Official Luthiers Forum!

Was looking at the ones from stewmac, but thought I'd ask if anyone had suggestions...

I got one about 15 yrs ago from the MIMF . You can check , dont know if they are still offered it was with 2 different string lengths 13 and 13.5 IN ???

I have no suggestions on plans but I built one last year based on an old Washburn mandolin I have and it came out great. Super fun little instrument to play. I believe I took good notes on it so I would be happy to share that. Good luck.

There’s a book called The Mandolin Project that may be helpful.

Thanks! I got a bouzouki book that was quite useful...

jfmckenna, I'd be curious as to top thickness...

This is one for an army navy style of mandolin -

http://www.crystalforestmandolins.com/mandoplans.html

Also there is a plan in Graham McDonald's book, but his web site is down at the moment.

http://www.mcdonaldstrings.com/

The top on this mandolin was .08in. Using a standard red brick with the top trimmed close to the shape but in a full rectangle it deflected .275in.

This top also was bent, the pliage, like the old Neapolitan mando's. It has an oval sound hole.

The bracing I copied right off of the early 1900's Washburn.

That looks pretty cool...

I had no expectations what so ever. Just some spare time and some spare pieces laying around. The top and back are one piece BTW. The old Washburn is a fun instrument to play and sounds well, like a mandolin. The copied one is much much louder with more sustain and the notes just sound huge. I built that one one for my self but look forward to having the time to build another one for sale.

+1 on the Graham McDonald book, The Mandolin Project. It walks you through the build process and includes a full size set of plans for three different mandolins (if I'm remembering correctly): a carved top A style, a canted top, and a flat top. Even if his website is down, you can find it on amazon.

Ordering today!