Fred Young
Dec-14-2009, 2:57am
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48325Four pictures: before and after
Fred Young
Dec-14-2009, 3:10am
How do you spell mandolin Pic's ?
Rob Powell
Dec-14-2009, 3:53am
That's cool. I've often thought about using the spruce soundboard from old piano for mandolin tops. How does she sound?
Fred Young
Dec-14-2009, 10:45am
The above referenced pic's I posted shows my inability of the craft, but I am gaining experience. The tone board of the mandolin is from the wood of a 1902 hardy and sons piano, Research on the net " indicates they were one of the first to manuf. a piano in the US for home use, by taking a harp and lying in down and building into a frame. They also indicated they used the best tone wood that could be found, being 1902 wood I salvaged a piece to cut out a top. that is the result, but I am not sure what kind of wood that would be. You can see it is not of good quality q/s spruce. May be slab sawn, all opinions are welcome?
The back of the mandolin is from an old old church pew, one piece, The heart wood appears to be a 36" radius give or take a couple inches. Unbelievable to see a log with a six foot dia. heartwood. This maybe what one would call gunstock walnut. I am open for comments on this as well.
Just looking at the pic, you can see the sound board of the 1906 Chicago Cable Company piano, clearly nice spruce but not quite thick enough for a top for f5. The post on the back appear to be q/s spruce but are about 4 3/4 inchs sq. not quite wide enough to give me a two piece top for f5. I havent tried a three piece top, I am open for suggestions here as well.
Not being a good builder or player is troubling me. But having locals to play them for me has gotten good results. I tap tune, and use deflection methods
and strive for the bell like ring.
sebastiaan56
Dec-14-2009, 2:59pm
Not being a good builder or player is troubling me. But having locals to play them for me has gotten good results. I tap tune, and use deflection methods and strive for the bell like ring.
Dont sweat it. It looks great and if you are enjoying the exercise, well it doesnt get much better. I'd love to see some closeups of the soundboard.