Electric Mandolin Build Part 1

If you follow my blog, you’ll know that as well as my acoustic instruments, I enjoy building electric mandolins too. I’ve just started building this one.

Let me tell you how I got to this point……. I’ve had a lovely piece of Tasmanian Blackwood (related to Koa) in stock for at least four or five years and have been itching to do something with it.

If you are going to run wires through the body, you need some planning to save a lot of hassle later.  So, before the two halves of the body are glued together, I route a slot and drill some holes for the pick-up wires. These channels are painted in conductive paint to improve the shielding. Then the body can be glued.

Using jigs, I route the various cavities; if you can, it pays to remove some of the waste wood with a forstner bit first.

A piece of pre-drilled plywood is glued to the body to act as a guide for drilling the hole for the end-pin jack-socket.

After drilling the hole, a thread is tapped into the wood. My top tip is to take the tap out after every few turns and put in a drop or two of CA, this helps solidify the end grain and give you a nice clean thread. Wait for the CA to dry before continuing!

With all the drilling and routing done the shape is cut out and the body contoured and cleaned up.

To be continued!