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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…

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…