Walnut Archtop: head

One of the things that I’ve been working on this week is the neck for the next Archtop mandolin. The neck itself is made from bird’s eye maple and the head overlay from some spectacular Claro walnut. Here are a couple of photos and a video of the process.

The videos for the what is now "Jeremy’s Archtop" proved to be very popular, so I thought I’d do a second series and look at some different aspects of the build.

MAN vs WOOD

I’ve been French polishing instruments for around 10 years now and in spite of that experience, I still find it difficult to predict how long the process will take. I just keep going, polishing and cutting back (to various degrees) and one day the instrument turns around and says to me that’s it we’re done!

Not quite at that stage with Mike’s mandolin, but getting near.

So, in between polishing sessions, I’ve started the next Archtop mandolin. I’m so pleased with the one that Jeremy now owns that I can’t imagine changing the design but what I will do is refine my building technique, maybe make a few jigs etc.

The next Archtop will have American Black Walnut back and sides; I’ve had some lovely pieces of walnut in stock for years and have finally had the courage to convert one piece of it into back and sides- mostly by hand!

"For your viewing pleasure- MAN vs WOOD!"

Archtop Mandolin season finale!

As promised here is the last episode in my Archtop build series. I should add that the mandolin has found a home and it was a real pleasure to meet Jeremy and his wife when they came to collect it at the weekend.

Nava Archtop Mandolin

The Archtop mandolin is now complete and I must say that I couldn’t be more happy with it. The next one is already on the bench! Below are some photos for you. Video to follow!