MIMF

The NYXLs are doing fine. Ernie Ball will not be offering their Paradigm strings in singles for another year. DAddario sell singles on line. I’m digging this instrument. I’ve revised my templates for a 13.8 scale and it’s awesome and encouraging that someone routinely does 14+”.

Again,... i'm confused. I may be even posted this before for a different reason. I like the folks at my local mill and I'd like to trust them. I bought what they told me was mahogany. Its that typical reddish light brown and I know that the same species can be lighter or darker with a lot of variati...

Different tastes for different folks. Yea, I kinda like it cuz of the time I invested. Its a copy of an Alembic bridge that I once saw some years ago. It ain't pretty but a metal intonatable bridge was what I wanted. Its functional and I appreciate brass because in 50 years someone will be able to p...

I recall stewmac selling a jig to customize tang width. Maybe it was just for the teeth. I like to cut back the tang and apply black CA to the ends of the slots and have no tang showing. I used tang nippers for a while but they wore out so now I tediously do this with a dremel and a cutoff wheel bur...

Yes. With chop chords not so much but the pairs can’t help but add a unique character. The solid body is missing a huge amount of mandolin flavor but having the pairs retains an element that is lost with single strings. The difference is the same as a typical electric guitar compared to a 12-string ...

The neck is set into the back of the body and a cap covers the joint. This is a Rickenbacker design of neck joint and I like it a lot. Its very easy to do with a lot of process advantages. Its very easy to measure your neck angle and adjust it before you commit to glue and clamps. Ric doesn't run th...

The bridge and the pickup. All of the bridge material/parts is from McMasterCarr. I have a cheap X/Y table on my drill press which made this possible. Shaping the saddles is the most difficult part. I made an error in my math so the first one I built was just a little too wide son I had to make anot...

I built a couple of electric octave mandolins and did a number of conversions of electric guitars to octave mandolin. I just got interested in these. The also sell quite well since there isn't a lot of these things out there. I started taking on-line mandolin lessons and ran into trouble learning wh...

Thanks Clay. I'll use that. I went to the local music store to get a set of those EB Paradigm strings and was informed that D'Addario NYXLs are about the same product. I've installed the .010s and so far they're holding. pitch. I need to see how long they last. The .009s sounded weak and thin with m...

I dressed the holes in the tuning posts and refined the nut slots. Holding its own with a pair of .009s. I’ll test that idea about the string gauge and pitch and get back. Ernie Ball advertises that their new Paradigm strings are 30 to 70% stronger. I’m gonna try em out. This instrument was kind of ...

I should take more photos and I didn’t take any. This was certainly a student level Framus. It did not have the typical carved/hot pressed back that many Framus guitars have. Most certainly I would have used the original plastic bridge. The one I found may have actually been the same model bridge. I...

My goal was to make an electric mandolin that was easier for me to play. A slightly wider fingerboard and the maximum scale length that the E-string would tolerate. I went on the interweb and looked up mandolin scale length and the article said something like 12-1/2 to 15. I made the instrument with...

Another idea,
Recess the bridge into the body but install 6-32 but inserts into the body for the bridge studs. Order 6-32 set screws with Allen key heads and 6-32 locking nuts from McmasrCarr. Adjust the bridge height via the set screws.

Check it out under a good light and find out why it feel rough. With only just two coats of Tru oil, you shouldn’t have a problem just addressing the offending spot.

Concerning those older style cases that you see every once in a while that look like they were made from paper machete (sp?) They look like the nose of an alligator and are generally not very refined. What is the construction technique and does any know of a tutorial?

I’m making the necks using a three piece sandwich method where the curved bed for the truss rod is precut to shape — it’s just a 3/16” thick center section of contrasting wood. The price of truss rods has me making my own. I’ve done this years ago and it works but you need to use templates to get a ...

I’m simply making a neck with a conventional one-way curved compression truss rod. I have the side view on the neck drawn and I want to draw the curve as deep as I can without getting into trouble. Then I’ll copy the curve onto a lexan template. I’ve taken a 3/16” 24” long piece of rod and installed...

I thought there might be some supercool way that ya’ll got this done — one of those impressive geezer techniques that I missed along the way. But it’s nice to know that I’m in the same boat as everybody else.

Lets say for example, you are wanting to draw full-size plans for a guitar neck and you want to incorporate a single action truss rod in a curved bed. What do you folks use to draw the curve? This would be a curve with something like a ten foot radius. The actual measured radius doesn't really matte...

There are screw drilling guides available if you search google. Here's one: https://diy.stackexchange.com/questions/8800/when-pre-drilling-for-screws-how-do-you-determine-the-correct-bit-diameter Top top chart shows the recommended screw hole for the screw to bite and hold in the wood and the chart ...