Author: Neil Miller

I’m excited to have started my next batch of 6 mandolins with a goal of completing them in spring, 2027. Four of this batch are already sold and 2 are awaiting owners. Let me know if you’re interested, or know someone who is! My building schedule begins with necks, because this is the most painfully…

While most of the instruments I build follow traditional styling, from time to time a customer has a vision for something out of the ordinary. Two mandolins I recently finished fit that description. The first is made from 100% Pacific Northwest woods: Englemann spruce top, quilted bigleaf maple back sides & neck, walnut binding, madrone…

This Rettberg & Lange Super Orpheum No. 1 tenor banjo found its way to my shop in rough shape after well over 100 years of making music.  Man do I wish it could have told me all its stories!  The 4 tuners were each from a different manufacture and 20 screw holes (count em!) had…

Graduates of the Class of 2026 I delivered the first 2 mandolins of my 2026 build to their owners last weekend.  It’s been a longer road than planned, so I felt a particular thrill to see them in the hands of the players who helped me conceive them nearly 9 months ago. Both instruments were…

The first mandolins of my 2026 batch are finally ready for finishing! They were strung up and their owners played them “in the white,” after which I made final adjustments based on their feedback. Then I took the necks off, routed channels on the corners and added binding. The router can’t reach the tight curves…

Last week my guitar building students completed their 12th class. Everyone now has a completed and closed guitar body and they’re working hard at finishing and fitting the necks. Everyone is working hard, and for the most part keeping up. It’s an intense schedule and they’re dedicated craftsmen! As always, it’s fun to see the…

In my current mandolin build, I’m using 4 different species of “figured” maple. Each one has its own character, but all are so beautiful, they’re a thrill to work with! This European maple (Acer platanoides) shows a classic “fiddleback” pattern. Red maple (Acer rubrum) often has similar curly figure, but in diverging lines. Sugar maple…

This week I strung up the first two mandolins of my current batch “in the white” (with no binding or finish). I’m using a new source of Sitka and Englemann spruce for the tops, and I want to be sure everything is dialed in before proceeding with the 6 instruments that already have owners. Both…

Of all the various parts that go into building a mandolin, the top has the most significant influence on tone quality. If you build it too stiff, the instrument will sound tinny, with poor projection. If you build it too light, it won’t have the strength to withstand 50+ pounds of down-pressure from the strings,…

Restoring instruments with family significance brings a real sense of purpose and satisfaction to my repair business. This week I worked on two guitars that belonged to the current owners’ grandfathers. The first was an old archtop that a teenage boy recently brought back from Sweden where his grandfather lived. It was in relatively good…