Round mandolins

[pelone]

David---when I crafted the top and bottoms I mounted a biscuit/disk to the lathe--came in from the front using the tool to work a nice and smooth slightly arched configuration then smoothed with grades of sandpaper. I then used a drill press with a forstner bit set at my desired thickness just above the bed of the press and drilled out a honeycomb pattern to create the concave portion. After chiseling and planing out the debris and then using a sanding disk I was able to shape the inside of the top and bottom into what looks like a large wooden contact lens. I held the top up to a bright light and continued to remove material around the inside surface to achieve a nice tone by tapping. The photos,obviously, do not show that I installed a graphite rod under the tops from the heel of the neck to the tailpiece area to counter the pressure of the strings as compression may draw the nut and tailpiece "two ends against the middle". What I do know is that they stay in tune really well--perhaps due to the ridge nature of the longitudinal strength.

I would love to see any photos that you use as you start on your project.

[Marty Jacobson]

Pelone, that's cool. You could easily turn both the inside and out on the lathe. It would actually be a pretty easy project, compared to the deep hollow forms I used to do... a vacuum chuck would make it a snap, but you could use a CA glued fixture after flipping the part, too.

[OldSausage]

Yes, that's amazing, Pelone, you really figured that out nicely. I promise when I get around to building this thing I will share the pics with all.

[JimC11]

I think this photo will fit your bill. It is a mandolin that my grandfather played. I never saw him play it because he was mustard gassed during WW1 and I never remember him not being in bed with lung cancer when I was a child.
Now I hope you can help me. The name on the mandolin is 'Florence'. Has anyone ever heard or seen any information on a manufacturer named 'Florence'? I've searched the web many times but never came up with anything.

[mandroid]

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:

Rim stick .. continuation of the neck through the pot. .

then you could add an X brace across the spruce to support the top.

of course the 2 , top and stick part of the neck, would not touch.

[jso]

I've just returned to the forum after months of being busy doing other things, and found this delightful thread with some images of some lovely mandolins.

However, I think Old Sausage has limited the enquiry too much.What he should really be looking for is a perfectly spherical mandolin.

Now there's a challenge for the imagination. And an even greater one for a builder and a player.

[Jim Garber]

IHowever, I think Old Sausage has limited the enquiry too much.What he should really be looking for is a perfectly spherical mandolin.

Here ya go... from April 1 in the distant past... a real bowlback.

[jso]

Brilliant!

[Dave Hicks]

I think this photo will fit your bill. It is a mandolin that my grandfather played. I never saw him play it because he was mustard gassed during WW1 and I never remember him not being in bed with lung cancer when I was a child.
Now I hope you can help me. The name on the mandolin is 'Florence'. Has anyone ever heard or seen any information on a manufacturer named 'Florence'? I've searched the web many times but never came up with anything.

This probably would get more responses as a separate thread in this section of the forum.

D.H.

[Jim Garber]

I think this photo will fit your bill. It is a mandolin that my grandfather played. I never saw him play it because he was mustard gassed during WW1 and I never remember him not being in bed with lung cancer when I was a child.
Now I hope you can help me. The name on the mandolin is 'Florence'. Has anyone ever heard or seen any information on a manufacturer named 'Florence'? I've searched the web many times but never came up with anything.

I have a feeling that this is a modified Blue-Comet style mandolin. Check nout the shape of the peghead and the plastic of the pickguard. It also looks like whoever did the modification might have used the grommets. These are two very common variants of the Blue Comet, one without and one with a resonator back.

[Tom Haywood]

Sorry, no mandolin content, but I'm certain that understanding the science discussed here is necessary to the creation of the perfect round mandolin, and certainly to builders working with the concept of mass.

[Marty Jacobson]

That's pretty fascinating, Tom. Best part was watching how they were lapping the sphere. I realized it's like a lathe, but in two axes. Turn a part in a lathe, and you get a cylinder. Tumble a part, and you will eventually get a sphere.

[OldSausage]

Rim stick .. continuation of the neck through the pot. .

then you could add an X brace across the spruce to support the top.

of course the 2 , top and stick part of the neck, would not touch.

Can anyone tell me if this would really be necessary - that is, is the reason that most mandolins are some variation on the egg shape because a round mandolin would be structurally unsound without doing something like having a stiffener inside the body? Or would you just have to try it and see?

[Marty Jacobson]

The reason why banjos have the neck-through type construction is that they do not have a back, and a cylinder with only one end capped will deform like a potato chip (or hyperbolic paraboloid, if you prefer :-).
A closed cylindrical form will have sufficient strength if the back and top plates are similar in structure to a normal mandolin and the rim is of sufficient strength. Basically, the fact that it's round is practically irrelevant.

[OldSausage]

Thanks Marty - super cool!

[Bill Snyder]

So David how goes the gearing up and construction process? Only knowing you from your MC posts and seeing your Youtube videos I suspect if you do build a mando it will be a pretty good first effort.

[Petrus]

I'd like a nice nested Klein bottle transparent bowlback. Still working on how to fit the strings, though.

[pfox14]

Gibson's Alrite Model D wasn't exactly round but close.

[Pete Jenner]

Have you started building yet Dave?

[Paul Hostetter]

I doubt that an arched top would be practical, if even possible, on a circular body.

I've always sprung in radiused braces, and I'm fairly certain that's what Iucci and DeWick did. If it's dead flat, it sounds like a banjo. If it has a bit of tension built in, it speaks very differently.

Here's an octave mandolin I built, based on the Iucci:

[Petrus]

Saw this one sold on eBay recently for $80.

[Petrus]

I have a feeling that this is a modified Blue-Comet style mandolin. Check out the shape of the peghead and the plastic of the pickguard. It also looks like whoever did the modification might have used the grommets. These are two very common variants of the Blue Comet, one without and one with a resonator back.

My Artistic ResoHolic (the brand is real, the nickname is my own nomenclature) is nearly identical to the third photo in post #60 above -- f holes, pickguard (mine is silver-gray), and sixteen holes around the outer rim of the second body. For some reason, all the grommets (the round metal rings around the little holes) are gone. I can't imagine who would take them all off. Any ideas where to find rings to fit those holes? The little screens I can probably make myself by punching out holes from a real screen. I'm looking for a scallop tailpiece cover too.

[Mandocarver]

My Artistic ResoHolic (the brand is real, the nickname is my own nomenclature) is nearly identical to the third photo in post #60 above -- f holes, pickguard (mine is silver-gray), and sixteen holes around the outer rim of the second body. For some reason, all the grommets (the round metal rings around the little holes) are gone. I can't imagine who would take them all off. Any ideas where to find rings to fit those holes? The little screens I can probably make myself by punching out holes from a real screen. I'm looking for a scallop tailpiece cover too.

For grommets, try http://cbgitty.com (CB Gitty Crafter Supplies).

[OldSausage]

So David how goes the gearing up and construction process? Only knowing you from your MC posts and seeing your Youtube videos I suspect if you do build a mando it will be a pretty good first effort.

Thanks Bill!

Have you started building yet Dave?

Well, I've started building a more conventional A style first - there's so much for me to learn here that I think going straight to a less conventional design would have been a challenge. Also if I built a round mandolin first and it sounded really bad, I'd never know if it was because it was round or because I was such a crummy builder (although I guess the latter would be the safest bet). I have the top and back carved, but it will be slow going for a while, I aim to have it finished by the summer. If that goes well, maybe I'll try a round one next year.

[Pete Jenner]

Yeah - as some of the greats have said to me (and I paraphrase), if it is mandolin shaped, it will likely sound like a mandolin.