Here are the finished pictures of my first H-5 mandola. I used western big leaf for a one-piece back and sides, a piece of ancient Sitka for the one-piece top, red maple for the neck and macassar ebony for just about everything else and a James tail piece. It's all hide glue construction and finished with varnish and shellac French polish.
Thanks for looking.
Gail Hester
Here's the back.
Gail Hester
Gail, that's a beautiful mandola!
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Apollonio Acousto-electric bouzouki (in shop)
Mixter 10 string mandola (still waiting 2+ yrs)
Unknown brand Mandocaster (on the way!)
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"Doubt begins only at the last frontiers of what is possible." -- Ambrose Bierce
The headstock.
Gail Hester
Last one. (Thanks to Bruce Harvie for providing me with some great wood.)
Gail Hester
Yeow! Beautiful work Gail!
Jason Anderson
"...while a great mandolin is a wonderful treat, I would venture to say that there is always more each of us can do with the tools we have available at hand. The biggest limiting factors belong to us not the instruments." Paul Glasse
Stumbling Towards Competence
I love it, It's Fantastic, The quilt is beautiful, it looks like the surface of the sun! Very cool burst on the top! Nice work Gail!
"If at first you don't succeed, then keep on suckin' till you do succeed."
I'll play it in for you if you want.
Paul
The whole thing is absolutely beautiful, but that out of norm but extremely tasteful headstock inlay is great!
Ron
My wife says I don't pay enough attention to what she says....
(Or something like that...)
Great work as always! I really love that finish. Your inlays are flawless, the scrolls are perfect. How is it opening up?
http://www.stephaniereiser.com then click mandolins
Beautiful work Gail! You did an awesome job!
Very, Very nice! I'll bet that thing growls. I'm curious what a chop on a that mandola sounds like.
42.7% of all statistics are made up on the spot.
# # # :::::::
---Ryan Stackhouse---
I love the iris inlay on the headstock. Ever so much lovelier than that boring urn or flowerpot or whatever it is.
Gail, is that a Mother Of Pearl nut?
I am planning on using MOP for the nuts on the current 2 that I am building, so I just wondered.
It looks great!
http://www.stephaniereiser.com then click mandolins
Thanks for the supportive comments everyone. #I really enjoyed building this mandola to traditional Loar H-5 specs yet taking some liberties with the appearance. #My photos don't really capture the colors of the inlay as there is a lot of blue shell from New Zealand. #The nut is MOP but it looks a little different in the photos because I had a piece big enough to put the shinny side up. #It looks good in person but is just a glare in the photo. #
I'm not set up to post MP3 sound files and I'm hesitant to try to describe the sound of an instrument of mine (we're all proud of our intriments and tend to say the same things). #Like other mandolas it tends to have a full, well balanced fill up the room sound rather than the percussive, mid range pop of the higher pitched mandolin. I'll have it with me at Wintergrass in February and will happy to let any of you take it for a ride.
Gail Hester
Gail: I don't mean to be crass, but is that beautiful instrument for sale? What would it cost to get one just like it? Do you have a website? Thanks.
OTW
Gail, I love the peghead veneer! Great job on the binding! Real clean!
Gail, that's a fantastic instrument. Can you elaborate a little on your finishing methods please? Which parts were varnished, and which french polished? Did you use an oil or spirit varnish. Did you use a hand-rubbed french polishing technique? thanks......John
John, the finish involves applying a number of very thin coats of oil varnish, sanding between coats until everything is perfectly smooth and then French polishing with shellac flakes dissolved in alcohol to shine everything up.
Gail Hester
Gail: thanks for finishing information. I'll try that method on my current project.....John
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