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 to the shaft, and rough shaping the profile and outline.
I use hot hide glue for all the neck glue joints. Although this is one of the oldest glues known in woodworking, it creates a bond as strong as modern synthetic glues and doesn’t undergo any “cold creep,” a slight shifting over time that leaves a small ridge at the glue seam, typical of many wood glues.
Tradition dictates that mandolin necks be made out of the same species of wood as the back and sides. Western bigleaf maple, prized for it’s “quilted” figure, isn’t strong enough to withstand the tension of 8 steel strings, so those necks will get high-tech carbon fiber reinforcement on either side of the steel tension rod used to adjust the relief of necks of all species.
