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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…

This week I started bending and assembling sides as part of my mandolin build. In the past, I’ve bent each piece individually over a hot copper pipe. As I scale up my operation, I’m making tools and forms to work more accurately and efficiently. For side bending, this means building wooden bending forms for the…

I sometimes receive unusual instruments needing repair, but recently I took on my first Renaissance instrument repair.  A local musician brought me his Orpharion, in need of a neck reset, back repair, and bridge work.  The orpharion was developed in the 16th century for women whose voluminous dresses made it difficult for them to grasp…

Computer Numerical Control (CNC), a process which uses a computer to operate tools like mills and routers, has taken hold in the instrument building world over the past 20 years. Even small shops now use CNC to mill out complex parts like bridges, fingerboards, and necks. Just a year ago, I told myself I was…

Luthiers for centuries have agreed that the wood on the top of an instrument affects its tone far more than any other part of the instrument. Spruce is the most widely used top wood for mandolins, and for my current build, I have three different spruce species: Lutz, Englemann (left side of the picture), and…

This Oscar Schmidt mandolin, built in the late 19th or early 20th century, came to me several months ago in virtually unplayable condition.  Years of string tension had pulled the neck forward to the point where the strings were too high off the fretboard, and a well-intentioned owner coated the original French polish with “modern”…

I’ve completed the first significant step in my 2025 mandolin build! Rough construction of a mandolin neck involves 12 distinct steps including cutting and squaring the main shaft, shaping the tenon which will fasten the neck to the body of the instrument at a precise 5 degree angle, building out the head at 14 degrees…