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Too bad about that human element. ;<)

Considering every vibration that the instrument can make is a pretty tall order. Deciding whether any one of those vibrations either contributes to sound or is just wasting energy is an even taller...

There are a number of factors contributing to responsiveness in mandolins, or in any plucked string instrument for that matter. How the top and back plates are arched is one factor. The...

As a side note, I always save all of the offcuts until the build is finished; you never know what is waiting to destroy all the hard work. Torrified spruce vs hungry router bit: a bit of creative...

Here's wishing a super, fun, healthy, and family-centric Thanksgiving to all my friends here on MandolinCafe!
Roger

Timelapse of building the body of a Brescian/Cremonese mandolin:
dB-r5-VVvS8

Nyckelharpa #1 complete. Failed to make a bow on time, so still don't know what it sounds like. Pretty pleased with the aesthetics, though.

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Dave: Thx for the mention.

I definitely want to point out that the origins of my method came from seeing one of your earlier mandolins that had a removable back. Yours had ultralight nylon ...

Back plate stiffness vs top plate stiffness has an impact on the bass/treble balance of an instrument. I don''t like the word "tune", because that can be taken as implying that the parts of an...

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:...

To each their own. Seems a bit self-contradictory though, in that you start by asking "What effects sound?", and now say in essence that you don't need anything more complicated than tapping your...

I'm never sure where to post instruments; since I tend to spend the most time in this area, here goes.

This is one from my personal stash that I don't show off very often.

It is a 2014 model...

You can buy black shellac for pianos.

Yup, black base layer, and regular FP on top.

If you have sufficient color, let it sit for a few days, and then you can finish it up with a few clear coats.

Set the relief first. If the fret job is accurate enough, my rule of thumb for an A-5 is to fret the instrument simultaneously at the 1st fret and the 12th fret; and go for a clearance of only a few...

No mandolin content here, but an excellent article on John Becker, a luthier's luthier. He's considered the leading authority on repairing and maintaining Stradivari violins. ...

After thinking about for a while, I decided the mandolin quartet should have sunburst finishes, rather than just clear lacquer.

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I've got a huge amount of notes & blueprints that I have made over the last four+ decades of building instruments, in addition to several commercially available blueprints. I've been looking into the...

I would be thinking about M4 threaded inserts rather than the larger 6mm type used for guitars. The vertical dowel in the heel is a good idea for a couple of reasons. Many German mandolins of that...

Some more progress on the quartet. The head overlays have been glued to the necks and the tuner holes drilled. The head overlays are gidgee with flamed blackwood centre strips and ivoroid binding....

For the past couple of years I have been thinking about building a mandolin quartet, two mandolins, a mandola and a mandocello from (mostly) Australian timbers: King Billy pine for the soundboards,...

One has to understand how bending wood works.
First when you bend wood, the outside layer wants to stretch and the inner compress. You must count with strengths of your wood when bending. In most...

It was mentioned that this thread has been beat to death yet I see new builders who don’t get it, in my opinion anyway. And some longtime builders. That’s why I post.

Only 5 and 7 are sharp? If it is two frets only, and all strings are sharp at those frets, that is inaccurate frets. If other frets are also sharp, it could be the string nut; either string notches...