Mandolins Under The Microscope

[Seter]

One of my hobbies is amateur microscope photography; I decided I should point mine at a mandolin. Unfortunately not all parts of the mandolin fit under my microscope but I did get some good pictures, as well as some shots of a pick.

[Marty Jacobson]

This is a luthier's worst nightmare. :-)

Really cool. Is that an A-Junior?

What kind of setup is this? Is it a normal reflected light microscope with an adapter? I had a 150mm f2.8 macro lens and spacer tubes for a while... got some really cool pictures at beyond full magnification, but you need to carry around multiple wireless flashes plus that big lens. Gets tiring when you're also chasing around 3 kids at the botanical gardens try to get them not to step on the plants.

[Seter]

This is a luthier's worst nightmare. :-)

Really cool. Is that an A-Junior?

What kind of setup is this? Is it a normal reflected light microscope with an adapter? I had a 150mm f2.8 macro lens and spacer tubes for a while... got some really cool pictures at beyond full magnification, but you need to carry around multiple wireless flashes plus that big lens. Gets tiring when you're also chasing around 3 kids at the botanical gardens try to get them not to step on the plants.

It's actually two mandolins, the first picture is from an old no-name bowlback and the others are from a Stradolin. For the microscope, it's a Celestron InfiniView that takes 5 MP pictures. It takes videos too, maybe I'll try that next. I have thought one of those handheld digital microscopes would be neat for using on larger objects that won't fit under a conventional microscope.

[Bill Bradshaw]

What fun. It's a whole nother world looking at every day things under a microscope. just spent 2 hours looking through a dissecting scope at mineral specimens and rocks with my daughter.

The thought of old mando strings is kinda scary, but probably worth a look.

Thanks for the thread.

Bill

[Tavy]

This is a luthier's worst nightmare. :-)

I still have nightmares about the thread which begin "If I look at my mandolin under a loupe..."

This thread is cool though.... particularly liked the strings!

[Randi Gormley]

I always knew that stuff like dust, finger skin and assorted crumbs end up on fretboards and on strings, but i was able to ignore them ... ah, well!