Mandolin Update

You can see that polishing has started on Tony’s mandolin and the real beauty of the wood is starting to show.

I mentioned the figured maple bindings in a previous post- here’s the effect that I was hoping for.

E-mando

 In between polishing sessions the e-mando has grown some frets!

I’m often surprised that “special” fretting hammers are sold by luthier suppliers, most of them variations on dead-blow hammers and soft face mallets. Well here is mine and I think that I have virtually fretted every instrument for 30 odd years with it. A quite simple ball-pein with its face carefully polished and the edges rounded so that there are not any burrs or such like that could mark the fret. It works so well!

Anyway thought that I’d design and make the tailpiece for the ball-end strings- again this emphasises that when I say my instruments are handmade, I mean it!