too busy building mandos to post!!

ah well, I've got two well on the road, one cutaway with the same rough dimensions as previously, but with a 12th fret neck join, again in walnut with a spruce top, and t'other is shortened to push the bridge more into the centre of the body, again walnut with a spruce top. rosewood binding all round with maple purfling.

latest build started is a walnut mandonaught with a cutaway.

sitka top and a spalted maple rosette with BWB purfling

Maple Mandonaught.........
brighter sounding than the walnut ones, and I just LOVE to look of this. the nut & bridge need redone as they're slightly out, but other than that she's great

SPECIFICATION:
back & sides: Maple
top: Sitka Spruce
rosette: Leopardwood with maple purfling
neck: Walnut
fingerboard: Rosewood with a maple veneer underneath
Binding : Rosewood
nut & saddle: bone
bridge: ebony (from a slvaged piano key...) tuners & tailpiece from stewmac

Awrighty, the bass next.......

I got some bridge pins and when I drilled holes big enough for them I found that the ball ends of the strings wouldn't go down through the holes, so they have to be pushed out from inside. A minor inconvenience.

other than that she is great!! FAR louder than I expected unplugged and really sweet plugged in too. A standard artec guitar piezo under the bridge straight to the jack for an external preamp.

so, spec list.........

back & sides: walnut
top: Westarn Red Cedar
neck: mahogany/walnut/mahogant with maple pencil line veneers
Fingerboard EI Rosewood
fretmarkers: Mother of Pearl
Nut & saddle: Bone
Bridge: pins Ebony
binding: rosewood
Rosette: cherry

OK, I've been too busy getting these three done to post here, so here's an update.....

the 00 was finished first.

the bridge was made from an offcut from the back of the neck and I've had the strings on it for a week now and they're worn out!! I normally get a couple of months at least from a set of strings, but these are are just played out.....

Took it to both church services on Sunday and got very complimentary comments from a bunch of folks, so I'm really happy!!

the frets aren't even finished yet, I have to file the edges and tidy them up and get the label inside. the pickup is an artec piezo and the preamp has a built in tuner which is a great help, especially with new strings.

so, full spec list.......

back & sides: Leopardwood
top: western red cedar
neck: mahogany/cherry/walnut/cherry/mahogany laminate
fingerboard EI Rosewood
fret markers Mother of pearl
saddle & nut: Bone
Bridge: offcut from the neck
binding: rosewood/maple
rosette: leopardwood with maple purfling
tuners: Gotoh minis

i have to be honest and say that AESTHETICALLY it's far from perfect. the leopardwood was really hard to bend and there are a few ripples here & there. There's a score on the face of the headstock too. bit it is SO comfy to play. I'll play this one to death, I just KNOW it!!

right, everything is fretted, sanded and tuner holes drilled.

I deliberately got them all to this stage together to save time washing out the spraygun. The grain starts to come alive under the finish, even though there is about another 5 coats and then a load of buffing to go. the Leopardwood is, as expected, really spotty!! the maple on the mando has more curl than I thought it would have and the two tone walnut on the bass is just great!!