Project X

 Project X? Not because it’s top secret but because I’m still thinking of a suitable name! I’m adding a new model to my range of mandolins that will sit between my Standard and Twin-point. Essentially, it will be the same shape as the Standard but will have more of the fancy detailing that my twin-point has; this should give me something for everyone!So the first one is under-way. Red spruce soundboard with a rosewood herringbone rosette.

The back and sides will be Indian rosewood and you can see below, that the rim is complete.

The neck......

.....I’m using wenge on this one. It’s quite an interesting wood to work, not for the faint-hearted- very sharp, low angle planes are required.

This mandolin will have all the nice touches, such as an inlaid head and handmade tailpiece.

So I’ve been thinking about the name, model 3? Model A? I even thought of calling it the Italian for pear- pera but that looks like a typo! Something for me to ponder!

This mandolin doesn’t have a home yet so if you’re interested, email me via my website.

In The White

This week, before any polishing takes place, I got Alan’s twin-point playing (and very nice it is too!). Once I’m happy with the way the mandolin plays, I take it apart again and start the finishing process.

Regular blog followers will know that this process starts with grain filling. It never ceases to amaze me how well pumice works as a filler. You can see quite clearly how deep the grain is in cocobolo.

And here it is after being filled.

 Good eh? Of course the grain isn’t just filled up with the pumice. Pumice is a fine abrasive, so whilst you are rubbing it in, it picks up fine dust from the wood and also the shellac sealer coat. The meths (or alcohol if you’re reading this outside the UK!) also picks up the natural dye from the wood which colours the pumice else you’d see white filler in the grain. 

I thought that I’d just high light this video that Phil (Hare) uploaded recently- you must check out his other videos, if you haven’t already. He really is quite a remarkable player!

John and his koa guitar

As promised here’s John playing his new Koa guitar

There’s a second song but for some reason YouTube won’t let me embed it-doh! Here’s a link to it http://youtu.be/xE2cx9MaJ9c

John writes and performs some very funny songs and if you want to see him live and you’re in West London, you can see him at the Halfway House in Barnes on Thursday, 14th June (2012).

Great videos, cheers John.

Fiddly bits!

This week has been a week of fiddly bits! I’ve just completed the tailpiece for Alan’s mandolin and visually I’m very pleased with combination of ebony, cocobolo and brass. What I can do with these tailpieces is shape them to complement the head shape. The main thing is, however, it gives a really firm anchor for the strings which I’m convinced helps sustain.

I’ve also put together these two rosettes; this one is for Sean’s twin-point.

 And this one? Well, I want to introduce a new mandolin, an “A” style, which slots in between my Standard mandolin and the twin-point, giving me a broader model range.

More on this later........