A 5-course late medieval lute in Cherry which is almost done.
A 5-course late medieval lute in Cherry which is almost done.
I am a luthier specialising in historical and world stringed instruments. You can see more info at my website.
SGraham, I really like the figured walnut. I have a few nice pieces set aside for a size 1 guitar.
David Houchens
http://bryceinstruments.com/
Thanks David. It was such beautiful wood, but I only had a small piece. It ended up being just enough for a soprano uke. I hope you'll post pics of your curly walnut guitar when you start building it.
Steve
"They're approaching. That's very forward of them."
One of a pair of renaissance mandores I've been commissioned to build...
I am a luthier specialising in historical and world stringed instruments. You can see more info at my website.
A pair of mandos: one for a friend and one for my three-year-old daughter. The smaller mandolin will have an 11" scale and four strings. It will be tuned to standard GDAE. The idea is to have something (a) with low string tension, and (b) small enough so a child can learn proper chords. Both mandolins have a treble sound hole and a bass side port. Both have a forward-shifted bridge like the original A-5.
There's a lot of cleaning up and gap filling to do.
Matt Morgan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jztTl1mas94
My wife and I recently lost our beloved 50-60 year old Redbud tree that has been in our yard since we bought our home many years ago... before we knew we had to take it down last winter, it lost some if its larger branches which I saved and seasoned because I could tell that the wood was attractive. So here is the first armrest made of Redbud wood and I had to share because I was so pleased with how attractive the grain was:
Needless to say when I cut the tree down last month I saved some of the bigger hunks to season!
aka: Spencer
Silverangel Econo A #429
Soliver #001 Hand Crafted Pancake
Soliver Hand Crafted Mandolins and Mandolin Armrests
Armrests Here -- Mandolins Here
"You can never cross the ocean unless you have the courage
to lose sight of the shore, ...and also a boat with no holes in it.” -anonymous
Marty, that would do a high arch for sure.
David Houchens
http://bryceinstruments.com/
No mandolin content...
I had a guy I do a fair amount of repair work for, ask me to build a custom case for his wood key xylophone. I put him off several times but finally relented from his persistence and said I would take it on. I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into at the onset, I had never built a case before, let alone one with flight case hardware and a felted interior. I never felted anything before either but figured I could teach myself how to do it. I have worked in a custom cabinet shop since 1983 and done instrument repairs since 2000, should be easy, right? 72 hours later, spread out over 10 months, this is what I came up with.
The case is designed with a lift off lid and stacking trays. Bottom tray holds the keys, resonators in the next tray in the stack and the break down stand components in the top tray. The parts are presented in the order that you would need them, build the stand, add the resonators, finally the keys and stows away in the opposite order. The felting was very involved and I started with the rectangular compartments first to get the hang of it, the key tray was last. The flight case hardware all came from DIY Road cases on-line store. I have approximately 230 screws and nut and bolt fastenings which took longer than I would have guessed but then, so did everything else. I added the wheels after the case was done, it got a bit heavy. The tilt and roll wheels work pretty well.
Here are the trays prior to finish and hardware.
And images of the finished job with the Xylophone parts in place.
It's owner was very happy. I told him not to tell all of his xylophone pals who made it though. Told him I would bare my teeth, hiss and hold my fingers in a cross if someone else asked. The case was some what interesting, just to see if I could pull it off but not such a great money maker, I'll stick with instrument repairs and leave custom case builds to someone else hungrier than me.
Sucker for a hard luck case
The new Condino quintet- three Brazilian rosewood A5s, a striped ebony F5, and a 16" Brazilian rosewood octave mandolin, all with Ted Davis 1989 Red spruce tops....
Last edited by j. condino; Oct-21-2018 at 10:34pm.
A trio of baroque guitars I've been commissioned to build...
I am a luthier specialising in historical and world stringed instruments. You can see more info at my website.
More interesting stuff there, Jo. The bridge/saddle seems to sit much nearer the tail of the instrument in those baroque instruments, even nearer than on a classical guitar. Does this have a big effect on the tone you get? What sort of bracing is used on the soundboard? I really enjoy seeing all the less common instruments you have made your speciality.
I'm playing all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order. - Eric Morecambe
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheOldBores
Thanks! Yes, the bridge is further down than on a modern mandolin, certainly (though not relatively more so than a baroque mandolin of the same era). It might be to do with fixed vs floating bridge. I am using a bracing pattern based on this surviving instrument by Voboam:
The sound of a baroque guitar is quite different to that of a modern guitar - more delicate and with lots of 'campanellas' ('little bells') facilitated by the re-eantrant tuning, where the melody is between the thumb and fingers and rings out differently. This video gives a good example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BC7JNE8TdmY
I am a luthier specialising in historical and world stringed instruments. You can see more info at my website.
Thanks, Jo, and especially for the link to the baroque guitar being played. It has a really lovely sound and so different from a modern classical guitar.
I'm playing all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order. - Eric Morecambe
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheOldBores
David Houchens
http://bryceinstruments.com/
I did my first x-brace in a long time. This is the inside of what I call my Dudenmonster. The top was one of Lynn D's that didn't meet his quality level. I cut out the oval hole and made a rosette so far.
Old Hometown, Cabin Fever String Band
David Houchens
http://bryceinstruments.com/
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