Bit of a delay

I’ve been out of action for a bit due to an operation on my sinuses. The recovery has taken longer than I had anticipated and one problem that I’m having is that I can’t wear a dusk mark or respirator at the moment. This is particular nuisance as I should be sanding down and spraying Andy D’s cutaway. There are couple of shots below, the snakewood and paua is quite something.

I won’t be able to make the delivery date and can only apologise profusely. You can see that it’s going to be a beauty and, hopefully Andy will agree, well worth the wait.

Head designs

Whilst I can’t get into the workshop, I’ve been doing some design work. In the previous post you would have seen the pink ivory rosettes; I’ve been designing the heads for these two instruments (a nylon string guitar and baritone ukulele) and have sent the designs off for approval. The challenge is getting a shape that will work aesthetically with both instruments and mechanically i.e. mounting good quality tuners, string clearance etc. Also Morgan, who is overseeing the project, has quite defined ideas about what is wanted: fortunately we seem to be on the same wavelength!

Once I’m back in the workshop and these two get underway properly I’ll post some fuller details.

Also, you may remember the Red mandolin: this has been on the back burner for a while, but I’ve now had an offer for it from Alan and he has the opportunity for some input into its design. He would prefer a slimmer head design, so below is the modified shape.

Mandocello

Jill (future mandolin) asked a while ago about the mandocello: well there’s a nice little review of it on the Acoustic guitar magazine forum.

Many thanks for that Andrew and Jane, I’m delighted that you’re still happy with it!
Whilst on the subject of the Mandocello, you might have seen my demo video on YouTube; I can’t believe that it’s had almost a 1000 viewings!
That’s enough for now: my nose is starting to bleed again!!