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!

Rigid Neck Joint

I’ve always believed that the neck joint, on a fretted instrument, should be as rigid as possible. The aim of the game is to ensure that the kinetic energy, from the movement of the player’s hand, is converted as efficiently as possible into sound. Making the neck joint rigid, is one step to ensure that energy is not absorbed into the instrument itself. I’m sure there are many who will disagree with me, but those are my views.

The walnut archtop’s neck has now been affixed to the body and in these two videos (parts 1 & 2) you’ll see the lengths that I go to ensure the neck and body are as one (or as close to that as possible).

It will plane!

I used the restored Stanley #101 plane for the first time in anger yesterday and it performed so,so well. Here I’m planning the part of the walnut archtop’s fretboard extension/support. I’m doing a video of the whole neck to body process, so watch this space.

Archtop #2; back to it!

With the bending iron fixed, it’s time to get back to some instrument work! So, I’ve been working on the purflings and bindings for archtop #2.

This mandolin is having fancier purflings; the main feature is a green line running around all of the edges. The green line is also in the neck laminations, head overlay and tailpiece. Coloured lines work surprisingly well as decoration on instruments-as long as you don’t go over the top and keep the design coherent throughout.

I’m really pleased with overall effect on the body- the ebony bindings making it all look very elegant. Next the neck.