OK, My IV is finished

[barricwiley]

I tried!

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[Bill Snyder]

Mr. Wiley,
I like the color. What did you bind the front with?

[Stephanie Reiser]

Great job, an I like the color as well.
Now time to build another.

[barricwiley]

Thanks for the kind words.
Bill, I had a bunch of trouble working with that blasted white plastic binding. I also build Ship models when I have time. I ordered walnut and bass wood hull/deck planking boards to do the binding. I ordered the same size as the plastic - 1/4" x 1/16" x 22". The length was as long as I could get it so I brought them together on bottom center. A lot of different woods are available in many sizes and lengths. I was then able to use wood glue (thank you very much). Of course to make a couple of the bends the wood had to be set in water for a bit.
Amanda, Having you like the color as well does make it sweet.
I was trying to get a reddish color that leaned toward a cranberry shade, always liked that.
I actually do have another IV kit and will work on a little later. I need to mull over all the things I would do differently and in a more organized sequence, did too many things the hard way.
All in all I have pretty happy with the 1st turnout.
Mark - bold?
:+}
Richard, please.

[kvk]

I like it. I'm partial to anything red.

What'd you color and finish it with?

I'm stuck right now on my IV kit trying to decide whether to retry that white plastic or bind with something else.

[Lane Pryce]

Nice job and it looks kind of nineish!!!Be careful you may get a cease and desist order from some corporate attorney in Tennessee or New York!!!! Hope you enjoy it!! Lp

[Darren Kern]

Very nicely done, congrats. I like the color a lot, and the finish looks great.

[dperry]

That does look very nice. I am also curious to know what you used to color and clear it with?

[barricwiley]

You mando lovers make the ffort all worthwhile.
As far as the color and finish goes I just took a clear stain by Minwax and mixed in red, 2 shades of blue, and a little pearl from Testors 1 #ounce paint bottles that I had hanging around from model making. I was going to put it on a buffing machine untill I read a couple of items on this great site. I thought I had better leave well enough alone. I figured that at the cost of these kits I could afford to be a little creative. I must say though that it was a lot more work than I thought it would be to get it up to snuff "in the white", a lot of elbow grease. I put the finish on with a brush at 1st but bristles kept coming off, grrr! So, I ended up putting the finish on with one of the pad type brushes. Had to really follow through with it so that there were not any brush type marks or runs.
Oh oh, honey is calling for breakfast!
A little later.
I am pretty proud of the solution I used for the trim, the plastic trim was driving me ugly!!!
Anothe nice thing about the trim is that I could sand it to level right along with the body of the mandolin.
I will probably finish the next one a little out of wack as well.

Richard

[barricwiley]

My goodness, I can't believe no one has said anything about the Testors. I was pretty sure it must have given a few winces even thinking of putting enamel on a mandolin, ouch! Guess I will stay out of comedy along with luthering. Actually I only used a Minwax wood finish/stain/sealer product on the mandolin, 2 coats very very lovingly.
Richard

[Steve Davis]

as long as the light isn't in your eyes

[chipotle]

That is absolutely beautiful, I love the color and the finish. Great job and I am envious!

Just getting started on my kit, I hope I can do near as well as you.

[Brad Weiss]

First, off, I have no business commenting here- this is a really beautiful instrument, I love the color, the fit and finish look amazing. I couldn't hope to do this well on the first one- or the last one!!! Now, having said that, and since you're bound to do another, and seem to be looking for some constructive criticisim, I have one word: headstock. #This funky colored mando cries out for a somewhat more stylish peg head. #Given your expert skills I'm sure you can come up with something very cool!

[barricwiley]

chipotle, BradW, Thanks for the compliments, It is different isn't it? Chipotle, If I can help you in any way I hope you will ask, if you really just go slowly, measure 3-4 time and cut/sand you will be fine. (barricwiley@aol.com)
BradW, you have all the business in the world commenting here, we are a community.
I tossed the headstock issue around my noggin' for quite some time. As you can see I removed all the veneer that was on the peghead, very brittle and lousy wood grain color. If you tried to shape the peghead I think one would pretty much HAVE to remove the veneer. As with the fairly standard woody finishes on mandolins, the Snakehead seems to be done a lot, so, that is why I did not shape it in that manner.
I think the folks that have done the Snakehead on their IV mandolins have done a remarkable job. Frankly I could not think of a patten that I wanted to do so I just popped up the old martin look. Now for the next mandolin I have plenty of time to come up with something I like. I agree with you whole heartedly that somwthing else would have looked better. I like your discription of "funky color", it is what I was going for, mucho thanko!!
Richard

[dperry]

Heh, I will say that I was definitely surprised to see Testors being used, but I do not know much of anything about finishes so to me it looked like it worked. I am not sure how it would feel. So what I was going to say is, the peghead veneer does not have to be removed to cut a shape on it. I too spent a lot of time thinking about this. I traced out the shape that it was and drew up many different curves, angles, and points and just recently chose and cut one. I used a fine tooth blade on a jig saw. I dont have one but went over to someone's house that did and used his. I traced the pattern on the head and cut the shape leaving the line and I went back and block sanded it down to the line. Looks good to me.

[barricwiley]

Thanks dperry, Maybe I was just to rough with the material.
I hope to see your IV when you finish. Any chance of posting the peghead? I would like to see it. This is such a wonderful opportunity for us to try our hand at this craft.
Never know, we might see some real luthiers result form the IV projects. It sure won't be me, I would rather benefit from their skills.
Richard

[grandmainger]

Excellent Colour! I love it!
I'me just back from a quick weekend in Burgundy... I saw a lot of things that very same colour there! Lovely!


Germain

[barricwiley]

You all have me feeling quite wonderful,
Thank you very much,
Very much indeed.
Oh and Grandmainger, how are you coming along with your IV top? Sure hope it is looking good for you.
Burgundy? Love the connection.

Richard

[violin2233]

Cool Kidney beans.. :-) I hope that the tone matches the rich color. Congratz! I am almost done mine. i am going to make my sides look like the Hellier Strad violin on the sides with the decorated ingravings. Then I will varnish it like a violin and do some coot stuff to the head stock. I think we should open a page up and have a contest on who can be the most creative. I would even offer a prize of a very very select Kit along with upgraded parts and etc. hhuuummm I just may do that.

[Professor PT]

Hey, just a quick question: do the frets come installed with that kit, or is that something you need to do yourself? I'm thinking of getting one. Also, how much shaping of the neck and headstock do you get to do?

[Darren Kern]

Prof, the frets come installed and filed. #Here's a link to pics of how it comes- LINK

Don't wait too long, I doubt Ken has very many of them left.

[Professor PT]

Thanks. It looks like the profile of the neck is pretty slim already; I doubt you'd want to take it down any further.