Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

Two projects that I have strung up over the course of the last week:

1. Martin Mini Grand Symphony sized short-scale, v-braced guitar

23.5 inch scale length, mortise and tenon bolt on neck.
Englemann Spruce & Tasmanian Blackwood, ebony binding.
Queensland maple neck, Doral fretboard, lacy she-oak headstock veneer.
Hardened shellac finish, Gotoh 510 tuners. 2. A-style mandolin (based on Graham McDonald's book)

14.75 inch scale length, bolt on neck.
Sitka spruce and Camphor Laurel, Blackwood binding.
African mahogany neck, ziricote fretboard, Blackheared Sugar Maple headstock veneer.
Hardened shellac finish, Rubner tuners.

Nice instruments, Bob. Did You apply the hardened shellac with a brush or polish it with a bale?

I like all the timbers used for both instrument and the hardener shellac finish looks great. Well done.

Wayne

Edi wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 25, 2023 2:11 am

Nice instruments, Bob. Did You apply the hardened shellac with a brush or polish it with a bale?

The hardened shellac was just wiped on with a cloth.

Why the longer scale length for the mandolin?

peter.coombe wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 25, 2023 10:42 am

Why the longer scale length for the mandolin?

Before I settled upon dimensions I had a look at publicly available information of the designs employed by number of makers, including yourself, Graeme McDonald, Nigel Forster and Roger Bucknall and others, and in the end based the scale length and width at the nut on the Fylde Touchstone mandolins.

I have an Eastman mandolin which I bought to learn on, and which has what I understand to be a reasonably standard 13-7/8" scale length and 28 mm width at the nut, and thought I could benefit from a little more room on the fretboard. Fylde make a few claims about the benefits of their design, including that "its extra string length helps to produce a powerful, rich tone, and the extra spacing and fingerboard width make it ideal for those players who need more room on the fingerboard" which are both qualities I was hoping to gain.

I am pretty happy with it so far, but have identified plenty of areas where I need to improve my execution!

Both look great Bob. I really love the look of the timber combination in the mandolin. The camphor B&S are lovely, but the headstock veneer is the real star. I also like a zero fret.

Mark McLean wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 25, 2023 10:01 pm

Both look great Bob. I really love the look of the timber combination in the mandolin. The camphor B&S are lovely, but the headstock veneer is the real star. I also like a zero fret.

David Linton at Australian Guitar Timbers provides a nice range of interesting headstock veneers - I have a few tucked away for future projects

Very nice Bob! Great looking Mandolin.

Thanks Trent. Graham McDonald’s book is a great resource for the aspiring mandolin maker