Official Luthiers Forum!

Haans, I assumed you had built A styles but figured I would ask. The two you've shown are gorgeous! I've ordered the LMI fretting template.

Patrick, yes, the reading is good. As I review I am starting to see common thread between the mandolin building process as as practiced by multiple builders. I found the AL 75 and 76 in my file and read them. I still need to finish reading Graham's Mandolin Project. I managed to download his ebook version to my IPhone.

Arnt, the mandola thread was fun to follow the first time. This time I got a lot of good ideas on how to approach this mandolin project without having to build a bunch of jigs and fixtures. Thanks!!

I have some time off this week due to the Thanksgiving holiday here in the US so I will be selecting some of the other pieces of wood - head and tail blocks, head plate, etc. I still have 3 guitar projects to prep for finish so I'll probably try to get those mostly done so I can focus on the mandolin in the upcoming month or so.

UPS tracking says my back, side, and neck wood should be here today. I'm excited about that.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Got the roasted maple B/S/neck wood and the Sitka top. Splotches on the maple are from wetting it with Naptha. I'll let them acclimate for several weeks while I finish up the 3 guitar projects I have on the bench. Looking forward to getting started on this one!

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

That roasted maple is lovely!

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

Nice looking wood.
Here's photos of the original. I used them to distress and age mine...

http://www.mandolinarchive.com/perl/show_mando.pl?51

Is that red maple?

I fell for the roasted maple as soon as I saw it. Especially since it has such nice curl.

Haans, the seller (American Specialty Hardwoods) only said it was hard maple but they are in Michagan so it very will could be Red Maple; I sent an email to them and asked.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Yea, almost looks like sugar maple, I'm just used to seeing most maple as flatsawn. Most of the backs were flatsawn. If it's pretty hard to make a thumbnail mark it's sugar. If it's fairly easy, it's red.

Hans, Jerry at American Specialty Woods said it is Red leaf maple although he said at times they get some silver leaf.

I have finally completed all of my assigned reading - thanks all for the recommendations. I know a whole lot more about mandolins now than I did a few weeks ago. Of course there is still a lot to learn I should have a bit of time off over the Christmas holidays and will get started then. I'm really looking forward to it!

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

OK, red maple. Looks like it is probably pretty well quartered. Red is the maple most used for mandolins, although most was flatsawn so as to get a wilder figure. Quartered this way looks more like Euro maple as used on violins. Should make a fine mandolin. Silver maple is a bit softer, similar to bigleaf, but less stringy. I suspect my F4 Gibson is silver maple...

I expect the wood will do very well as long as I keep up my side of the bargain. I'll give the back and top another week or two to acclimate then I'll get started.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

So I'm about done with my 3 guitar projects, at least they are almost ready for finishing, so I'll be starting on this mandolin in the next week or so. I'm going to close this thread and do something new for me and put a thread in the Doc-U-Build section when I get started. I'm sure I'll be revisiting this thread while I work. See you over there

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I haven't had a chance to really read through this thread yet, but it looks fascinating. I just wanted to point out that the next online course that Robbie O'Brien is producing is going to be based on a build of an A type with f-holes.

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

Jim, thanks for the heads up on Robbie's class. I've started a thread in the Doc-U-Build section for this one.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I will enjoy watching this project progress in the doc-u-build section. The maple really looks great.

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http://www.Harvestmoonguitars.com

After several months of editing the mandolin course is now ready and available.