Archtop Video

As promised the video...........

Archtop Mandolin Completed (and For Sale)

I’ve just completed the walnut archtop mandolin and am so pleased with the outcome. I’ve got an old Gibson T-shirt that says “Tone, Feel, Appearance” and I’m pleased to say that I think I’ve fully fulfilled those criteria. It is also the first time that I’ve used JJB soundboard transducers and they seem to produce an impressive tone even through my cheap and cheerful amp.

So below are number of photos for you and the full spec. I’ll sort out the obligatory video over the next couple of days!

 13 7/8” (352mm) Scale length with 30mm nut width

American Black Walnut back & sides

European Spruce top

Body fully bound in Ebony

Bird’s Eye Maple neck with carbon fibre stiffeners

Compound radius Ebony fretboard with wide gold EVO frets

Nava handmade tailpiece

Nickel Gotoh MA-40 tuners

JJB Soundboard Transducers with endpin jack

A light open-pore shellac satin finish

D’Addario EJ74 strings (011, 015, 026, 040), bone nut & saddle

Price: 1360 GBP (including Hiscox case) + shipping

Body Work

I’ve started work on a left-handed e-mando for Pete. The core of the body (see above) is Ash and the top is from this lovely piece of figured Sapele.

You may remember my "Man Vs Wood" video (if you don’t, I do!). Well, I had an action replay; having to re-saw the Sapele, by hand, to get a book-matched top.

The Ash was laminated with black/red/black veneers and then the tunnels for the wiring routed. Before the Sapele was glued on, the tunnels were painted with a special shielding paint to help keep the electrics quiet.

 A bit more routing and sawing…………..

 

Followed by some hard-core sanding……………

 

And here’s the body……………

  And it’s racing stripe!

Making progress!

Walnut Archtop Mandolin; in the white

The last of the fettling has been done and the mandolin is playing very nicely.

Tomorrow, it gets taken apart and the polishing process begins! In the meantime here are a few photos……

Putting it together

Here’s the latest video on the making of my walnut archtop mandolin. The construction of the instrument itself is complete and now is the time for the hardware to be fitted and to make its first sounds!

Coming together

As you can see in the photos below, the Walnut archtop mandolin is coming together nicely. The next stage is to make the bridge and get it playing in the white. Getting exciting now!