Chambered Body E-mando now completed.

I’m glad to say that the latest e-mando has been completed and as I write this, it’s in transit, on a 7500 mile adventure!

Below is the last video in the series and some nice photos!

Chambered Body E-mando: part 5

Here’s the latest e-mando video. In this one, I demonstrate how I shape/carve a neck. Although I’m working on an electric mandolin which has a relatively short neck, the process is the same for any of my instruments.

Also below are some choice photos.

Making the "Navatone" tailpiece

With the woodwork on my LG50 replica completed, it’s time to do some metalwork! In this latest video, I make the tailpiece: as always things are more involved than you’d first think!

Archtop #4- In the white.

This week, I completed setting up archtop #4 and got it playing “in the white”. In case you’re wondering, “in the white” is a phrase pinched from violin makers. They get their instruments playing before applying the finish, which of course transforms them from white (i.e. natural colour of spruce and maple) to that orangey brown that they like. Funny though, I thought that if the back and sides of this mandolin had been made from, say quilted maple, some makers would stain it, to get the same colour as the sapele.

In case you’re wondering, the blue tape is to stop any oil from the new tuners seeping into the unfinished wood and contaminating it.

Archtop #4; real work begins!

So, carrying on from the previous post. With the neck laminated, the head angle is cut ready for the spliced head joint.

You can see here how the neck and head will be joined. 

The problem is; because the join line isn’t at a right angle to the direction of the clamping pressure, there is a tendency for the two pieces to slide apart, once the wet (and initially slippery) glue and pressure is applied.

By clamping the head in the vice and a block to the bench, that ability to slide is eliminated.

And here’s the clamping arrangement; you can see why it’s easier to bandsaw the whole thing from a single piece of wood! But, I never doing anything because it’s easier, only because it’s better.

I’m using Macassar ebony for the head overlay (and for other parts of the instrument) and mother of pear for the logo inlay. The inlay takes an inordinate amount of time for something that has no real bearing on how the mandolin plays! There’s a fair bit about this process in the video, so I won’t go in to that here.

So here’s the neck blank and the head overlay ready to be glued; the wooden pegs ensure that the logo ends up where it’s meant to be!

 

You can see that the rim is now complete too. 

However, before it comes out of the external mould, a centre line has to be marked so that the neck mortice and end graft are correctly located. With no flat surface or straight lines that’s easier said than done!

 

And here’s the back ready to be carved.

Baritone Uke: and here's 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

Archtop in-the-white

Here it is! The archtop fully fettled and playing. By the time you see this it’ll be stripped back down for the finishing process!

Peter's Mandola

Peter’s Mandola has now been completed and is safely residing with its sibling. I liked Peter's description of his new mandola, "Magnificent!" That'll do for me!
 I must admit that I enjoyed playing it- already looking forward to doing the next one! I think that as designer/maker (of anything) you should always evaluate what you’ve made and where necessary make modifications the next time around; that’s how your work evolves and improves. At this stage of my luthiery career there are no longer major design changes just subtle tweaks and there have been a few tweaks to my mandola’s overall design since the last one, all of which worked out extremely well.

For those of you who are interested, here are some more choice photos and some of the instrument’s details. Oh and scroll down for the obligatory video!

410mm scale length; neck/body joint at 13^th fret.

35mm nut width.

Maple neck with walnut laminations, carbon fibre inserts.

Sitka spruce soundboard with bound sound hole.

Black walnut back and sides fully bound in maple.

Indian rosewood fretboard, compound radius, wide gold evo frets.

Rosewood bridge with bone saddle.

Handmade Nava designed tailpiece.

If you are interested in commissioning your own mandola, you’ll find contact details etc on my website.

Navazouki Completed

Adrian’s bouzouki is now finished and residing with its two siblings. Below is the last video in my bouzouki mini-series, which includes a great demo by Adrian.

And here are few photos of the completed ‘zouk for you.

Bouzouki Versatility

I’ve made a variety of instruments from the "extended" mandolin family and it occurs to me, how flexible the Irish Bouzouki format could be(is!).  This one is custom built and therefore tuned to Adrian's preference;  GDAD with 3^rd and 4^th courses strung in octave pairs. But by changing the nut and saddle, you could use unison strings, tune it GDAE and you’ve got yourself a long-scale Octave mandolin. The neck has 17 frets clear of the body and 660mm scale, so a capo at the 5^th fret gives you mandola tuning, a scale of just under 500mm and 12 frets clear of the body. Capo at the 12^th and you’re in to mandolin country with 5 frets clear and scale of 330mm.  Interesting eh? I’m sure regular ‘zouk players have already realised that!

Let’s start on the ‘Zouk!

With the polish on David’s mandolin being left to harden, work has started in earnest on Adrian’s bouzouki. This will be Adrian’s 3^rd instrument; someone coming back for another instrument is, to me, the finest compliment that I could have. In fact looking at my current waiting list, out of the next ten instruments, five are for returning clients; for which Amanda and I am extremely grateful.

The neck blank is pretty much complete. As the neck will be long and slender (660mm scale length with 17 frets clear of the body!) I decided to make it from maple- it’s laminated with black and mahogany lines; this will complement Adrian’s other two instruments. Carbon fibre also adds stiffness and additionally there is a dual action truss-rod.

The back and sides are Indian rosewood. Back in the late 1970’s when I was at the London College of Furniture, four of us, Bill, Maz, Walter and myself, decided to buy some rosewood- not so easy in those days. Off we went to an importer’s yard somewhere near the docks- this was when London Docklands was synonymous with ships and the import and export of actual physical goods and not banking and electronic trading ! We bought a number of huge boards and struggled back to college on the tube. After a gift of a bottle of whiskey to one of the technicians we managed to get our wood re-sawn into usable sized pieces! Well then, this rosewood back and sides is my last remaining set!