My homemade mandolin (page 2)

Here's the sides soaking in hot water prior to bending. I didn't get any shots of the sides being bent.... a combination of the batteries in my camera going dead and the adrenaline of the whole process.

Here's a shot of the joined and rough-cut back and the rest of the body.

Here's a pic of the inside. I doubt this thing will break any time soon; it's built like a tank.

January 15, 2008: I routed the top for the mahogany binding I had made a couple days before. I now realize that router bits CAN and DO become dull. Whew! It wasn't that it couldn't do the job, I was just nervous about pushing the dremel tool along without forcing it and messing up the top, sides, or both.

I printed off and glued in a maker's label with the serial number 2008-1, thereby implying there will be more in 2008.

I made a small back brace out of scrap maple just for a little added security.

I then glued the back on, using homemade spool clamps. I was very happy with the fit of the back, so there's no need to rout and add binding. I knew the maple/maple corner would be strong enough; the only reason I would have added binding on the back was to hide a sloppy joint.

Up at the head block I had a minor challenge: the joint between the sides and headblock was visible at the neck heel. I knew that would happen before I started and was okay with it; the problem was that only a small portion of the headblock was visible and a casual observer might have thought it was a mistake. Had more of the joint been visible it would have been obvious it was meant to be that way..... but rather than have to explain myself every time someone looked at it, I opted to "cap" it with a thin piece of walnut. Why walnut? Because that's what I grabbed from under the bench and it looks nice.

Now I still have no idea if this thing will have any tone at all, but now that the body is together I can rap on the sound board with my fingertip and get a nice hollow ringing "boom". Tomorrow I should be able to attach the neck....

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