German style mandolin WIP

[sebastiaan56]

From Alfred Woll’s plans. The timber was sold to me as Daran, an outback Acacia.. About two and a bit months to get to this point. A lick of pore filler to bring out the colour,

[Mark McLean]

It looks like you are at the exciting stage! Tell us more - what is the neck like and how is it attached? What is the soundboard made of? Some pictures inside the bowl please!

[sebastiaan56]

Here is the inside of the bowl. I lined it as there were still a few small gaps between the staves. The block is massive and will get the tip trimmed off. The neck will be a mortise and tenon affair with some rounding to get it all to fit. The blocks are Paulownia, which is an underrated tonewood IMO. The soundboard is Sitka Spruce. It has an 8 degree cant and 4mm curvature. It is 3mm thick. The next steps are trimming the block, flattening the sides and adding the linings.Then building the neck.

The fundamentals of the build are pretty much the same as a Lute, Oud, Bouzuki, Saz etc. The difference with the Mandolin is the load. The bowl doesnt couple acoustically with the soundboard so there is more energy available for sound projection. As with all bowlbacks their sound is distinctive.

[sebastiaan56]

Sorry, double post….

[lamanoditrento]

That looks like it would be great fun to build!