View Full Version : New to the forum, my first mandolin!
arnelson
Jun-30-2011, 2:26pm
Hello everyone, my name is Andrew Nelson and I just completed my first mandolin. I've been building guitars for the past 4 years now and finally felt it was time to make a mandolin. I've wanted an f style mandolin for years, but just couldn't justify buying another instrument then, so I just decided to build it myself. Since you don't know me, I must admit that I don't like spending money, so the only parts bought for this mandolin are the tuners, strings, and lacquer. The bridge and tailpiece I re-purposed from an old mandolin. The top is a pice of reclaimed softwood that I got for free. The back and sides were from a cutoff at my local lumberyard for $4. I made the trussrod from cold rolled steel rod, and the blocks are mahogany cutoffs from some solidbody guitar blanks. All in all I have $98 into this build. Now I just need to learn how to play more than a few songs on it.
Andrew DeMarco
Jun-30-2011, 2:29pm
Sounds like an awesome build. Looks beautiful too. Can I ask, what is nut width?
arnelson
Jun-30-2011, 2:52pm
Thanks. Nut width on it is 1 1/8". I followed Siminoff's book "Constructing a Bluegrass Mandolin" for most of it. I tweeked the body shape a bit and scale length to 14 1/4".
andre66
Jul-01-2011, 10:23am
That is a very impressive build, nice work!
ColoradoKitsune
Jul-01-2011, 10:58am
Wow. impressive.
Fretbear
Jul-01-2011, 11:24am
Sweet; the scroll has a vintage Gibson mandola space to it....
JEStanek
Jul-01-2011, 11:47am
Looks fantastic. WElcome to the Cafe.
Jamie
arnelson
Jul-01-2011, 4:41pm
Thanks everyone. I love how vibrant this forum is. Fretbear, I'll have to look up some pics of a vintage Gibson Mandola to see what you mean. Honestly, before building this, I had never seen an f style mandolin in person. So I kinda guessed my way through the carving of the scroll. It was way harder than I had expected when I started planning.
baiyongjie
Jul-01-2011, 5:58pm
Wow, I'm very impressed! It's a beautiful mandolin. and your frugality is admirable!!
arnelson
Jul-02-2011, 9:13pm
I had a chance to upload a quick video of me playing the madolin to give you an idea of how it sounds.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1y2rDbBwN8
Ron McMillan
Jul-02-2011, 11:57pm
Sounds lovely. I'm very envious of your creative abilities, and I bet I am not alone.
rm
Paul Busman
Jul-03-2011, 7:48am
First rate, all around. Congratulations on a job very well done.
Wilbur Tabacsko
Jul-03-2011, 8:09am
Good job! Being your first it sure looks and sounds great!
Martian
Jul-03-2011, 8:21am
Good job! Just curious, is that a 3piece back, or a strip inlayed? I have often thought of doing something like that. Beautiful
arnelson
Jul-03-2011, 10:05am
Thanks everyone. Martian, the back is a 3piece. It has a center strip of Wenge, which is what the binding, headstock plates, fingerboard, and bridge are all made of. My next mandolin won't have wood binding. Getting the wood binding around the scroll and headstock was harder than I want for the next build.
Very nice, Looks and sounds great!
BadeInBulverde
Jul-03-2011, 11:46am
Really well executed! Nice full body sound ... I'm impressed!
Didge
Jul-05-2011, 12:17pm
Sounds as gorgeous as it looks, congratulations!