Irish Fest Mando

[Mark Franzke]

I received a grant from the KC Irish Fest to build a custom mandolin that will be auctioned off and the proceeds will go toward funding a scholarship. I wanted to use some Celtic style "knot work" and also connect it to Kansas City, which calls itself the "City of Fountains." I just got it strung up in the white, and I am quite happy with it, so I wanted to post some pre-finished photos.
The festival is not until September. I'm not sure when the auction will start, but it will be on-line probably just before the festival and will probably close on the last day of the festival. Scott will help spread the word when they are ready for that. I set up a blog to document the entire process, starting with a drive to Fulton, MO to hand-select the woods.
Anyway, here's a link to the festival:http://www.kcirishfest.com/
And to the blog:http://franzkemandolins.blogspot.com/

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[ColdBeerGoCubs]

Very Nice.

[Steve-o]

Mark,
Wow, what a special mando you've created. Very nice custom touches. I like the flow (no pun intended) and gestalt of it. It also looks very well constructed. What color choice are you going with? Green?

[Steve Cantrell]

That mandolin is beautiful. Well done.

[Jim MacDaniel]

Wow -- that's a real looker -- nicely done.

[hank]

Beautiful design and workmanship Mark, you've created one bodacious bogaloo. A fantastic Irish dream mandolin that I believe will be perfect for the KC festival auction.

[Charles E.]

Now that is one crazy sweet mandolin. Love the sound hole rosette.

[Mandolin Mick]

I like your mandolin, especially the rosette around the sound hole.

[ISU Trout Bum]

Beautiful! I will talk to my wife and see if she will let me bid on it. We have been going to the Fest every year for the past few years. Love it. Thanks for the work and contributing to the scholarship!

Best,
Eric

[crazymandolinist]

Is that thing in the white? If so, I think it would look absolutely KILLER if you used a violin finish.

[Mark Franzke]

That is in the white. It will have a french polished varnish finish, but I am still undecided about color. I like the contrast with the maple and ebony, but I also like using a darker color to set off the maple binding. I have a couple others that I'm finishing right now, so it will be a couple of weeks before I have to decide. That rosette and peghead design were quite tricky. No two pieces are the same shape, so I had to number the pieces and keep them straight until they were finally in place.

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[BBarton]

Gorgeous!!! Lovely work... I won't go to the KCIF, but I hope we all get a chance to bid on this on-line. I have a couple of Sawchyn instruments where he used a 'French violin' stain finish -- basically natural, but just enough aging toner to take the starkness from the natural wood and really highlight the maple grain. Would look pretty nice on this!

[MandoNicity]

Lovely looking mando, I too really dig the irish knot rosette.

JR