rosewood binding on body and neck test fitted.





and I'm afraid that's pretty much me for the summer. Tomorrow is the last day of term so I'll be locked out of my workshop until September.

Ah well!!

cherry mando....

ears glued onto headstock



headstock face sanded smooth



fret slots cut in fretboard and waste trimmed from round the body



truss rod slot cut



fingerboard glued onto neck

Mango bouzouki:

after a sand down and another four coats the zouk is ready for the shiny bits:

tuners



tail piece



a nut and bridge are fabricated, and strings installed.







I'll leave it under tension for a week or so before I do the final set up.

Cherry Mando.....

neck blank planed ready for shaping



F holes cut and internal braces glued in place



back brace glued in, carved and then back glued onto sides



and once the top braces are carved, the top is glued in place......

I was sawing up some American Cherry yesterday.

as I opened up the bookmatch, I found two shiny blobs, one on each side......



what on earth?

clearly not iron or steel as the saw never made a sound as it went through......

so hoked them out of the wood...



and it's a bullet!!

the next couple of slices have a hole where it passed through, then the next (on the right) has a split. other cuts after that had noting.... no mark at all.....



so I'm thinking this has been in there a LOOOOOONG time....

I've seen barbed wire and nails and rubbish before, but NEVER a bullet!!

I've heard of guitars being shot, but never before they've even been built!

cherry/cedar mando #75

juyst started a mando. I love this time of year in school as my senior exam classes have disappeared so I have a load of non contact time..... what's guy to do other than get into the workshop?

so, sides bent



neck & tail blocks glued in



linings glued in



neck laminated..... three layers of walnut (claro, american black, claro) with a pencil line of a maple veneer seperating them.....



back and top cut out and jointed

right, lots of bassy goodness.....

fretless 5 is as done as it's going to be for the forseeable.... loads of hassle with the piezo preamp so I just closed it up and left it! Some day I'll get back to it, but for now, it'll do!!







just back from a band practice in church, and thru my Trace Elliot rig with a 15" speaker, its BOOMING!!

love it!!

heres what my study looks like now.....

first finish coat on mango zouk.....





six coats, then dry over the weekend and sand, before a few more coats.