My 3rd mandolin

[charlesa46741]

This is my third instrument. Red spruce and maple precarved by Siminoff. The rest of it is from scratch. The finish is varnish, with shellac french polished on top of the oil varnish. A couple of local musicians were kind enough to come and play it and one brought a 1930's Gibson Fern and a Gilchrist. My action was a little low so it wasn't real clean sounding, but they seemed to think the tone was ok. Here is the link to the video--I know the sound quality is terrible, but you might get a kick out of seeing the Gibson and the Gilchrist (I know I did). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfhw5lqFlLs. The first mandolin being played is the one I made.

[Scotti Adams]

Good job..looks mighty fine and sounds good too.

[amowry]

Looks great! Nice job staining, and I really like the headstock.

[Mattg]

Can you discuss the dyes and methods used to apply them? I'm about to dye my #1 and am gathering ideas.

Very nice looking mandolin!!!!

[Chris Keth]

I like your headstock inlay. It's an attractive way to combine your initials.

[Bluedragon]

I have to agree, the headstock looks great. simple, but elegant.

[Chris Keth]

Do you have any larger copies of these photos? I'd love to see your work in better detail.

[charlesa46741]

My posting and photography skills are pretty limited. I'm not sure these won't get pixelated when I post but I'll give it a try. I use water based stains applied more or less according to what Roger Siminoff describes in his book. I get a scrap piece of spruce and maple, sand to 220 and practice till I'm getting what I want. On this one I sprayed color on the outside edge to darken it a little.

[leathermarshmallow]

Awesome job! I hope it sounds as good as it looks!

[Skip Kelley]

Charles, That mandolin looks awesome! You did a fantastic job!! Time to start number 4.

[mandolinbill1949]

Muy bonito

[Paul Statman]

What a great job you did! Congratulations. They'll only get better, too! Well done, that man.