make from the mandolin plans?

  6. #31
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    Default Re: Mandolin Kits

    Quote Originally Posted by Mando Tristan View Post
    Also, does Roger Siminoff's book contain plans to make the jig for the mandolin like the ones he sells on his website, or is one easy enough to make from the mandolin plans?
    Yeah, there aren't actual plans for the jig, but if you look at the pictures and read what he says about it, you should be able to figure it out. "Exercise left to the reader," as textbooks say... It won't be the biggest challenge you'll face.

    But do look at the pictures of them in his webstore. He's changed the design a little since the book came out.

  7. #32
    Registered User Mando Tristan's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandolin Kits

    I saw he sells plans for the templates and forms for the F5 mandolin in his store too, but he says you can use the plans in the book to make your own.
    What about maple varieties, I know there are a lot, but the two I have available currently are white and brown. Are either of those good or should I go find some curly or Birdseye maple?

  8. #33
    Registered User Bill Snyder's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandolin Kits

    Mando Tristan, I don't know what "white" and "brown" maple are. Do you know their taxonomic names, such as acer rubrum (red maple) or acer saccharum (sugar maple)?
    Bill Snyder

  9. #34
    Registered User Mando Tristan's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandolin Kits

    Quote Originally Posted by Bill Snyder View Post
    Mando Tristan, I don't know what "white" and "brown" maple are. Do you know their taxonomic names, such as acer rubrum (red maple) or acer saccharum (sugar maple)?
    Bill, white maple (often called silver maple) is Acer saccharinum and brown maple is the heartwood of the white maple tree, although it can come from some other varieties. Its called brown maple by the lumber industry simply because it is brown, not because it is it's own species.
    -Tristan

  10. #35
    Registered User Mando Tristan's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandolin Kits

    If neither would make a at least a decent mandolin, I can get some of the higher end species. I'm only a beginner, so I'm not looking for Breedlove quality, but I don't want something like a Rogue. Any advice one woods, or general mandolin making, would be appreciated.
    -Tristan

  11. #36
    Registered User Bill Snyder's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandolin Kits

    Mando Tristan, here is a paragraph from the USDA Plant Guide on
    Acer saccharinum L:

    "Wood characteristics: The wood of silver maple is fairly hard, even texture, rather brittle, and easily worked (Panshin and deZeeuw, 1980). It is used for furniture, cabinetry, paneling, flooring, woodturning, veneer, musical instruments, boxes and crates, tool handles, wagons, carts, and rails. The wood is moderately heavy (SpGr 0.44-0.49 green and 0.51-0.55 ovendry). Old heartwood develops a swirled pattern that is sold as “bird’s eye maple.” "

    A lot will depend on the wood you have in hand.
    Bill Snyder

  12. #37
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    Default Re: Mandolin Kits

    If you're backing away from doing a kit, you don't have to go as far as prowling the lumber yards hoping to find the right stuff cut the right way. You can also build from scratch using tonewood blanks. The supplier will have chosen, cut, and graded it for exactly what you're doing. My impression from several years here is that most pro builders most of them time get their wood from companies that are in that business. Siminoff, Stew-Mac, International Violin sell wood for backs, tops, sides, and necks, but there suppliers such as Old Standard and Orcas Island ("Spruce" here on the forum) that just deal in tonewoods. Google and forum search are your friends as always.

  13. #38
    Registered User Mando Tristan's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandolin Kits

    Thanks Bill!

    Quote Originally Posted by timv View Post
    If you're backing away from doing a kit, you don't have to go as far as prowling the lumber yards hoping to find the right stuff cut the right way. You can also build from scratch using tonewood blanks. The supplier will have chosen, cut, and graded it for exactly what you're doing. My impression from several years here is that most pro builders most of them time get their wood from companies that are in that business. Siminoff, Stew-Mac, International Violin sell wood for backs, tops, sides, and necks, but there suppliers such as Old Standard and Orcas Island ("Spruce" here on the forum) that just deal in tonewoods. Google and forum search are your friends as always.
    I already have plenty of maple, including a nice 1x12, and all I need is some spruce. I may go get some tone wood blanks, but if I get the dimensions for the sloped blanks StewMac sells I can make my own on the bandsaw. Otherwise I can carve down a regular board with a combination of hand and power tools. I really don't need to go lumber hunting, there is an exotic hardwood place not far from me that sells a lot of specialty woods that have been used to make mandolins.
    -Tristan

  14. #39
    Registered User Mando Tristan's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandolin Kits

    Roger Siminoff's book came today, and all I can say is how impressed I am with it. It's the 3rd Edition so any of the corrections listed on Roger's website have been made. I feel well equipped to go and start making my own Mando. I may continue to make announcements on it here on the forum and definitely post pictures in the pictures section. The majority of announcements on it will be made on my Tumblr blog, the link is in my signature, with pictures from construction, videos, and audio once it can play.
    -Tristan
    Pierce Luthiery - pluthiery.tumblr.com

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