My daughter's piccolo mandolin

[baiyongjie]

I had the crazy idea to make a piccolo mandolin for my daughter's sixth birthday, and here is the nearly finished result. It's past her birthday now, but she's still happy to see it. I only have some adjustment of the nut left. I put four Aquilla Nylgut strings on it to go easy on her fingers, thanks to Margriet's suggestion. It sounds fine so far, but I have yet to get it up to pitch (CGDA). I didn't realize just how much the strings would stretch! I had to laugh as I was tuning up but the pitch was dropping.:))
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[chasray]

Love the heart shaped hole!

[baiyongjie]

Thank you, Chasray! That was her special request.

[Ed Goist]

Beautiful!
Fantastic job.
What a thoughtful and meaningful gift!

[Jill McAuley]

Awesome! Get 'em hooked on music early - what a great gift!

Cheers,
Jill

[Randi Gormley]

beautiful instrument, beautiful girl and the smile says it all. congrats!

[Pete Summers]

They are both as cute as a button. :)

[Steve Sorensen]

Something that will have a positively impact for her whole life! Sweet.

[Margriet]

It sounds fine so far, but I have yet to get it up to pitch (CGDA). I didn't realize just how much the strings would stretch! I had to laugh as I was tuning up but the pitch was dropping.:)) 73218

Great, Baiyongjie !
It was Alex Timmermans ' advice to start with single nylon strings, in the case children are this young. But he says it does not matter the pitch as long as it is tuned in fifths.
Margriet

[baiyongjie]

Thank you to everyone for your comments! I'm going to take it to work with me today to try to finish during my lunch break, because she can't wait to play it. I just need to lower the nut a bit, and then when I get it at a stable pitch, I"ll see about other adjustments.

She started taking piano lessons at her preschool last year, and she likes it mostly, but the tests stress her out and make her not want to play. I want this to be completely fun for her without any pressure. I hope she'll have fun! And I'd love to play along with her!

As for the tuning, I have been able to hit CGDA on it, it just doesn't stay there yet. I'm hoping I won't break the high A trying to get it to stay up there. It was a set of eight strings, so I have four more. If it doesn't work, I'll tune it down a bit.

[JEStanek]

Wonderful gift. Fantastic!

Jamie

[fatt-dad]

wonderful photo! Inspirational!

f-d

[baiyongjie]

Thanks again for all the comments! It's pretty much done, except for the 12th fret being too high, so I need to do some leveling, but for now I'm letting her play it, and she's having a lot of fun!:mandosmiley:

I broke the high string when I was trying to get it up to A but overshot. It felt like a terrible waste to lose that string, so I tried tying the left over string to it with a blood knot (The break was between the bridge and tailpiece), and it worked! Now it's fully up to CGDA, and it doesn't sound too bad.:)