Road Trip Mandolin - " Ceol Binn Taistealaí”

Joe - thanks.

The neck is then carved to shape:



Then the fretboard radiused:



Then the Gold EVO fretwire is pressed in and seated with hot hide glue:



The heel is trimmed for the heel-cap and after contouring it to meet the back the Ebony heel-cap is glued on using hide glue:



Here’s how it looks after sanding flush:



The Macassar Ebony bridge blank has the bottom sanded to match the top’s curvature:



The bridge blank is then marked and slotted for the bone saddle:





The saddle blank is cut to final shape Then the sides are shaped and the bone saddle is fitted. This is how it will look:



Here’s the fretted neck fitted:



Next the pores in the Bubinga back and sides are filled using egg white. Small pieces of 240 grit sandpaper are dipped in egg white and rubbed on the body creating a slurry of Bubinga and egg white that is pushed into the pores - the albumin in the egg white acts as a binder. This process is completed until the pores are filled. When dry the body is sanded with 320 grit paper:

Looking mighty fine - as is the Arch-Uke!

Keith

Keith and Martin - thanks.

The neck was also sprayed. After the finish was hard enough it was levelled and sanded - final polishing will be right at the end. I had considered making a tailpiece for this mandolin out of brass sheet and matching wood and after looking at various designs found that our own Gary Nava's was by far the best. I asked Gary if he would let me do my own take/variation on his great design and he very kindly said I could. On reflection sending out my first version on the Road Trip Mandolin is too brave and I've decided to use my usual German made brass tailpiece but I will be continuing to "evolve" my take on Gary's design over the coming months. The Gotoh tuners had a slight issue so I swapped them out for some Rubners. Here's the neck, tuners, tailpiece, bridge and rough shaped nut on CBT:



The rest of the string positions are marked on the nut:



The string slots in the nut and saddle are cut and the action tweaked and set up. Here's how CBT looks:





Also with the strings on for just an hour or so I did some quick recordings with my Zoom H4N (No effects and flat EQ). First the strings played individually and strummed in my usual GDAD tuning followed by a stumble through the four part jig "The Maid at the Spinning Wheel":

"The Maid at the Spinning Wheel"

Then some "strummage":

"CBT Strummage"

Now CBT needs to settle and I'll chase down any buzzes, rattles and high frets. Then I'm going to fit a K&K pickup and strap pin and maybe a clear pickguard and it should be ready for Joe as the first Tripper at next Sunday's "East Anglia Guitar Festival".

Dave,
Be interested to hear how you get on with the K&K. I’ve only used one, once and found it a bit too microphonic for the comparatively thin soundboard of a flat-top mandolin.
Cheers Gary
PS. Looking forward to seeing that tailpiece!

Now then, now then - you're next on the Road Trip after Joe

Thanks Phil.

After a "phone a friend" call to Keith I fitted the K&K Twin Internal Mandolin pickup - note to self, next time make the soundhole a bit bigger . A quick play through my Trace Cube amp and it sounds pretty good. I'll give it a full test using a K&K pre-amp at the weekend with Keith and Mark:



I pondered greatly with the position of the strap pin. On CB III I put it on the bass side into the neck-block but Keith tutted that the strap pull was wrong. I didn't want to put it on the treble side neck heel as it might hamper upper fret "widdly" stuff so decided instead to put it into the treble side neck block. It seems to do the job:



All that's left to do now is some final fettling and polishing and it's all ready to start the Road Trip with Joe on Sunday.