Archtop #5: Neck Shape

The mandolin’s neck has been shaped and I think we’re now beyond the ugly ducking stage that I mentioned a while back!

Here’s a video showing my approach to the neck shaping process. I must admit, it does take me quite a long time to do and is best described as an iterative process: going back, again and again, continually refining until the desired profile is reached.

Archtop #5 update.

Here’s the latest video, in this one, I look at carving the top and back plates.

Archtop #5; making the neck blank

 I’ve been putting together the neck blank for Archtop #5; here’s the head using the burr walnut veneer that I showed you in the previous video.

And here’s the video showing how I got there. It includes some grain-filling with cyanoacrylate- “and Kids, don’t try this at home!

Bound!

And here we are, purflings and bindings on the archtop mandolin complete!

Making the Archtop’s top-plate

Here’s the latest video! In this one, I run through the process of making the top-plate for Archtop #4. I’m using some fantastic Sitka spruce for this one, fine grain and dead on the quarter.

In parallel to working on the top-plate, I’ve been making the tailpiece. The tailpiece is from the same piece of Macassar ebony as the head overlay; so a nice match.

Whenever I use a tailpiece jack-socket, I like to fit the tailpiece once the top has been glued to the rim and before the back goes on. This way the tail block can be supported whilst drilling the jack's 12mm hole and you don’t get the drill bursting out of the back surface. It also means that the top’s overhang is trimmed at the this point too.

#4 backplate

I’ve just completed carving the back plate for Archtop #4. In order to cope with the irregular grain of the sapele, I started off with a good sharpening session. I can’t over emphasise the importance of sharp tools, especially when dealing with high figured wood.

The first step on the outside, was to do some rough shaping with the Wagner Safe-T-Planner; always with trepidation.

And then much planning, scraping, and sanding by hand.........

There’s more detail in the video.

Here is the finished outer surface; it’s had a quick coat of sanding sealer, just to pop the grain- doesn’t it look lovely!

 Then on to the inside. From a woodworking point of view, I was extremely happy with how this went. My squirrel-tail round bottom plane works like a scrub plane, it’s good for relatively rapid removal but doesn’t give a smooth surface finish, hence making the wooden one, a few posts back.

As it happens, the wooden plane worked much better than I thought it would, giving a really good surface finish.

And the video!

Getting a head

As mentioned in the last video, the head shape had to be cut-out and tuner holes drilled. Here is the result.

 

One of the trickiest operations is carving my vee shaped volute, done mainly with a chisel. 

The head now is really finished, nothing left to do, I’ve even filled the grain of the ebony! A practical reason- I do this nowadays before drilling the tuner holes, that way you don’t have try to clean the grain filling medium out of the holes!

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.

Archtop #3 completed!

The latest archtop is now complete. I’m very pleased with the outcome; if you’ve followed its construction from the beginning, you may remember that I said, “I feel a responsibility to make something beautiful, with my Brazilian rosewood.”
Hopefully you’ll agree that I’ve achieved that. Below are a number of photos for you- I’ll get a video done soon!

Beginning of the end

For various reasons that I shan’t bore you with, progress in the ‘shop has been a bit slow recently. However, I’m finally managing to crack-on with the finish on the archtop. This one is being French polished and you can see how the finish really pops the grain.

For me, French polishing is a slow process so it’s going to be a good few weeks before archtop #3 is complete and ready for sale.

Getting there

 

After the savagery of carving the neck, comes the BIG clean-up! And as you can see the archtop is getting there………….

 

Next step; playing in the white.

So that’s what’s under your fretboard!

I thought that I’d show you this photo; it makes sense of what I do with my archtop mandolin necks.

You’ve got the head, neck and two parts of the fretboard extension, each one glued to its neighbour. Under each of the two mahogany capping strips, is a length of rectangular section carbon-fibre. The CF runs from under the head overly as far as is practical in to the fretboard extension.  So firstly, the carbon-fibre unifies all the different elements of the neck. Also wherever you have a joint you can get movement, so the idea of the carbon-fibre is to stiffen the neck and stop any distortion along its length.
The capping strips are bonded to the CF with epoxy and I use them so the fretboard can be glued to the neck’s flat surface with Titebond.

Bindings and purflings

All the work on the archtop’s bindings and purflings has been completed and here are some photos for you. You know about the rope around the top plate. 

The bindings are maple from the same board as the neck and around the back and sides runs a single dark green line.

 Must say that I’m very happy- all that fettling, well worth the effort!