Search:

Hi everyone,

It looks like I joined back in 2016 but never posted.

I recently discovered the baroque mandolino and it’s fascinating music, so I have been lurking around here recently. I don’t...

Cracks like these are generally caused by extremely low humidity and plate shrinking. They appear to be open on top (finish cracks) because the block underneath is cross grain and holds the bottom...

I think you are overthinking a Wright brother's problem with stealth fighter technology.

I played almost 40 Lloyd Loar signed F5s yesterday and they did ok with no cnc'd slots, even with my fussy...

Not quite a traditional F-5 but in the sprit of. European spruce and maple, ebony fretboard, Gotoh tuners and an Allen tailpiece. A K&K twin pickup installed with the socket mounted on an extra...

No matter what wood you use, you'll never achieve the real experience of playing a finely crafted, rare, vintage instrument with something the player knows is not.

That's because there are two...

Serious thanks to Brad Combs who has listed these 14 PDF files for anyone to download.
No more emails, no more thumb drives, no more CD's - do it yourself!

Issue #1:...

A few more.
206769206770206771

The Griffith tribute is finally strung up.
206766206767206768

Inlay engraved (I might touch it up a little more later...):
205985

Griffith tribute progress:
Finish sanded, stained (sunburst) and sealed:
205981205982

- - - Updated - - -

Bindings scraped:
205983205984

Not directly, but I've spent a couple of days in Hindman slogging through the mud trying to save as much as we can from the school of lutherie and Troublesome Creek Stringed Instrument Company. 3 of...

Jason is an old friend, so in no way would I want to discourage or criticize him and he definitely knows how to build a good instrument; 'nice looking mandolin.

There was a time a couple of...

A good friend of mine shared a few photos of this sweet Loar era Gibson K5 mandocello that was in for a bit of restoration work.

I'd like to keep him, the instrument, and the owner undisclosed...

Just for info. I do own 0 (zero) specialty luthier tools. I made all my mandolins using standard HW store tools or with tools I completely made or modified from common items. I don't have power...

Google is your friend....

Search around and you will see that they are very common and made in literally thousands of different shapes and sizes. The photo you posted is merely one example.

30...

Here are a couple of Loar shots from the Archive that I believe show the gentle curvature of the recurve near the tailpiece that I think is very important to the way the string load allows the top to...

Are you building mandolins to get pretty pictures in an engineering lab or to kick @$$ at a good gig or jam session? ;)

A bit late here. I will add that there are many softwares capable of much more than you need to capture taptones and such. Some of it free. Many violin folks like Audacity for frequancy plots and...

Went down that rabbit hole many, many years ago. Carved 2 sets of tone bars down to nothing. Too many variables. The biggest challenge was determining what the actual frequency of the fundamental...

Tap tuning is a waste of time? Yes well it is if you don't put an enormous amount of time and effort into doing the measurements so you have a database of measurements you can refer to, and read up...

There are a few people who perceive benefit from 'tap tuning', but there are quite a few of us who consider it a waste of our time and either don't do it or gave up trying to do it. Personally, I...

That's how I ended up with frets that didn't match in height. When you use those leftovers be sure they match your new wire (if it's not the same batch).
Also, I usually cut off a length of fret...

Bandsaws; one of my favorite wood nerd topics!

I've had almost a dozen different bandsaw guides over the years from dirt cheap up to approx. $600 a set from Tannewitz. My favorites for the large...

And if you use it after reaming you'll never get chipping when ou need to pull the bushing out.

I've been using similar bit ever since I built my first mandolin. The one I have is a "rotary file"...

But, the tool that is really the bee's knees is this chamfer tool:

https://www.stewmac.com/luthier-tools-and-supplies/tools-by-job/tools-for-tuner-installation/no-chip-tuner-hole-countersink/
...