Thinking of build oval hole and f-style at the same time...

[dadsaster]

I'm an experienced furniture maker interested in building a couple of mandolins. I would like to build both and f-hole and an oval hole. I wondering if there is any advantage to building both at the same time?

Is the construction of oval hole mandolins always significantly different from the f-hole design?

I'm planning on using persimmon for the fingerboard and bridge and have sound a piece that could be used for several blanks. Do you guys recommend sending the blank to a CNC place to have it cut or doing it by hand?

[Verne Andru]

I'm not a builder but from what I've gleaned over the years I believe the answer is "it depends."

FWIK Fs are 14 frets to the body whereas Ovals can also be 14 but also come as 12 frets to the body. The build type you choose dictates if you make duplicate or different necks.

Bracing is also different. Fs have 2 tone-bars running vertically whereas Ovals can be ladder braced or tone-bars in a V pattern, and etc.

Fs usually have the fretboard raised over the body whereas many Ovals have fretboards attached.

I'm sure there are other differences, but those are the top of mind for me.

[crooksj]

I have found that building two mandolins concurrently saves a significant amount of machine setup time. As the differences in their designs increase, the build steps fall “out of sync”, e.g. F5 vs A5, and some of that savings is lost.

To your last question, I use CNC’d plates to save my hands/joints. I recommend you do that on a first build.

[rcc56]

Most experienced builders find it more efficient to build two instruments at once. While glue dries on one, they can work on the other. And if you slot your own board, for example, it takes less time to slot two [or more] at once than it does to slot two single boards on different days.

[sunburst]

First instruments are never as good a later instruments by the same builder. Building two at once gives you a chance to make all of your beginner mistakes twice and end up with two instruments full of beginner mistakes, whereas doing one at a time gives you a chance to correct some things on the second build.
We never stop making mistakes, but we do tend to make fewer as we build more instruments.