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I have a great deal of respect for the immense amount of research and skilled craftsmanship that Mira Vana devotes to mandolin making. I thought it noteworthy to post photos of his recently finished...

This surprises me. I always respond to inquiries. I had an emergency in my family late last year. However, I thought that I followed up on all my emails. You may want to double-check to see if you...

Removing some old scars from this 1925 Gibson A model.

Thank you. My day job is working as a restorer at a professional violin shop. I get a lot of practice with varnish touch-up. I take a minimal approach to restoration. I want to preserve the original...

Complete with new Mother of Pearl nut and new ebony saddle on the original bridge.

Spirit varnish touch-up and French polish around the fingerboard and soundhole crack.

Resurfaced the original fingerboard flat and refretted with stainless steel .040” frets.

1911 Gibson A-4 restoration:

Glued and cleated two top cracks with hot hide glue.

Removed the fingerboard and straightened the neck with heat and clamps.

Resurfaced the neck straight with a...

Fastenal has M2 x 0.4 metric slotted screws available in cheese, flat, and pan head but not round head. McMaster-Carr is another good source for screws and washers. M2 washers in stainless are easy...

Hi Mike,
You may be able to request no gluing the buttons to the shaft and no gluing the screw in the shaft if you special order the tuners from Rubner.
The button screw has a hexagonal head and...

I think it’s important to mention that Rubner tuners do not use a fake screw to attach the button. The buttons can be removed and replaced. A metric screw (with a decorative head) is used to tighten...

Great work Adrian. Thank you Ivan. I use a spindle sander, a hand operated disc sander, and sanding sticks made from stainless steel tubing of varying diameter that I cut to shape. I have also used a...

Thanks Adrian, I’ve tried various methods, including installing the binding to the veneer before gluing onto the peghead. At one point, I even tried shaping the sides of the veneer to the same...

$5228.00

A&M Wood Specialty
http://www.amwoodinc.com

I bought it as dyed-black pear veneer. I tried dyeing it myself early on and it was a huge mess.

Yes, the outer ivoroid is extra thick in the areas needed. This photo shows how thick the binding is on the large scroll before shaping the peghead.

An interesting comparison between my F-4 #78538 and the Skinner F-4 #77580 is that the Skinner F-4 has an earlier Serial #, later Fon, and earlier Virzi no. Both were manufactured in 1923 according...

A Loar period F-4 mandolin sold on a Skinner auction last month.
F-4 #77580
Virzi, arrow-end tuners with coffee color buttons, and Loar rectangular case.
The mandolin & case needed some work. I...

Drilling for the tuners.

Tapering the peghead and gluing the back veneer.

Top bound ivoriod/black/white binding. First the inner black/white purfling is installed and then the outer ivoriod.

Black-dyed pear over holly veneer.

Some more detailed photos.

I recently learned that Bran Dillard, owner of Picker’s Supply, is selling #73726 July 9, ‘23. I had the opportunity to study this F-5 years ago. This mandolin greatly influenced my mandolin...

The strings are very balanced with good volume. Possibly dampened a little. The tone is a little more focused than other oval hole mandolins I’ve played. The fact that the neck is weighted by the...