Hey all... Knowing how much input there was on the Spring '13 batch, I figured it was time to start a new discussion on the 2014 batch. I'm sure it will grow quite a bit as our mandolins get built. Marty sent me design work for the head stock and fret board inlays today. I wish I could share pictures with you as they are absolutely beautiful. Like Paula, I've followed Marty's builds and have communicated with him for over a year now. I'll also be on the receiving end of a Black Tie (#30). Hi Paula, I like your choice. Who else is out there and what are you having Marty build for you? It goes without saying that all the 2013 recipients and other MJ fans are welcome to join in here as well.
Mike - Marty and I just finished discussing specs. #34 is going to be a very cool nautilus. What makes yours a black tie?
Hey Killian.... The Black Tie gets it's name from the contrast between the front and back plates and the sides, neck, etc. (think tuxedo). Mine will have a spruce top, curly maple back and ZIRICOTE sides, neck and head stock overlay. If you go to Marty's web site and look at his instruments there are a couple of good pictures of Black Tie #1 and #2. #2 is the one owned by David Mold (Old Sausage) and the one he plays so well in a couple of the videos he's posted here. Let us know what details you and Marty work out for yours.
Oh, OK. Mine may be a black tie as well then. Spruce top, paudauk sides, maple back.
Here is the piece of maple I chose (out of 3) for the back of #34.
Thanks for starting this, guys. Here's a first stab at the design for Mike's #30. Based on your feedback, Mike, I'm going to make a few tweaks to get the leaves to be a little more Victorian looking instead of being so 1920's in style. Here's Lee's #37 - lapis lazuli blocks with gold-backed amber koi and a couple of pearloid koi... And here's a crazy one - 10-string mandolin-dola, number #38. Killian, cutting the padauk is always fun. I don't use a chop saw much, so I just throw it on the floor when I need it. Red dust everywhere! You can also see curly maple, wenge, ziricote, figured walnut...
Let's see what else... Padauk neck for Killian... Figured walnut headstock and curly back for #38...
So cool to be a part of the spring batch. Thanks Marty.
Mine is #37 with the Lapis and Koi inlay. Looking forward to the build process. I guess mine is sort of a Black Tie as well.
Is there a story behind the Lapis and Koi inlays?
Nope. Marty had the idea and I thought it looked great. I like Lapis Laszuli and he had the water theme. Kismet!
I actually like dragons and pink flamingos. The koi seem to be calming. I like that.
Some really cool design's.
I really like the vine inlay on the fretboard of #30.
Thanks Killian...Marty's not done with his design magic yet. Likewise, I like the piece of maple you selected for the back of yours. It has a nice grain pattern that will look great under finish.
Marty, I'm looking at your ad in the classifieds for #25. It's a beautiful instrument and some lucky cafe' member,is going to be very happy, I'm sure. A couple of days ago, Killian asked what made #30 a Black Tie. I'm not,sure I answered his question correctly, and I wonder if you might give us your definition of a Black Tie vs a Nautilus when you get a minute. I'm sure we'd all appreciate it. Thanks...Mike
Thanks, Mike. #25 is a cool instrument, I wouldn't mind keeping it. The "Black Tie" is really just a descriptive nickname for instruments with very dark exotic wood for the sides and neck (could be wenge, ziricote, ebony, cocobolo, whatever), and paired with a spruce top and curly maple back. Killian's started out as a Black Tie, but with the use of padauk and jarrah, the Celtic inlay it will be receiving, etc., it will be a unique Nautilus.
Red Tie or O'Nautilus Rua.
Marty is building #35 for me. It will be Wenge Back and Sides with a Curly Redwood Top. F-Holes with a Wenge/Maple Neck & Ebony Fret board.
Yep, Chris's #35 is going to be pretty sweet. I still need to work up a visual mockup of his, will post it when I get it worked out. Here's Linda's - ziricote sides, neck, and back with a curly redwood top and a "Celtic River" theme. This is a long scale mandolin. 15.25" or so.
Marty - Fabulous designs. I can't wait to see Chris' and Linda's mandolins come to life. - Steve (#18)
Is that an otter? Wow, that fretboard is GORGEOUS! Linda, can't wait to see it come to life. They all look amazing, Marty.
Hehe, yeah, the otter was requested by the customer. It took me a while to figure out how to work it in, but I like the playfulness. And I've been wanting to do a Celtic thing for a while. Here's how Killian's came out. Another Celtic thing... not quite dialed in, but getting there:
That Celtic Knot with your logo running up the middle of the headstock looks killer. These are going to look amazing when they go "live"! You have some serious work ahead of you, Marty.
Work? Nah, this stuff is fun. Finishing... now that's work.
How's the spring batch coming along? Inquiring minds want to know!
The fret board inlay on #35 with the otter and all is just great...lots of fun! Don't know where you get your ideas, Marty, but they're fantastic, as usual.
Thanks, Mike! The ideas don't come from me alone, they come from the things you all bring up in conversation. I just try to put it all together. Lee, to sort of answer your question .. The three most time-consuming parts of the last batch were finishing, refining tailpieces, designing decorative elements, and assembling the materials. Materials - check- all wood is in the shop and seasoned. Much of it is already prepped, though I do need to glue up the laminated neck stock. I also need to joint some pieces of the spruce. I'll do those tasks while I'm machining top and back plates. I will also be making the pre-laminated rims during that time, hopefully. Then while I'm voicing tops and gluing up bodies, I will be machining the necks. Design is pretty much done. And I'm not going to touch the tailpiece design. In fact, tonight I'm mass-producing tailpieces so I can't change my mind later in the process! I can never leave well enough alone unless I intentionally freeze the design and give myself no way to keep fiddling. The past couple weeks, I've been learning a new varnish system which has had a steep learning curve. But the results are gorgeous, very durable, and will avoid the interminable delays with finishing that plagued my last batch. No point in building these things efficiently if it takes me six months to get them out the door due to finishing. Also my teaching job has been heating up, but I have several weeks coming up where I will be 100% focusing on this batch, so there will be a lot of progress very quickly once I can actually get the carving going.
Hi Marty, Not in a hurry. Just like to see a craftsman at work!
So I decided that I would be making the necks first. I've been rethinking my neck fixturing - like I promised myself I wouldn't. But I will be making some mandolins in this batch with lower neck angles, so it was a good opportunity to figure out a more efficient machining process. So I'm working through all the wood. I am making several extras of each. I really, really hate having to go back to an earlier stage of the process just because I didn't have the foresight to prepare extras. Hopefully I will end up with the components for another batch ready to put together while this one is going through the finishing process. This week I will try to get as many necks and headblock/tailblock assemblies done as possible.
Neat! It's fun looking at these photos, trying to figure out which pieces of wood will eventually be my mandolin! Lee
Thanks for the pics, Marty...this is where it really starts getting to be fun!
It is very fun to watch these take shape! Mine is a Black Tie (#39) with a bird's eye maple back and some viney inlay. I had the opportunity to visit the shop a few weeks ago and saw some of the wood. I also had the good fortune to play around with #25, which is how I am asking mine to sound. There is something special about that one . The koi fish is really cool, can't wait to see how that looks. Of course, right now my focus is still learning to play, but watching my mandolin being built will be special.
Hi PaulaJ. Mine is #37, also a Black Tie which will be similar to #25. Maybe a little deeper. This will be fun to watch. Lee
As the lucky one who ended up with #25 I have to agree with Paula, the sound and playability of it is really something special. As with all of Marty's builds it is quite a looker too! I have a hard time leaving it locked in it's case all day while I am at work. It yearns to be played! I am really looking forward to seeing and hearing the new builds, as always the material selection and design work is mouthwatering :D
Mine will be a Nautilus Concerto, and will be #32. We haven't finalized all the details yet, but it will have a 13 inch scale, slender rounded neck, and a narrow, asymetretrical headstock. It will be unornamented to focus on the beauty of the woods. Right now the woods under consideration are: highly flamed maple sides and neck, straight-grained redwood top, and Khaya mahogany back. The fretboard will be striped Macassar ebony or pure black Gabon ebony. I am still uncertain about whether it should have f holes or an oval hole and will discuss this further with Marty. I am looking forward to what will be not only a wonderful instrument to play, but also a work of art. Evelyn
Hey everyone, I started cutting necks a few days ago and noticed some inaccuracies. In tuning the machine up, I fried one of the controllers. So I'm stuck rebuilding 1/4 of the cnc controller, hopefully will be done with that and back on track by Friday.
Ain't technology wonderful?!?!
Yeah, there's always something other than my own planning or mistakes to blame.. :-)
CNC's back up an cutting resumes in the AM. Putting the national holiday to good use. Stay tuned.
Back up and cutting! A few unexpected issues, of course, but got the machine ticking over correctly by 5pm, and still got six first ops done today. Wenge cuts like it's cursed, so I'll have to cut off the wings of the headstock and do those manually on the two wenge necks. I kind of expected to have to do that anyway, it happened last time, too. This time I did a lot of programming to avoid that problem, but it's just too ornery to work in those sharp corners.
Is mine the third one down on the left (#32)? Thrilling to watch them being built.
Hi Evelyn, not yet. Yours is a custom scale length, and I have only cut standard scales so far.
Is mine one of the ones on the left? Those two look like Walnut and Maple. Lee
Lee, the dark ones on the left are wenge. One will be for a mandolin for myself, hopefully, and the other is Chris's #35. There are four of the six current walnut blanks at the bottom edge.. highly figured walnut like this is very hard to find, so I ran some maple, wenge, and padauk necks first. After rebuilding a CNC machine, you always want to run some replaceable parts first. I messed up one of the red padauk necks as part of the troubleshooting, but it's salvageable and will go into a spec instrument. It'll just need a slightly different headstock shape. The other padauk neck will probably be for Killian's #34, but I'm making four padauk necks in total, so his will be one of the three.
Thanks Marty. The bottom three would have been my next guess. Take your time, have fun, be an artist. Lee
The boys helped me clean up the shop and prep for second ops this morning. After some adjustments, I ran the first second op. So now I'm in business for all the standard neck angle, standard scale length instruments. I'll still need to make two more neck fixtures like this one to accommodate the low neck angle instruments and Bill's 10-string, which has a different headstock angle to account for the fanned fretboard.
How long before you let him start on his first mandolin? He looks like you, Marty...a good looking guy
Hehe, he actually was asking yesterday if he could build one, but I am not sure he is quite aware of the scale of the project... This is actually their "mandolin"... they all helped out with sanding, etc.
cool telemando.
