Mandola
17” scale
Salvaged makore neck and blocks
Mahogany back and sides, spruce top with spruce bracing
Walnut fingerboard
Walnut and mahogany bridge, with bone saddle
Bone nut
Finished in ruby shellac
Anatomy of a build
Both because I work largely from different materials each time, and I’ve yet to make the same instrument twice, every build is a little different - but there are common techniques I use across builds. What’s outlined in this post is the making of a single solid body, 27”scale, 4 string guitar, which was made to someone else’s specs. you can see and hear the finished product here The Neck. I always start with the neck. In this case the first step was using a router sled and a plane to grade down and level a piece of mahogany for the fingerboard. This is then slotted for the eventual frets. A very careful job. The neck blank is then cut, planed and squared. In this case the wood is pitch pine from part of and old bench the the fretboard is resting on. The single most difficult cut in the whole guitar making process is the 13degree angle for the scarf joint. Should the saw wander by more that a mm or so over length of cut you have firewood. This time it came out well and ...
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