first time builder

[Km1000seth]

Im a first time builder, about to start an f style mandolin.
can anyone give me pointers on where to start. i would love to use a kit, but im in the process of buying a truck and cant afford a siminoff kit. at my disposal i have enough oak to make the biggest oak tree ever. but ive heard that oak is to hard to bend. ive always wanted to make an ebony mandolin, but never known if it could come out sounding good. Does anybody have one? i would appreciate any comments

seth,
the southern redneck mandolin playin luthier wannabe #

[John Zimm]

From a northern redneck mandolin playin luthier wannabe, my only advice is to start with one of Don Kawalek's kits. They say great things about them here, and it is very reasonably priced. #I am sure it costs less than outfitting yourself with the necessary tools to make an instrument from scratch.

I am currently up to my neck with an octave mandola and a mandolin I am building using John Troughton's book as a guide. #It goes well, but I neglect the project for months at a time and it will not be finished in the near future. #Anyway, buying one of Don's kits would probably be a better route if you are not yet properly equipped to make an instrument.

Best of luck to you and keep us posted.

-John.

[HHansen]

I've never tried a kit before, but I do know this. I would have been better off starting off with an A-style mando and doing it as simply and cleanly as possible. That darn scroll just lured me like a siren song. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, and 375 hours later, my f is almost done, and it's looking pretty good for #001, but it's taken forever. I've learned a lot, but also wasted a great deal of time though inefficient building methods. I wish I had figured that stuff out on simpler instruments, and then tried an f. I doubt I would have listened if somebody told me this when I started so I wish you all the best!

[sunburst]

I wish I had figured that stuff out on simpler instruments, and then tried an f. #I doubt I would have listened if somebody told me this when I started so I wish you all the best!

I like the wisdom of that statement. I don't harp on the advisability of starting with an "A" because by and large people don't want to hear it.

Also, even tho some days my back doesn't want to straighten up all the way, I try to resist telling the twenty-somethings "don't lift that ,You'll hurt your back". I wouldn't listen when I was twenty, they don't want to hear it either.

[Brookside]

I'm starting with a F style too. It's near completion after 2 months. I think what you begin with depends on your personality. I chose to first build a F style because it is more difficult. I wanted to "damn the torpedoes" and dive into the more difficult challanges. I figured if I could produce a decent one, I could follow that with a couple of A's and be thrilled with how "easy" they are. I've gained great confidence with my F so I feel I made the right choice.