roberto216
Feb-22-2012, 8:24pm
Recently finished my Don Kawalek kit mandolin build. It came out pretty nice for my first time building a musical instrument. I sure learned a lot! Don was very helpful. In fact, I didn't have the tools to cut the binding channels so Don offered to do it for me. I mailed him the body and he installed the bindings and mailed it back to me.
I messed up the tuner holes the first time so I plugged them, thinned the original ebony overlay, and added a macassar ebony veneer. The finished peghead looks pretty nice and now I'm happy I messed it up the first try. Another lesson learned too.
I learned that written instructions only get you so far too. Youtube was a blessing to see video of fret work and neck shaping. Even learned a tip from a Lynn Dudenbostel site. Gotta' love the internet.
Besides the shape of the peghead, the only change I made to the standard kit was to radius the fingerboard (12"R) with a Stewmac radiused sanding block.
It plays and sounds nice. The next one (if there is one) should be even better.
I messed up the tuner holes the first time so I plugged them, thinned the original ebony overlay, and added a macassar ebony veneer. The finished peghead looks pretty nice and now I'm happy I messed it up the first try. Another lesson learned too.
I learned that written instructions only get you so far too. Youtube was a blessing to see video of fret work and neck shaping. Even learned a tip from a Lynn Dudenbostel site. Gotta' love the internet.
Besides the shape of the peghead, the only change I made to the standard kit was to radius the fingerboard (12"R) with a Stewmac radiused sanding block.
It plays and sounds nice. The next one (if there is one) should be even better.