Well, after about 14 months from concept to end, have a look at my interpretation of the classic F-5 style. #It started with blocks of wood - no kit here. #It came to life Saturday, 19-Jun-2004 at ~2:15 PM. #Let the pictures speak....
Sitka spruce top; big leaf maple back, sides & neck; ebony fretboard and headstock; paua shell for inlays; Schaller tuners; Monteleone-style tailpiece.
Thanks for looking. #This forum was inspirational and informational during my project!
GREAT LOOKING INSTRUMENT!! My compliments. If your mandolin sounds as good as it looks, you are a lucky man.
Just tell me what the back inlay means.
If F-model mandolins have F-holes then why don't A-model mandolins have A-holes???
C'mon you big mando tease. Show us the front. Don't make us beg....
Thanks for your kind words.
The back inlay is the "Star of Texas" - where I live. #I should have done the Truss Rod Cover inlay as the Texas state image. #And for those curious about full frontal exposure....
Very, very, very cool!
Can you tell us about the pickup(s)? Looks like both a bridge pickup and something over the lower f-hole.
2015 Chevy Silverado
2 bottles of Knob Creek bourbon
1953 modified Kay string bass named "Bambi"
Looks like the one you can get from FQMS with a Baggs and a Mills mini mic. Of course, the mic also looks like a Crown. Which one? I have a similar setup with the Countryman Isomax IIC and a Barcus Berry Hot Dot.
If F-model mandolins have F-holes then why don't A-model mandolins have A-holes???
It's the Fishman M-200 product that incorporates piezo (Fishman) transducer and an acoustic (Crown GLM-200) microphone. I mix the two using a Fishman Pocket Blender and feed that direct to the church PA. The multipurpose building being used as the church has very poor acoustics and we're shoved back into a corner. If I play loud enough to be heard without amplification, the guitar players and choir get annoyed.
Great work!.... Did you draw your own plans or did you use some of those that are available?
Looks awesome...
craig
I used several reference texts:
# -Siminoff's "Constructing a Bluegrass Mandolin", and
# "The Luthier's Handbook";
# -Larry Robinson's "The Art of Inlay"; and
# -"Woodcarving Tools, Materials and Equipment" by
# #Chris Pye
The Siminoff blueprints were not quite accurate and some of his concepts were updated in his second text, so they were modified slightly. #The major change, though, was in the neck shape at the head end. #
As my digits are uncomfortably large for the classic skinny mandolin necks, I increased the string spacing close to that of my guitars (1 1/4" wide X 15/16" deep at the nut) with a slight V-shape. Several people who have played it really liked that change.
The top was quartersawn by me from a billet of Sitka Spruce. The maple came from Notable Woods and was sawn from the same tree. The back was a book-matched set of wedges. The Star of Texas covers a large knot that I didn't want to show in the final finish.
All of the shaping was done by hand with chisels and sanding.
geerally i don't like pickguards but that one is very nice. man that is great looking mandolin. love the color.
that is a very nice mandolin.
Number 1? Very nice work!
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 would liked to have seen those same pics of the mando before it was junked up with the pickup paraphanalia. Sorry, i'm just not a pickup guy. Great work... beautiful instrument.
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