I apply a thin casein solution on the inside of slab cut backs to stiffen.
I apply a thin casein solution on the inside of slab cut backs to stiffen.
Thank you Patrick. Two of my friends, with around 60 years of mandolin building between them, suggested either carving the slab sawn quit maple thick or applying some sort of stiffening agent.
Cheers
http://www.mcdonaldstrings.com
The Mandolin Project on building mandolins
The Mandolin-a history
The Ukulele on building ukuleles
John Hamlett
www.hamlettinstruments.com
Just filed and re-slotted a replacement saddle for my PML. The need to do this is because the slots on this particular mandolin have to be 'offset' way to the edge of the usable indents.
In the 11 years I have owned it, I have never figured out the mystery of this bridge base's symmetry. Maybe I'll replace it one day and find that any other will sit centered between the sound holes.
Any opinions, ideas welcome.
*That's a cut-down clear self-adhesive teardrop guitar pick-guard on there. Phugly, but the best protection I could manage for the top without its floating guard, which sits too high.
Last edited by Paul Statman; Oct-01-2020 at 7:14pm.
Folks have used many strange esotheric things to "stiffen" wood. Research showed that they mostly add weight and deceive by making the top surface feel slightly harder to touch.
The few folks that I know to use thin wash of casein or similar mostly do it to seal the pores and slow down effects of humidity changes.
I personally would not like to find any substance on inside of instrument brought in for repair. SOmetimes these treatments will make repair harder (cleats not holding well, dust accumulated and stuck to inside etc...). Clean wood is always good choice, IMO.
Adrian
Each to their own. No problems with cleats or dust.
Working out a back for #002: I've mentioned other places here on MC that we cut down a 60 ish yr old Redbud tree that was obviously planted when our house was built (way before we bought the house or were born)... we babied that tree until it came to its end a few years back. I saved some of the wood and cut it into 4 billets that I resawed the other day... unfortunately not counting the spalted young wood it was not quite big enough, so I'll be laminating in 2 strips of walnut and another strip of redbud. So this will be another pancake made of redbud and walnut with a redwood top (which I hope to do in blacktop). I have it wiped down with a little mineral spirits to get an idea of the color.
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
I am a luthier specialising in historical and world stringed instruments. You can see more info at my website.
[IMG]Untitled by Gary Davis, on Flickr[/IMG]
Trying to finish graduating the cherry back.
Retired from luthiery, I am volunteering at the Heritage Boatworks at the St. Augustine Lighthouse...
Charley
A bunch of stuff with four strings
I love it when symmetry and Gibson F-style mandolins are indicated in the same conversation.
It would be nice to prove the center-line of the fretboard and the top's center join seam and tail piece position are aligned.
If the strings fall within the fretboard enough to play all that really matters is the bridge feet are mated to the top and the saddle is intonated correctly. No?
I am a luthier specialising in historical and world stringed instruments. You can see more info at my website.
It would prove to be difficult being that the Penobscot is 13 feet long and 4 feet wide. Kind of hard to play!
Charley
A bunch of stuff with four strings
The attempt to get another octave or two down never dissuaded the makers of pipe organs from some outrageous structures. 64’ tubes are not exactly portable.
Way, way back, when high fidelity was experimental, the guys in my dorm, looking at the numbers, were pretty sure that, once we got out and earned some money, those exponential horns with room-wall-sized mouths would be just about right. Especially if we wanted to hear some of those pedal tones.
First, thanks to the knowledgeable folk that helped me get up to speed on my lockdown projects. Many mistakes and process errors, but not bad, all things considered. I built a first mandolin from scratch using an Arches kit as a loose model, then put together the kit. The photo is from last week and now I have stain on the raw build mando and the kit ready for stain. On my test 'bursts' the water based varnish affected the burst. Do I need to spray the first coat to seal the stain? Other options?
Last edited by sounder; Dec-11-2020 at 11:10am. Reason: wrong picture and I can't seem to delete it, please help
If your dyes are also water-based, then, yes you'll need to spray a sealer coat or the brushing action may disturb the color. If you do your burst with alcohol based dyes they won't move around. Nice work on the binding from what I can see in your picture!
Thanks Rob,
I will switch to alcohol, when the back was sprayed it became 'mottled', not bad so I kept it but the front needed to be wiped back to a teaburst, not bad but not as intended. The binding job is not good but I learned a lot from my first attempt and the rosewood matches the headstock and does look quite good, if not examined too closely. The mando is now strung up and I am pretty (freakin) happy about playability, looks and sound.
This is my headstock design. Next time I will bind it with a black/white binding rather than inserting square silver wire.
New Condino segmented Fibonacci rosette in Brazilian rosewood that took a LOT longer than I expected + traditional mosaic tile made by my good friend professor Jason Kelley about 20 years ago when both of our lives were much more simple...plus the crazy amount of tools I used for such a small project!
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