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Thread: Suppose I want to build mandolins...

  1. #1
    Hack jeff_75's Avatar
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    Default Suppose I want to build mandolins...

    Let’s say I have a long-term goal of building mandolins and marketing them as a part-time affair. Additional assumptions:

    1) This is a long-term project; there is no need to start today.
    2) I don't want to do this for a career or to support a family, but rather as a hobby that could potentially be profitable, or at least break even and not be a financial drain.
    3) I have adequate space for a workshop, but nothing else. No tools/equipment beyond what you might find in grandad's toolbox in the basement.
    4) I have no woodworking experience beyond putting together some simple kit instruments and maybe staining old furniture. On most days, I can handle a screwdriver without injuring myself.

    Where do you begin? What is step #1? Do you start with a mandolin, or with something else? What tools and equipment are needed? What kind of money is involved to set up and equip a basic shop? What books or resources are available to help? Take a woodworking class? Spend time with a luthier who already builds? Work from a book by trial and error? What else needs to be taken into consideration?

    "I'm a farmer with a mandolin and a high tenor voice."

  2. #2
    Luthierus Amateurius crazymandolinist's Avatar
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    Default Re: Suppose I want to build mandolins...

    Well I'm just starting out meself, never built a mandolin. I do however have a fully equipped shop with a huge tablesaw, a good bandsaw, a jointer, a planer, and a drill press. Those are some good tools to have, along with a scroll saw and a Dremel tool. My suggestion is to keep on building kits and work your way up from there, buy a few books, keep posting here until you build some mandolins from IV or StewMac kits that people actually ask you if they can buy them from you.

    I would say since you don't have a shop, keep buying the simple $100 or so kits and save up money to buy a decent sized shed, then buy some small shop tools (mandolins aren't that big after all). Assuming that you are rather young, don't work too hard for this and stay focussed on your day job or you'll be in big trouble.

    That's all I've got. Keep in mind that I am only 17, but I have learned this much on the topic.

    Good luck and have fun!
    "The Beauty of Grace is that it makes life Unfair" - Relient K

    "THEY'RE HERE!!! THEY'RE HERE!!! the Albino Brain Chiggers!" - Harry from 3rd Rock

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  4. #3
    Hack jeff_75's Avatar
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    Default Re: Suppose I want to build mandolins...

    Well, I'm 33. Some days that feels ancient, and other days it still feels like, well, 17.

    And I have a Dremel tool already! Sweet. I've already saved $50.

    So how much does the other equipment you've put in cost? I'm interested in specifics. I want to know what sort of investment I'm looking at.
    "I'm a farmer with a mandolin and a high tenor voice."

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    Moderator JEStanek's Avatar
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    Default Re: Suppose I want to build mandolins...

    You could start with an International Violin A5 kit with only needing the follwoing tools....

    Spool clamps
    Goose neck scraper
    random orbit hand sander (Sears has one for $20 that looks remarkably like an electric shaver!)
    the Micromesh finish sanding kit.
    You can get the Siminoff "Build a mandolin book" too. Great aid.

    You can add the Dremel tool if you want to get into fancier binding later.

    Cafe Member Darren Kern built several and documented his progress, trials and tribulations along the way. Here's one of his first threads on it. He also had a blog about it too but it may not be up anymore.

    Jamie
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    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: Suppose I want to build mandolins...

    I don't have tons of experience in woodworking or luthiery but I think back to may days as a photographer and my philosophy is to buy tools when you see the need for them. Sounds like you have some decent handtools, but before you go out an equip your shop find out what you can do with what you have. If and when you see the need then invest or save up for those big expense items. Just my 2 cents.
    Jim

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    Registered User Bill Snyder's Avatar
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    Default Re: Suppose I want to build mandolins...

    I started to make a list of tools with prices, but what you HAVE to have and what is NICE to have are two very different lists.
    You can get away with a few hundred dollars worth of hand tools to build from scratch, but throwing in a few power tools sure helps.
    If you are serious, you will probably end up spending a few thousand on tools, but $1000-1500 will get you a good start.
    Bill Snyder

  8. #7

    Default Re: Suppose I want to build mandolins...

    I've built 3 mandos, 2 violins and a guitar and I've spend approximately $0 on large power tools. Mandolins are small enough that you can use traditional handtools like coping saws and chisels that you can get for almost nothing at yard sales. Sure it takes longer, but on your first few instruments you'll spend a lot more time scratching your head and figuring things out than you will making sawdust.

    The most satisfying way to start out if you've already made some kit instruments, IMO, would be a simple A style from scratch. You can get the wood from Stew-Max or IV in ready-to-use dimensions, eliminating the need for a bandsaw or tablesaw. You'll want a couple specialty tools for carving the top. A 1" wide #5 gouge ($20-50) is a good all-around tool that can be used for most tasks. A small (10mm) finger plane ($50) is also very useful and makes you feel like a real luthier . Everything else can be done with yard sale and hardware store items: vise, files, sandpaper, hand saws... You don't need all these tools all at once, just get the gouge, plane and a coping saw and you're in business.

    If you dig around a bit with the cafe search feature you'll find many old threads with questions like yours. Typical responses include long lists of expensive tools and all sorts of bluster about needing woodworking skills etc... I think it's more fun to dive in and not worry about making something perfect on the first try.

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    Luthierus Amateurius crazymandolinist's Avatar
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    Default Re: Suppose I want to build mandolins...

    Quote Originally Posted by Bill Snyder View Post
    I started to make a list of tools with prices, but what you HAVE to have and what is NICE to have are two very different lists.
    You can get away with a few hundred dollars worth of hand tools to build from scratch, but throwing in a few power tools sure helps.
    If you are serious, you will probably end up spending a few thousand on tools, but $1000-1500 will get you a good start.
    What he said. And 33 is young in my book.
    "The Beauty of Grace is that it makes life Unfair" - Relient K

    "THEY'RE HERE!!! THEY'RE HERE!!! the Albino Brain Chiggers!" - Harry from 3rd Rock

  10. #9
    Luthierus Amateurius crazymandolinist's Avatar
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    Smile Re: Suppose I want to build mandolins...

    Quote Originally Posted by markishandsome View Post
    A small (10mm) finger plane ($50) is also very useful and makes you feel like a real luthier .
    Ah so THAT's wat I've been missing for the past two years!

    Don't need one yet, cant wait to do carved tops!

    And by the by, I got extremely lucky to get all them tools. My dad did a gys lawn and landscaping and the guy was wanting to get rid of his equipment AND wood! So what we did was give him $500 and did his place in exchange for just about everyting. I got a lathe, a tablesaw, bandsaw, planer, joiner, vaccum, and a boat load of black walnut and cedar. Talk about lucky!
    Last edited by crazymandolinist; Dec-10-2008 at 2:37pm. Reason: because I can
    "The Beauty of Grace is that it makes life Unfair" - Relient K

    "THEY'RE HERE!!! THEY'RE HERE!!! the Albino Brain Chiggers!" - Harry from 3rd Rock

  11. #10

    Default Re: Suppose I want to build mandolins...

    ON TOOLS:

    When I decided to go into woodworking, I made a list of all the great tools I would like to have. However, I only had enough money to buy a couple of small items at that time.

    Now that I've been doing it for about 25 years, I realize that I rarely have need for about 80% of the tools I had on that list. If I occasionally have use for some tool I don't have, I can usually find an alternative method to accomplish the same thing.

    My accountant once told me, never buy anything for your business that doesn't make money. There are a lot of "cool" tools out there, but what should be most important to you is the actual process of building.

    As far as actual purchases, I'd say a band saw would be quite useful (but not absolutely necessary), especially if you plan to continue working wood. It would probably be the most expensive tool you would need. A router would be handy for binding and inlay work. A gouge and a scraper should complete the list for now.

    ON SKILLS:

    Skills are way more important than tools. (This applies to playing mandolins as well as building them. )

    It always surprises me when I see people ask about building instruments, but professing to have little woodworking experience. I say try some simpler projects first - maybe build a jewelry box. Just making a rectangular box takes a good deal of skill to do well. If I were going to build my 1st mandolin, I would want it to be something I could be proud of, not something that looks like a pre-teen shop project.

    If you can find someone else to work with and learn from, that would be terrific. Or if you could find a class (preferably one that involves at least 40 hours of hands on experience), that would be a very useful experience too.

  12. #11

    Default Re: Suppose I want to build mandolins...

    When I started building, I already had a woodworking background and some tools, but few that really lent themselves to building instruments. First, I bought a bunch of books on building mandolins, then I decided on the type I wanted to build. Initially, I built electrics because they seemed easier, then I built a couple acoustic kits followed by some scratch builds. I'd recommend you buy a book and buy the materials to build an instrument and buy or borrow whatever tools you need as you go along. I'd highly recommend Graham McDonalds books as a good starting point.

    If you sit down and try and figure out what you need and how you're going to do it instead of just doing it then you'll never start the process. Don't over think it. Just do it. The worst that will happen is you'll have some odd shaped firewood.

  13. #12
    Keith
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    Default Re: Suppose I want to build mandolins...

    My dad, who is a great amateur luthier and furniture maker, and who has taught me all of my limited carpentry skills (including helping me with my almost-completed kit guitar), has given me the best tool advice: Only buy a tool when you need it. There are too many tools that one can POTENTIALLY use that don't ever really get used. So, find a store you like or trust, and only enter it when there is a necessary purchase.

    That's saved me tons of money, and taught me to use what I have, not think about what would be cool to have. Power tools can be expensive and over-rated for hobby-ists. Now if I can only apply that advice to my MAS, I'll really have it made.

  14. #13
    Registered User Rolfe's Avatar
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    Default Re: Suppose I want to build mandolins...

    An immediate place to start is by joining the Association for Stringed Instrument Artisans and the Guild of American Luthiers. Their magazines are packed with information for luthiers, and you may wish to order back copies. Also the ASIA group is having a Symposium next June where you can spend almost five days among all levels of mandolin builders and attend workshops on all aspects of building. You'll come home either having had a brief stay in heaven or knowing that those builder people are crazy and you want nothing more to do with them or their trade. And, as said above, start with kits, and also buy plans and try to understand what mandolins are made of.
    Rolfe Gerhardt

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    Registered User sunburst's Avatar
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    Default Re: Suppose I want to build mandolins...

    Read, ask questions, look at instruments, try to figure out what makes the good instruments better than the not-so-good ones, try to find someone with a shop to let you use their tools, LEARN SHOP SAFETY FOR HAND AND POWER TOOLS, don't buy tools until you need them, don't buy too many tools.
    Once you get started building go to the top of that list and start over with a little knowledge and experience under your belt, you'll get more out of it all then.
    By all means, go to the symposium that Rolfe mentioned. I've attended several of them and learned a lot of stuff there (It's also a great place to buy materials where you can paw through the stuff and pick out what you want.)

    Hang out here! I've learned a lot from this forum. I think I learn more from the questions I answer than from the few I ask.

    Don't try to figure it out all at once. Builders use different tools to do the the same jobs, some have and use more tools than others. There's no one way. You have to gradually figure out how you work and what you need to do it.

    Oh to be 33 years old and learning lutherie in the digital age! When I started there was one book on mandolins and a few on guitars and no internet. When Rolf started there was less then that. (Sorry, Rolfe. I know it wasn't that long ago!)

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    Default Re: Suppose I want to build mandolins...

    i've been interested in woodworking since my highschool days (thanks mr. whitt)..that has been almost 40 years ago..a few years before retiring from general motors ,a friend introduced me to building stringed instriments...bluegrass has always been a part of my family, sooooo.......the tools were there , so lets start something creative...i've discovered that 20% of my tools are used 95% of the time...it took a while to realize that not all "labor saving" tools will work ...get to know the ones you have first....my hands ain't what they used to be and some power tools do help out with the "auther-ritise" , but don't fall into the -gotta have it- mind game.....been building for a few years and not making much money, but the joy is in the journey as much as in getting there....this stuff gets in the blood.... before you make any investments, read as much as possible about what you want to build....this site is a great start with a wonderful group of people.........keith
    kterry

  17. #16
    Violins and Mandolins Stephanie Reiser's Avatar
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    Default Re: Suppose I want to build mandolins...

    I would say, purchase the Siminoff book on mandolin building. Granted, I do not do everything the way he does, but it got me started. And I would not build a kit. I would dive in head first and build from scratch. But that is just me - I've never been intimidated by hardly anything.
    Be willing to make some mistakes. Your mandolins probably won't be professional-grade (whatever that is) until you've built somewhere between 5 to 10 instruments, unless you happen to be a real natural at it. I have an easier time with the woodworking aspect than the finishing. Staining and finishing is still somewhat of a mystery to me, with so many options.
    Re tools: I started building from scratch with the tools by dad had in the basement. Just the usual table saw, hand drill, router, etc. My first tool to purchase for building instruments was a good Dremel. Then I purchased a 3-D sander. Then fret dressing tools - the more luthiery specific tools. I lumbered along without a bandsaw by using a friend's, but this summer I finally purchased a sweet Grizzily for $600 new. That was a signal to me that now I am hooked. My next tool will be a spindle sander. but this all comes in time. I have discovered that the table saw is rarely used any more.
    I'm like you in that I do not do this for a living. Strictly hobby, but they all find homes. The F-5 I am currently working on is being given away to a charity, since my "list" was caught up (though now I have an order for a 12-string guitar). However, the number of instruments, both guitars and mandolins, number well into the teens somewhere.
    Get that book and start doing research. And don't be afraid to build from scratch. If I can do it, anyone can.
    http://www.stephaniereiser.com then click mandolins

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