Jump to content

First Acoustic. Not exactly a guitar...


Recommended Posts

On 7/29/2017 at 11:45 PM, mattharris75 said:

You used to live on the gulf, Scott? Where exactly?

Pensacola. Technically, Warrington, about a hundred feet from the bayou across from the naval air station.

On 7/29/2017 at 11:45 PM, mattharris75 said:

definitely not my favorite part of the process, but it turned out well. I managed to get everywhere except the inside of the scroll:

I can relate. And the scroll is a special kind of hell to bind.:D

SR

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Patience, mucho patience.

I marked it and chiseled by hand and I really don't think there are many viable alternatives. I used small, extremely sharp chisels and gouges of various radii and made very small cuts. The good news is it's tough to see in there, so mistakes are hidden.:D

SR

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If the compass doesn't do it used the normal way, maybe you can extend the point and shorten the marker (pencil or whatever) and space them the width that you channel needs to be. Then run the point down inside along the edge of the scroll and let the pencil mark the offset.

SR

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Scott. It was one of those parts of the build that I was dreading,  because of a combination of lack of experience and what you always hear folks say about working with the scroll. I've had several experiences like that on this build that turned out to be easier than expected. Partially, perhaps, because I expected the worst (I know that was the case with the binding route), and partially because I didn't have the experience/perspective to know any different. But that's really one of the joys of building, learning new skills and pushing yourself to try things that you haven't before.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hopefully this will look good when the mess of tape comes off. I'll know when I get home this evening:

20170806_224735.thumb.jpg.15e25643a62bd8bb6ae5c2d0b55d1a38.jpg

This was tricky. I ended up gluing an inch at a time around the scroll area and up to the waist, applying pressure by hand until the glue set. Even having pre-bent the binding with heat it was tough to get it to sit  completely flat in the channel without pressure. I've mixed a little binding mud up, so if there are any small gaps I should be able to take care of it, but for the most part I expect it to be pretty tight.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have, for the most part, got the binding scraped and sanded on the bass side. Everything looks good, except for a little sliver near the waist. I'll fill it with binding mud and re-sand. I think it will look fine when it's all said and done. The top of the scroll looks a little funky in this picture, as I haven't sanded around there yet. I have to laminate a second piece of binding in on the inside edge to get to the correct height on the inside of the scroll.

20170812_124418.thumb.jpg.524c739aab2161f74d4cdd09e14394c0.jpg

Progress is slowing down, as football practice started for me this past week. Just don't have the same amount of time to work on things. I was really hoping to get the box closed before football started, but between vacations, shop upgrades, and other general life business, it just didn't happen. Oh well. Still moving on along!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, mattharris75 said:

Oh well. Still moving on along!

This is looking really sweet Matt. I 'll bet you are dying to hear it. As far as pace ,don't sweat it. You have built up so much of a head start to your usual work cycle time allotment, you got months of get out of jail free cards built up. Use the time life gives you to do it right and it will be done when it is done.

Like you aren't a master at that concept.:D

SR

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 8/12/2017 at 8:56 PM, ScottR said:

 

Like you aren't a master at that concept.:D

SR

Well, that's certainly a charitable way of putting it. :)

Maybe within the next month or so I can get the binding knocked out, do a few more fiddly but time consuming things (neck bolts, adding thickness to the neck heel, etc), and then get the neck and back attached. I'm close, and that will be quite a milestone...

This time of year just keeps me busy. High school football is serious business in Alabama. :) We're also contemplating building a new house, so I need to get things moving forward so  that this doesn't get pushed right off the back burner if/when I get consumed by all that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 6 months later...

Well, no mandola update, but just checking in with a life update. As mentioned elsewhere we moved several months ago. So, lots of unpacking, hanging curtains, TVs, pictures, wiring, painting, and a plethora of other things related to settling into a new house. Beyond that I've started renovations!

First up, my office (sorry for the picture quality).

20180220_214300.thumb.jpg.0b5423f8b7d46c97849628f8af69c336.jpg

20180220_214339.thumb.jpg.c9916b1161fe9857542ca7c23063f741.jpg

- Stained Tongue & Groove bead board ceiling

-Three piece crown molding

-Two shiplap walls

-Built-in cabinets and desk (The doors are still a work in progress)

-Walnut stained/poly finished birch butcher block desktops

-Flamed ambrosia maple open shelving

And all the many details that go along with that, including painting every freaking surface...

I also needed a matching side table to hold a book and beer/whisky, so I built one out of scraps:

20180213_174316.thumb.jpg.a99331d9e3a1f69a2a0b69bb6fd42e37.jpg

 

So, I have not been idle! But, no musical instrument building. However, have no fear! This was my weekend project:

20180220_191732.thumb.jpg.ff1310ffe769ab891dc9ce240bb93da2.jpg

It was a productive weekend. I need to add doors to the front cabinet and mount the clamp holder to the support on the right hand wall, but I'm nearly done with the shop, so there is a light at the end of the tunnel!

Except, my wife is pregnant with child #3, so that changes priorities slightly. :) 

While I have a rather exhaustive list of house projects to keep me busy before the kid gets here I imagine I'll be able to find a little time here and there to get back to the mandola. We shall see... I really am itching to get it done!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

Still no mandola update, knee deep in house projects. But this is at least instrument related. I came into a rather nice supply of walnut!

My father in law and brother in law bought all the hardwood off a family friend whose father, an avid woodworker, had died several years before. He and his mother decided to clear out the house, and the guy had hardwood stored everywhere. This lot came out of the attic! We still have more to move, and more of it will be mine, but this is a couple hundred board feet that they were nice enough to give to me for helping them lug wood around. Pretty sweet deal!

 

IMG_20180512_131829.thumb.jpg.12553406df5a58dd913e494862083951.jpg

Some boards have cracked ends, some are rather strangely sawn, but many are beautiful, including quite a few figured pieces and some live edged boards. I'll use some for instruments, some for furniture, and some for other smaller projects. 

Walnut has started to get ridiculously expensive, so this was quite a windfall!

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

Well guys, it's been quite a while. Plenty of house renovation projects, real life responsibilities, and maybe another combat robot project, have occurred since I last pulled the mandola out of storage. Took a couple of weeks of vacation over the holidays and finally got back to it. 

I managed to finish gluing and scraping the binding. The scroll was tricky, but I think it turned out about as well as I could have hoped. I was planning to stack the binding around the scroll because of the height of the carving, but I ended up deciding to carve down the scroll area to match the single layer of binding, which is basically matching the shape of the carving on the back anyway. I think it looks quite good.

I also set the neck. What was supposed to be a simple mortise and tenon bolt on ended up becoming a M&T bolt on/doweled M&T hybrid. I somehow managed to screw up the alignment on the second insert for the bolt on, so I just used the one that worked and secured the neck with a dowel on each side of the tenon.

Next up I'll close the box, get that back glued on and sanded flush. Then start finish sanding and doing some other small miscellaneous tasks like drilling for the end pin, mounting the tailpiece, fitting the bridge to the top, etc, etc.

Glad to be back at it!

 

1998806391_BindingFinished.thumb.jpg.8c4f0ce2fda774c714488309dcb1657b.jpg

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, mattharris75 said:

Well guys, it's been quite a while. Plenty of house renovation projects, real life responsibilities, and maybe another combat robot project, have occurred since I last pulled the mandola out of storage. Took a couple of weeks of vacation over the holidays and finally got back to it. 

I managed to finish gluing and scraping the binding. The scroll was tricky, but I think it turned out about as well as I could have hoped. I was planning to stack the binding around the scroll because of the height of the carving, but I ended up deciding to carve down the scroll area to match the single layer of binding, which is basically matching the shape of the carving on the back anyway. I think it looks quite good.

I also set the neck. What was supposed to be a simple mortise and tenon bolt on ended up becoming a M&T bolt on/doweled M&T hybrid. I somehow managed to screw up the alignment on the second insert for the bolt on, so I just used the one that worked and secured the neck with a dowel on each side of the tenon.

Next up I'll close the box, get that back glued on and sanded flush. Then start finish sanding and doing some other small miscellaneous tasks like drilling for the end pin, mounting the tailpiece, fitting the bridge to the top, etc, etc.

Glad to be back at it!

 

1998806391_BindingFinished.thumb.jpg.8c4f0ce2fda774c714488309dcb1657b.jpg

 

Maturing like a fine wine    ;)

Good to see it again.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 7/30/2017 at 8:01 PM, ScottR said:

Pensacola. Technically, Warrington, about a hundred feet from the bayou across from the naval air station.

>snip<

SR

Really? I was born and raised in Warrington until moving in 1972. Sounds like you were  on Innerarity Point looking at white island? Or were you on Navy Point?

mk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 hours ago, mattharris75 said:

Well guys, it's been quite a while. Plenty of house renovation projects, real life responsibilities, and maybe another combat robot project, have occurred since I last pulled the mandola out of storage. Took a couple of weeks of vacation over the holidays and finally got back to it. 

I managed to finish gluing and scraping the binding. The scroll was tricky, but I think it turned out about as well as I could have hoped. I was planning to stack the binding around the scroll because of the height of the carving, but I ended up deciding to carve down the scroll area to match the single layer of binding, which is basically matching the shape of the carving on the back anyway. I think it looks quite good.

I also set the neck. What was supposed to be a simple mortise and tenon bolt on ended up becoming a M&T bolt on/doweled M&T hybrid. I somehow managed to screw up the alignment on the second insert for the bolt on, so I just used the one that worked and secured the neck with a dowel on each side of the tenon.

Next up I'll close the box, get that back glued on and sanded flush. Then start finish sanding and doing some other small miscellaneous tasks like drilling for the end pin, mounting the tailpiece, fitting the bridge to the top, etc, etc.

Glad to be back at it!

 

1998806391_BindingFinished.thumb.jpg.8c4f0ce2fda774c714488309dcb1657b.jpg

 

that is crazy beautiful.  nice work!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...