ScottR Posted March 23, 2017 Report Share Posted March 23, 2017 Did you try to tune them? SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aakoo Posted March 23, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2017 (edited) Not really.. I still have to do some shaping to do with the braces before glueing the top. I actually discussed about tuning the top with the course leader, and hes suggestion was just to skip the tuning and focus on having well shaped braces, that are well fit to the top shape. Is there a general guide on the tuning? Edit:looking on few videos, it seems that some builders tune tops after they attached the top to body. Edited March 23, 2017 by Aakoo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattharris75 Posted March 23, 2017 Report Share Posted March 23, 2017 I'd search the builders forum on mandolincafe.com for more info on top tuning. The long and short of it is that there are a million different ideas, some with slightly more scientific merit than others. But be warned, you might come out overloaded and more confused than you were when you started. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted March 23, 2017 Report Share Posted March 23, 2017 5 hours ago, Aakoo said: looking on few videos, it seems that some builders tune tops after they attached the top to body. That's true, I had forgotten you hadn't glued the top on yet. Siminoff's instructional book happened to be what I followed when building my kit. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aakoo Posted March 29, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2017 Today, on lunch break from work I decided to glue on the top to the frames. I think I counted 16 clamps.. Not sure though and a bit hard to verify from the photo I let the glue dry some 1½ hours and took of the clamps. Here you can see the result. All went fine, except on tip of the scroll area, the surface was not 100% flat, so there is a very small cap. Nothing serious, and will definietly not be visible after finishing. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aakoo Posted April 5, 2017 Author Report Share Posted April 5, 2017 Started with the neck. I suppose traditionally the mandolin necks are one piece, but I am not really after a traditional design. I made a sandwich construction, birch stripe in the middle, mahogany stripes and finally birch on the sides. The scraf joint I made separately on each part, and the joint is placed on different place every time. Yesterdat I run out of time, so currently the neck plank consists only of the center strip and mahogany strips. Today, if I have the time, I will go to the school and finish the neck blank, so that I can start shaping it next week. Will take off some thickness from the mahogany before glueing the birch sides, so the strips won't be as thick as seen in the photo. The head stock end in the photo is on the right, the longer part is the head stock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curtisa Posted April 5, 2017 Report Share Posted April 5, 2017 Damn, I think I've just entered a space-time continuum infinite vortex. I'm viewing your thread on Project Guitar using my Dell Latitude, where you are looking at your thread on Project Guitar using your Dell Latitude.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted April 6, 2017 Report Share Posted April 6, 2017 Photo or it didn't happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curtisa Posted April 6, 2017 Report Share Posted April 6, 2017 Pretty sure I just broke the internet. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted April 10, 2017 Report Share Posted April 10, 2017 Nice tagging Ari. I just noticed that.... #brutaldeathmetalinstrument 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted April 10, 2017 Report Share Posted April 10, 2017 I continued this over here thanks to you guys. http://www.projectguitar.com/forums/topic/48886-projectguitarception/ 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curtisa Posted April 10, 2017 Report Share Posted April 10, 2017 The worlds' slowest infinity-mirror effect. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aakoo Posted April 13, 2017 Author Report Share Posted April 13, 2017 Lovely replies guys, I got a good laugh last Tuesday it was the last session for this season. I got the neck glued and roughly shaped. The bandsaw blade was extremely bad, and cutting the birch strips on sides became almost too thin, but at the end the neck width is just perfect on the tail, where the neck is the widest. I would assume, the neck is fairly strong as the scarf joint is located differently on every layer of the neck strips. Now I need to figure out where I could continue the mandolin during the summer, and hopefully next fall, I will get in to the course again. @Prostheta, next weekend, the weekend after the Easter, there will be a display of Kokkolan kansalaisopisto course products. If you happen to be around here, I suggest you should drop in to see a few nice instruments and more handcrafted products. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted April 13, 2017 Report Share Posted April 13, 2017 I'm rarely that far north to be fair, Ari. That said, I am planning on following up on the upcoming Mirka DEROS review and supporting material with a visit to Jeppo/Jakobstad/Oravais to learn and relate more about Mirka and abrasives in general. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aakoo Posted April 14, 2017 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2017 Yeah, it was kinda shot in the dark. I guess Kokkola is not a place where people accidentally drop by during weekends... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted April 14, 2017 Report Share Posted April 14, 2017 I wouldn't mind, however it's a pretty far excursion from here and I tend to have zero free days at best! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aakoo Posted October 4, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 4, 2017 Long time since the last post.. Sorry about that.. I've been insane busy, my wife is working far too much and I have to keep my eyes on our toddler, he's everywhere all the time The instrument building classes started some while ago. The course seems to be extremely popular. I saw the acceptance list on the course. The online course signup started at 11 o'clock, I signed up at 11:00:05, and I was on position 12, At 11:00:30, the course was filled up, in 30 seconds! I have made some progress on the mandolin, but haven't had really time to report about it. So I try to put out a few pictures and comments on this post. First session, I missed due a working trip to Berlin. Next week I started slowly. I didn't really have any idea what I should do, so I decided to start shaping the bottom of the instrument. I really enjoy working with the chisels, I just need better ones. Second session, I continued the work on the bottom. At the end of the session, rough shaping was now done Third session I don't have the photo but I sanded the bottom and started to work on the neck joint. Fourth session, Continued work with the neck joint. Now the neck is set, but the joint needs a bit fixing, as the neck is lining up incorrectly, This was actually also very satisfying part, although the result didn't end being 100% satisfying at once. I have realized that I enojoy far more working on chisels and sandpaper and other silent hand tools, rather than the noisy electric machines. Funny that is exactly opposite to my musical taste, I prefer loud amps and electric guitars, over the acoustic music. I Will try to be more active in the future 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted October 4, 2017 Report Share Posted October 4, 2017 That looks absolutely fantastic, Ari. Have you seen @ScottR's electric mandolin thread yet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aakoo Posted October 5, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2017 Yes, I saw the thread yesterday, very cool! Seems like the Mandolin building fever he started with the Sarah's Mandolin thread started spreading, and got back to him Kind of funny, in the building workshop I am attending, I was the first one ever with the idea of making f-style mandolin. I bought the plans, copied them to course leader. Now there are at least 2 mandolins on progress, and 2 mandolins done by people who work faster than me. So the fewer is spreading offline too 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted October 5, 2017 Report Share Posted October 5, 2017 It seems to happen like that. Once you revive an old idea, people remember and then catch onto it. I'd like to see what the YouTube project builds will inspire in people in a way. I'm sure that they will do that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted October 5, 2017 Report Share Posted October 5, 2017 I love seeing proper carving. Great work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aakoo Posted April 12, 2018 Author Report Share Posted April 12, 2018 (edited) Long silence since last time.. The mandolin has progressed slowly, and I've been a bit busy and not logging in to my computer after working hours that often, so I haven't had the time to update this thread. We still have one session left for this season, after that we start a summer break from the workshop. The flame maple fretboad is glued on: I used abalone markers. Also used same flame maple as headstock veneer. I kind of think turned out pretty nice looking. The head stock looks non-symmethrical on the photo, but it's that bad as it looks here. The volute on the neck was more or less an accident: didn't plan to have volute, but when I was shaping the neck, the volute short of shaped it self. I think it looks good here, Next week, I will install the side fret markers, and finalize the top binding.Perhaps, if I have some time to design a nice headstock decal. During summer, I plan to fret the finger boardm and next season I will start by putting on some color + laquer on the top. And then I continue by gluing on the neck, and finally glue on the bottom.. Any suggestions for coloring scheme? I was thinking about amber. Edited April 12, 2018 by Aakoo Posted the first version accidentally too early Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted April 12, 2018 Report Share Posted April 12, 2018 That looks beautiful, @Aakoo These long-term builds may keep us on tenterhooks for extended periods of time, but the results are often as rich as a delicious stew cooked in a slow oven... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris Posted April 12, 2018 Report Share Posted April 12, 2018 Lovely! 1 hour ago, Aakoo said: Any suggestions for coloring scheme? I was thinking about amber. A @ScottR IPA burst would set it off rather nicely Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aakoo Posted April 12, 2018 Author Report Share Posted April 12, 2018 Had to do a search on forum what is IPA bust. I actually had thought somewhat that kind of color scheme. Now I know what it's called here! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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