Construction

Material Selection

Rough materials used to build a mandolin, Truss rod, west African ebony fingerboard, close grained Adirondack spruce top, red/sugar maple back, sides, and neck, mahogany interior blocks and kerfed linings, west African ebony faceplate, and celluloid binding.

Hot Hide Glue

Traditional luthier glue made naturally from livestock. Purchased in a dry pellet form I mix it with water and heat it to liquid form, which also makes it reversible for easier repair work. Hot hide dries hard, good for resonance properties, and also pulls joints tighter when curing.

Plates

Using a Master copy of a hand carved plate they are first rough carved on the duplicator carver. Then the rest is scraped and sanded by hand. All plates are Glued using Hot Hide Glue, the traditional luthier glue used for 100’s of years. The final carving is done using the elevated carving platform for inspection. Each plate requires lots of attention, inside and out when fashioned in this style.

Rim

My rims are built on a interior mould after the ribs have sat in forms for a minimum of a week. the rim is then moved to an exterior mould for kerfing and for the glueing of the top plate. This ensures accuracy. Thick eastern maple, bent on a iron, the signature F5 mandolin model features tight, consistent curves in the rim.

Neck

One piece quartersawn, truss rod reinforced, handcarved mandolin speed necks. Triple bound raked headstock with genuine mammoth ivory inlays on this build. Eastern maple with West African ebony faceplate dyed jet black. Crossband plug reinforced scrolls as well.

Hand Radiused Fingerboard

The fingerboard is made from west African ebony, and is wrapped neatly with binding. All fingerboards are hand compound radiused. This build is getting mammoth ivory block inlays with multi colored waterfowl themed scrimshaw.

Pickguard

The full size faux tortoise shell pickguards are made from custom blends Fixed with hidden pins and a mounting bracket. Bound with plastic binding.

Hand Engraved Tailpiece

Hand Engraved tailpiece covers, done with a chasing hammer and chisel. Background removed with rotary tool.

Virzi Tone Producer (optional)

The optional Virzi is a thin piece of quartersawn spruce, suspended under the top, with the larger feet directly beneath the bridge and parallel. This gives a richer more complex sound to the mandolin as it resonates internally.

Finish

Each Mandolin is sealed with amber shellac before being Finished with hand brushed spirit varnish until desired thickness, and is finally topped with a French polish using different oils, alcohol, and 1704 varnish all on a cotton pad, wiped on in a continuous circular motion. This is very time consuming but yields a high quality finish with unmatched luster.