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Thread: Round mandolins

  1. #26
    two t's and one hyphen fatt-dad's Avatar
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    Default Re: Round mandolins

    I have nothing to contribute, but have recently been thinking the same question. Not sure what got me going, but it just seemed curious to me. What about a round mandolin?

    f-d
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  2. #27
    Capt. E Capt. E's Avatar
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    Default Re: Round mandolins

    Round mando-banjos seem to work fine.

    Also a modular top sounds kind of cool. Not sure of the benefits or how it would sound, but cool non-the-less.
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  3. #28

    Default Re: Round mandolins

    So, I'm thinking any attempt to put shoulders where the neck meets the body negates the round concept I'm aiming for. I'm wondering if this sort of design would work:

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  4. #29

    Default Re: Round mandolins

    I dig it! Hey, you could make the back plate adjustable depth, so you could change the inherent EQ of the instrument...
    And you could inlay "NOT A BANJO" on the fretboard...

  5. #30
    two t's and one hyphen fatt-dad's Avatar
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    Default Re: Round mandolins

    Quote Originally Posted by OldSausage View Post
    So, I'm thinking any attempt to put shoulders where the neck meets the body negates the round concept I'm aiming for. I'm wondering if this sort of design would work:

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    x-braced?

    f-d
    ˇpapá gordo ain’t no madre flaca!

    '20 A3, '30 L-1, '97 914, 2012 Cohen A5, 2012 Muth A5, '14 OM28A

  6. #31
    Registered User Tom Haywood's Avatar
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    Default Re: Round mandolins

    Quote Originally Posted by pelone View Post
    I have posted photos of two round bodied mandos--both are loud with great sustain. I turned down the tops and backs on a lathe. I intuited that the arch of the top could easily handle the downward forces of the bridge. It seems to have worked as I have been playing them for four years. I do get the odd look at the occasional jam, however.
    Please post a video.
    Tom

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  7. #32

    Default Re: Round mandolins

    Quote Originally Posted by Marty Jacobson View Post
    I dig it! Hey, you could make the back plate adjustable depth, so you could change the inherent EQ of the instrument...
    Well, I can't quite picture how I would make the back plate depth adjustable. But I wouldn't want to go to all the trouble of building a mandolin I didn't like sound of, and that would be the most likely outcome. I'm wondering if it wouldn't be possible to set up a rig so that one could actually test multiple front and back plates during the process of shaping them. Does anyone do that?

    Quote Originally Posted by Marty Jacobson View Post
    And you could inlay "NOT A BANJO" on the fretboard...
    I would be sorely tempted to do that.

    Quote Originally Posted by fatt-dad View Post
    x-braced?
    Well, I would have to try both eventually, but I think the first one would be x-braced.

  8. #33
    Registered User Tom Haywood's Avatar
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    Default Re: Round mandolins

    Looking at pelone's pictures, it appears the curvature inside the top, together with the depth of the sides, projects the focal point substantially past the the back plate. That means the initial waves off the top strike the back in many places - same as any other mandolin shape in general, so probably no unusual concern necessary regarding to the volume and tone.
    Tom

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  9. #34

    Default Re: Round mandolins

    Quote Originally Posted by OldSausage View Post
    Well, I can't quite picture how I would make the back plate depth adjustable. But I wouldn't want to go to all the trouble of building a mandolin I didn't like sound of, and that would be the most likely outcome. I'm wondering if it wouldn't be possible to set up a rig so that one could actually test multiple front and back plates during the process of shaping them. Does anyone do that?
    Not really in that way. There are numerous ways to get feedback from the plate you're working on.. tapping, scratching, flexing, etc., but nothing's "real" until it's all glued up and the finish is on it.

    That being said, Pete Langdell has been known to string up Rigel mandolins in the white without gluing the top on. It sits in a rebate and the plate acts like a truss in cross-section, so the plate gets jammed up against the rebate and it's pretty much locked in place.

    For the back plate, you'd either have to use machine screws like Dr. David Cohen did on his "test mule" mandolin, or a variation on that theme, using cleats attached to the screws so no screws need to pass through the plate itself. Or you could use some other kind of clamping mechanism on the back, but the clamps need to be at fairly regular intervals due to the fact that the plate is wiggling, wriggling, twisting, flip-flopping, writhing, and reeling all over the place. A hoop tensioner would probably be ideal, but then you really get into b*njo territory, aesthetically.

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  10. #35

    Default Re: Round mandolins

    Well, that's very interesting, I think I can see how you could build a test rig now. C-shaped wooden hoop on the top (with space for the strings to come out), full hoop on the bottom so they can hold the plates to the sides by the edges, and then clamp the two hoops firmly. Build some kind of tailpiece into the C-shaped hoop, and then some kind of removable neck to attach the strings to, which could attach to some fixture in the pre-built sides.

    The hoops could have rebates to hold the plates laterally. Actually not even hoops, just a square sheet with the circles cut out.

  11. #36
    Registered User Tom Haywood's Avatar
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    Default Re: Round mandolins

    Or maybe "Not A Banjolin". 14 frets to make that declaration.
    Tom

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  12. #37
    coprolite mandroid's Avatar
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    Default Re: Round mandolins

    I salvaged a Uke Banjo, had it made up with a flat spruce head,, there was some arch put in the rim.

    but the spruce soft summer rings compressed so it is a little hammock.. got Nylon GDAE strings

    fingerboard extends over, .. fingerboard on banjos typically stop at the edge of the head.
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  13. #38

    Default Re: Round mandolins

    Quote Originally Posted by Tommando View Post
    Or maybe "Not A Banjolin". 14 frets to make that declaration.
    I'd certainly have learned a few things about how to do inlay by the time I got there

  14. #39
    Registered User Kirk Pey's Avatar
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    Default Re: Round mandolins

    Here is the late John Wynn's website that has a couple of mandolins that almost meet your description.( round but with a scroll ) I couldn't figure out how to post just the pictures so hopefully here is a link to his website.http://www.wynnmandolins.com/pages/w...-80s-wynns.php
    1970-80's pages

  15. #40
    Registered User Kirk Pey's Avatar
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    Default Re: Round mandolins

    I forgot to say it's about the 18th or so from the top of the page.

  16. #41

    Default Re: Round mandolins

    Quote Originally Posted by Kirk Pey View Post
    Here is the late John Wynn's website that has a couple of mandolins that almost meet your description.( round but with a scroll ) I couldn't figure out how to post just the pictures so hopefully here is a link to his website.http://www.wynnmandolins.com/pages/w...-80s-wynns.php
    1970-80's pages
    Thank you so much, Kirk, what a wonderful page of mandolins, I got lost in that for some time. I'm very happy to include the round one with a scroll, and I'll even let in the A style just below it because, although it's not quite round, it certainly has the round "esprit":

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  17. #42
    Registered User Kirk Pey's Avatar
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    Default Re: Round mandolins

    Sausage. I don't know if you saw this one. (third one down on this page) http://www.wynnmandolins.com/pages/w...0s-wynns-2.php
    Where is the sound hole? Sorry again for not posting the picture.

  18. #43
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    Default Re: Round mandolins

    David---Those are they. I applaud your ability to find them in the vast depth of the Mandolin Cafe. The three holed mando has a cedar top that I salvaged from a log fished out of the Pacific in Bandon, Oregon. The back, sides and neck are of spalted maple that I had bought from a mom and pop lumber outfit along the Oregon coast. The other is of Port Orford cedar with back, sides and neck of oak. Both are nice a loud with good bottom. David--what is your interest in round bodied mandos. Are you interested in building one. I thought that I was coming up with an original design, but--after some research I found that plenty of folks have experimented with the same over all look. Including Gretch guitars. Anyhow, I enjoy them--they may more correctly be labeled "folk instruments."

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  20. #44

    Default Re: Round mandolins

    Quote Originally Posted by Kirk Pey View Post
    Sausage. I don't know if you saw this one. (third one down on this page) http://www.wynnmandolins.com/pages/w...0s-wynns-2.php
    Where is the sound hole? Sorry again for not posting the picture.
    No, I missed that - thanks for pointing it out, and I'm happy to post the pics. Nice detail on the back of this one:

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    It is quite the mystery how the sound gets out. Perhaps there are ports in the side that we can't see?

  21. #45

    Default Re: Round mandolins

    Quote Originally Posted by pelone View Post
    David--what is your interest in round bodied mandos. Are you interested in building one. I thought that I was coming up with an original design, but--after some research I found that plenty of folks have experimented with the same over all look. Including Gretch guitars. Anyhow, I enjoy them--they may more correctly be labeled "folk instruments."
    Thanks very much Pelone. Well, I've just been thinking about it and was wondering if there were many out there. I'd love to build a mandolin one day, but it probably won't be very soon, as I have quite a few things on my list to do "one day". But when I do, I think it just might be a round one. For now it's more of an intellectual (or, um not-so-intellectual) exercise.

    If you are ever able to make a video or audio clip of your mandolins being played, I know I and others here would love to hear what they sound like.
    Last edited by OldSausage; Aug-17-2013 at 12:20am.

  22. #46

    Default Re: Round mandolins

    A Coulter mandolin, which has partially stolen my headstock concept:

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    The Coulter mando-cello:

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    with some more info here:

    http://harpguitars.net/blog/2012/09/coulter-continued/

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  24. #47
    Registered User Charles E.'s Avatar
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    Default Re: Round mandolins

    Dvid, I see you have found some "round" mandolins. When I read your first post, I thought of the Framus "Black Rose Baby"........

    http://www.framus-vintage.de/modules...tID=4672&cl=EN

    I still want to build one of these.
    Charley

    A bunch of stuff with four strings

  25. #48

    Default Re: Round mandolins

    Well, that is undoubtedly cool, although more of a vidalia onion shape:

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  27. #49
    Registered User Charles E.'s Avatar
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    Default Re: Round mandolins

    A person could use this design as a platform for a perfectly round mandolin (if they were so inclined), but it lacks a cut away.
    So, in comes the "Baby Rose De-Lux".........

    http://www.framus-vintage.de/modules...tID=4672&cl=EN

    Could be fun......
    Charley

    A bunch of stuff with four strings

  28. #50

    Default Re: Round mandolins

    Gotta love that cutaway:
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