This mandolin was my sixth instrument, having previously made 5 fiddles. I finished it in October 2002. It took me about 1.5 months working on it every day. I built it for myself, as I play all kinds of stringed instruments and wanted to try something challenging but fun…and it was! I got a book on mandolin making and chose the F style, popular for bluegrass. The materials cost about $600. Back and sides are Quilted Maple, the neck is Curly Maple and the top is Sitka Spruce. I bought a plastic trust-rod cap (top of the finger board) but it didn’t look right so I made one out of Rosewood. The Mother of Pearl inlay was very tricky.
I had to make my own jigs, a lot of finger planes and it took a lot of time to to get the carving right on the back and top. I was very pleased with the outcome. The finishing was very time consuming. 3 coats of poly, sand it down until it was almost gone and do it again over 20 coats in all!
Gorgeous.
Now my wife wants me to make one.
Hi David,
F-style mandolins are tough to build. Looks like you did a great job. And quickly too. You must have been driven, and worked some long hours on it.
A perfect, high gloss varnish finish is not easy to do, but it results in a look that, to my eye, is warmer and more beautiful than lacquer. Plus, it’s tough as nails.
Hope it sounds as good as it looks.
DD
Fantastic work,congrats.
It looks great David. I particularly like the headstock design. You have book-matched the back fantastically too. I have done quite a bit of pearl inlaying and know how much time you will have put into it. Thanks for sharing.
Love the fire on the back! Beautiful finish!
One word WOW!!!!!!
Nice work David, good choice on the truss rod cover, I like that effect. Also, very nice job on the headstock binding, for me this is the toughest and most tedious part to get perfect – looks like you got it!
Love the quilted maple body and the light finish, like the blond look. Great work!
Richard Wile
Richard Wile Guitars