mattharris75

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.

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!

5 hours ago, Norris said:

2 years of building this thing is fast approaching! 

2 years? Why are you in such a rush mate?   <playful jab at myself> 

I'm getting to experience reading The Hobbit to my seven year old for the first time right now, one of the great joys of being a parent.  And she loves hearing me do Gollum's voice.

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

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.

5 minutes ago, Stu. said:

@komodo and @ScottR, is project kick off ale a real thing?

If it's not it should be!

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.

A few little places to clean up, but overall it turned out OK. Easier than I expected:

59 minutes ago, ScottR said:

Now that you mention it, I see it from the other side...it's a thigh gap.

SR

Mind blown... I see it, the hips and thighs.

Yeah, that's exactly how I was thinking I would do it.

Heh, very true. I thought I would try using my compass to mark the line. I think if I can get it accurately marked I can cut it fine as long as I'm patient.

1 hour ago, ScottR said:

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

SR

Thanks for the encouraging words.

I'm not quite sure how I'm going to go about accurately marking and cutting the binding ledge in there. Any suggestions?

Love the orange! And I love the slightly satin look of the finish. I assume that part is only temporary, but still, it looks cool.

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

So, I established the inside of the binding ledge using a gramil to score it, then chipped out a good bit of it with a small chisel. 

Then I made a jig:

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

3 hours ago, 2.5itim said:

Cool video! Man, those top to body "clamps" are genius!! Be right back going to buy some allthread. 

Those are called spool clamps, they're standard operating procedure in acoustic instrument building. Very handy for clamping thin edges with even pressure.

Orange.

Just awesome...

And you pulled it off, like we all knew you would.

13 hours ago, charisjapan said:

Again, pardon my complete ignorance, but,

I am wondering what any kind of  pickups work for a mandolin?

And ... would a short-scale mando-bass be possible? (as in 28 or 30" scale)

 

I used a rail pickup on mine. There are some custom jobs and small manufacturers out there though.

As far as a mandobass, it does exist. It would depend on tuning, but 28" might just be on the long end of the mandocello scale.

Excellent! Been waiting for this thread! Can't wait to see this one take shape!

5 hours ago, ScottR said:

SN: 006?

Which beach are you going to...did you go to?

SR

Sixth overall instrument build.

We're in Orange Beach, Al. It's our usual beach. My in-laws have a house down here.

Got the top sanded flush to the rim.

Now the label is ready for a coat of lacquer and then I'll glue it down.

Heading to the beach tomorrow for the week, so no progress for a while. Next step will be cutting the binding channel. Can't say I'm too psyched about that.

The top is topped... I think while tightening down the spool clamps the rim flexed and distorted a bit, but overall the join is good. 

I also drilled the holes for the bolts in the neck block. Hopefully I'll have time to get the top trimmed flush to the rim tomorrow.

Wow!

Seriously though, it's still in one piece, and not a bad effort for a pre-internet era 14 year old! I don't think most of my projects from that age made it that far...

Thanks Andy! It's not quite up to the level of technical difficulty of your ultra-modern bass build, but it's pushed me in some new directions and allowed me to develop some new skills. I am absolutely smitten with building carved top acoustic instruments now.

So, the shop upgrades are nearing completion. The new work bench is in place and the dust deputy is more or less set up, I just need to do a little reorganizing and cleaning out, then I can get back on track.

I've mostly been taking a break from the build the last few days. Working on a few small things, such as the label, but mostly I've been doing some shop upgrades. Building a new secondary work/tool bench and a dust extraction system. Hopefully I'll have all that completed by the end of the week.

I'm still experimenting with finish. I like the overall colors that I've gotten with the shellac/dye/tru oil combo, but I'm not quite yet happy with the overall flatness or sheen of the finish.

This is the finish after 10 coats of Tru Oil, the first two using the slurry method, as it was applied over top of sprayed on shellac to seal the dye. I think I need to be more aggressive in the early coats with the sand back, as I carried some of that orange peel from the sprayed shellac all the way through. Not ideal. 

I also used Birchwood Casey's Stock Sheen & Conditioner and then Briwax on top of that. It may be slightly glossier than I want to end up with. I'm wondering if I use the stock sheen and then apply the wax with some 0000 steel wool I can achieve a slightly more satin finish.

I suppose further experimentation is in order!

I'd replace the blade, first thing. Hard to tell from the video but the teeth look odd. Blunted, possibly. 

There may be other things going on with the guides or guide adjustment, but getting a decent blade is a good first step.