Official Luthiers Forum!

That unit is absolutely TOO COOL!!!!
I think I get the feeling that every other person on this forum gets when they look at that - a mixture of envy, and pure admiration!!
Awesome stuff, Im sure youd sell alot of copies of plans of something like that - hint hint,,,
I doubt the person who got the other one will get much time to play it out, because everyone who sees it will want the story behind it... lol
Cheers
Charlie

Absolutely beautiful! How does it sound? Does it have a mandolin like sound or a more sustained guitar like tone? It sure is pretty!!

Thanks to everybody for the kind words!

Marc - it's not flawless, believe me. They're well-hidden for the most part, but I know where every #$#$@*((*& one of them is!

This definitely sounds like a mandolin. It's 100% mandolin in bracing and every other regard, except for the shape of the body.

John Kinnaird asked if the tone was different from an F-5, and the answer is ... I dunno. I took one of these up to Elderly Instruments a few weeks ago, and compared it to a number of mandolins hanging on the wall there. It's really difficult to say what's "better", because in actuality what they are is just different. I came away very pleased with the tone of it, but there is plenty up there I thought sounded great. I'm also not vastly experienced in the subtleties of mandolin tone. The guys from the store played it and were very encouraging, and are hoping I build more and bring them up there. That meant a lot.

I measured the F-5 plans last night, and size-wise, my box is 3/4" wider in the lower bout, and about 3/4" longer from head to tail. Given that the depth is similar to an F-5, the internal volume of mine is larger. It's fairly bassy, but the trebles are sparkly. Everything speaks clearly. One thing that really improved the tone was an upgrade to the bridge. After stringing it up with a garden variety ebony bridge, I to a much higher-quality (but visually identical) bridge from Cumberland Acoustics. The difference was night and day - much more clarity up the neck, much more even tone from the treble to the bass strings. The difference was amazing to me.

Overall I could not be happier with the sound of it, but I have to admit to being biased. There are some rather pathetic sound clips of the Home Depot prototype on my web site; this one sounds quite similar, but not exactly the same. I'll be updating the site in the next few days, and will post some clips of this mandolin. I hesistate posting clips, because A) so much is lost in recording to minidisc, dumping to PC, etc. and 2) I'm a lousy mandolin player. What I really need to do is find somebody who knows what they're doing and have them sit in front of a microphone. When I get some clips up there, I'll post a link to the thread.

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Rick Jones
Rochester Hills, MI
http://home.comcast.net/~rajones19

Rick,

Wow! What an outstanding job.
We see a lot of different instruments here but I really like this one. You have done yourself proud! By the way the practice one looks and sounds pretty good too.

I like your trailer too. Mine is a somewhat similar set up in my Everest Model 323K.

Philip

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aka konacat

If you think my playing is bad you should hear me sing!
Practice breeds confidence and confidence breeds competence. Unfortunately, I'm stuck in practice.

What a beauty! It looks like a lot of fun to both build and play.

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Lovely instrument!!! Very nice indeed.

Nice mandolin!

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"After forty-nine years of violin building, I have decided that the search for a varnish is similar to the fox hunt. The fun is in the hunt."
Jack Batts Maker and Repairer of Fine Violins

Bravo! A fantastic looking instrument!