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I'm in Murphy NC and would be happy to work with you to perfect your setup. Not a business for me, I focus on helping local folks, especially those playing in church, etc. If you don't settle on...

For me, the safest solution has been a plywood sled jig for the tablesaw. A spline rides in the miter slot, and the plywood "table" is cut off on the saw making it very easy to sight the cut....

Sunburst, I've been using the "driving the bus" sanding method, and have been rubbing a pencil on the rim, sanding until the pencil disappears. Your suggestion provided a major "doh!" moment for me....

I use them for several things (eg. Bolt on dobro neck). I get them at Lowes in small 8-piece packs. They have a wide variety of sizes.

I have a Archtop Build Journal and a plan available at Musical Instrument Makers Forum. There are lots of other resources on the site you may find helpful.

Plan:...

I use Just Strings.com for the ball end strings. The sell bulk packs in just about any gage. Really inexpensive.

My bender in action:
https://youtu.be/NRdh_jVhQUY

I am very non-photogenic. Recommend caution if you choose to expose your eyes to this. ;-)

I had no problem compressing the charcoal starter down. I have a heavy iron bench vise that worked great. I was concerned about losing the electrical integrity due to the compression but no problem,...

In my case, I had read of others receiving scorched shirts or worse from propane or other combustion sources. I also was concerned that my smaller original shop had plenty of combustible dust and...

My bender is also 2" heavy wall galvanized pipe. The heat source is a charcoal starter compressed to fit tight inside the pipe and controlled with a 600W light dimmer. I monitor the temperature with...

To be clear(er), I have razor saws with 0.010" and 0.013" kerfs. If the original nut is intact, it's easy to use it as a guide, rubbing the saw blade against the nut while cutting down through the...

If in the end you are not satisfied with your results, or if you happen to plan to be in the Murphy area, message me and I'll try to help.

If I understand your description correctly, the 12th fret harmonic and the 12th fret fretted pitch are a good match. Most mandolin bridges have a staggered compensation for the individual string...

Leave it, maybe stabilize with superglue, and you truly will have a one-of-a-kind instrument with a compelling story! Really cool to have along with the spalted figure in the maple.

You are welcome, Bill. Consider that if you already have the nut files (or are going to acquire them), making a new nut really is not difficult at all. That would be my preference over filling or...

You can rock the smaller size file slightly to open the slot for a perfect fit - I have done this many times. As usual, the goal is to have slot depth about one-half the string diameter.

For...

I looked into my saved info from 2015 and I did compile a video slide show with music played on the same guitar. Was a wonderful project for Bridget, the daughter of some dear friends. Attempting to...

Built a 16" archtop guitar with a cherry body and Englemann front. As stated above, the cherry was well behaved in bending. I will confirm that the cherry I worked with was very hard, and as a...

As sunburst stated, the 0.080" wire seems to be the standard for mandolins. Since this is a new build, consider that mandolins are especially prone to fret wear with the usual nickel-silver wire. I...

The binding is usually more a problem with the wound strings. As Peter states, and it's easy to do, get a very sharp #2 pencil and rub a little in each nut slot, one string at a time. Spin each tuner...

Cool! Right on the route between Seneca SC and Murphy NC we travel often!

Marty, I'm actually an engineer for a major cemented carbide tool manufacturer! While it might seem that the hardness of carbide would offer the desired wear resistance, what appears to be needed for...

I had a red maple tree sawn some years back. Not curly, but it makes great sounding instruments. This was a pretty big tree at 19 to 20" diameter. The local sawyer recommended sawing at 2.5" and...

I purchase Ultex 1.2mm larger 3 corner picks and use that as raw material. The ideal size for me is maybe 80% the size of the starting pick material. I like the "snap" of a 0.73mm pick but the...

(Finally back to the mandolin build after a break to do some real life - travel, played at a really sweet wedding, etc.)

Finishing Up the Front Plate:

The scroll is roughed cut using a Ryobi...