Grange Floor Mandolins

[mziegler]

I am an active Contra Dancer and we wore our floor at the Capital City Grange- Montpelier VT right down to the nails in some places. If any of you are dancers you know how important the floor is and this one was the premo one in New England- just the right amount of spring to it and sometimes the old building would seem to move with the dancers. And on a sub-zero night in northern Vermont the exit fans were blowing vapor out the windows that would freeze into a fog-- looked just like the old cartoons of a rocking dance hall.

Anyway we raised bunches of cash to replace the floor, BUT I wanted as much of the old floor as I could get my hands on because I felt it had tremendous mojo. 50 years of dance and the best live old timey and Celtic music available anywhere. So I now have a lot of old flooring to fool around with (i have even tried to sell some on e-bay without much luck). There is lots of waste involved but I'm now in the process of making two A-type mandolins using this wood.

Made up a butcher block type back and neck from this beautiful hard maple. Used a neat trick from finewoodworking to eliminate snipe on these boards--glued sacrificial strips on the sides of the item to be planed and all the snipe then occurs outside the profile-- very cool.



Then cut out and carved the back



Using some Lutz spruce for the soundboard



And am to the point of gluing the top to the rims



Don't know how much I will be documenting the entire build but though you-all might be interested in the concept. Using techniques gleaned from Arnt, Siminoff, Steve Stevens and Dudenbostel. At least the first two will be sold or raffled to benefit the Grange Hall.

Thanks for looking

MikeZ

[Dennis Leahy]

Very cool, Mike!

A long while ago, I joked that if a dancer had to have a leg amputated, he or she should donate the bone to a luthier for use as saddles and nuts. Of course, it was tongue-in-cheek, sorta. Talk about mojo!

hahahahah

I'm sure these instruments will be magical.

Dennis

[Jim]

A long while ago, I joked that if a dancer had to have a leg amputated, he or she should donate the bone to a luthier for use as saddles and nuts. Of course, it was tongue-in-cheek, sorta. Talk about mojo!
Dennis

That's really funny, Dennis! But, Mike, ARE there any soon-to-be deceased dancers from the Grange hall that might be convinced to donate a leg in their living will? What a great mandolin that would make! Mojo, indeed!

On second thought, never mind.

I look forward to seeing the final products, Mike.

Jim

P.S.: And, Mike, thanks for sharing the snipe eliminator idea. Why didn't I think of that?

[mziegler]

Dennis, where do you get your sense of humor? I wouldn't want to do a Backyard Build from your backyard

Jim, before reading this planer trick I had almost given up on the planer for lutherie because of snipe and the fact that most tonewood because of its cost and rarity (or in this case nail holes!) is usually cut to size before it gets to me. I have a 13.5" planer so the mandolin backs and soundboards can be put through with some thin sacrificial strips. They have to have enough bulk to hold the board and rollers from causing the snipe. I have gotten plenty from Finewoodworking and love the fact that most of the stuff in that magazine is still beyond me--something to aim for. Most woodworking magazines are aimed at the beginner birdhouse bunch which is great but... Tauton press does this in other areas with their Finehomebuilding and Threads issues. My wife and daughter get Threads--they are both professionals and they still find new techniques in that magazine. Interesting that several years ago Threads started to have primarily beginner articles in an attempt to increase their readership. After a few months of complaints they had to admit that was a wrong move and went back to their expert format.

MikeZ

[mziegler]

Here is a sequence of carving the back. Have not seen the angle grinder with 80 grit wheel mentioned as a tool but it sure beats finger planes or gouges for initial carving. I then switch to ibex finger planes for final shaping and an orbital sander for finishing all but the recurve.
After rough carving and smoothing the outside of the plate a pin and large drill are set to give a 1/4" clearance.



Then holes are drilled leaving an inch border and not drilling in the neckblock area. The central portion is not drilled purely because my drill press is too small!



Then the plate is taken outside if possible and the angle grinder is used to hollow out the plate to the depth of the holes.



MikeZ

[mziegler]

Although this is a "copy" of an A series, I don't think I could really copy something if I tried. So here is the volute area of the neck being carved. Wanted to leave a sculptural feel to the area without being too obvious. So took my Flex-cut and rasp and had at it and ended up with a pretty nice area which will strengthen that typically weak area of the neck.







I'm still getting used to the Siminoff neck joint but so far it has yielded what appears to be a very strong joint. I will try to give a tutorial at some point but suffice to say the jig is the important part about it and if I can make it it has to be pretty easy. Sure beats mysterious dovetails on this highly curved area. It does make shaping and smoothing the neck a bit more challenging but in the end I think it is worth it.



Back of the peghead showing the multipiece neck and front of the ebony peghead.





Put in the Capital City Grange Logo



I originally bound, fretted and finished the fingerboard prior to placing on the neck and body. I found the width was a bit too narrow to cover the neck joint so stripped off the binding and put on a bit thicker stuff. It gave me a wonderful set of "prefinished" frets. I'm trying now to think of a way to do this on purpose with some kind of sacrificial binding.



Here is a picture of the binding and recurve. The binding is ivoroid from Axinc and is very tasty! Very pricy because you start with a $27 hazmat fee but there is nothing like ivoroid except of course natural wood.



Now the tough part begins. First I'm going to string it up in the white like Arnt to check all the settings. Then checking and checking for any flaws to be corrected. Then I'm going to do a sunburst similar to this earlier A I built.



MikeZ

[stevens]

Hey Mike

Really cool way to re-use that aged wood.
Should make a great back and neck.
Those back joints need to be really good.
Maple will move more than most wood we use - especially hard maple.

Sort of reminds me of the Texas mesquite guitars I made while living in Breckenridge, Texas.

Fun to see.

Steve

[mziegler]

Thanks guys for the feedback. Steve, I think the joints are pretty good but I had the same concerns. Lots of seams to open up!

Here is my setup for scraping binding after staining. Gloves so I don't screw up the stain. I use a burnisher to turn an edge onto a single edge razor blade. I then use a diamond file to take just the corner off the blade to decrease the possibility of digging into the wood.



The loops are surgical telescopes from my former life. They are now required of new dentists because of the occupational back problems. Telescopes allow you to sit up straight and work at a comfortable 16" from the workpiece. Absolutely unaffordable for the generic luthier but it sure makes close work a breeze. Also learned a trick here (?Arnt) which was said to be originally a Gibson trick of having the inside strip of binding be black. The inner strip of black means that one doesn't have to be perfect when scraping right next to the wood, you have a thin buffer zone of the black. I think you can see what I'm trying to say in this photo. It makes the scraping next to that stained wood a little less stressful.



Getting close to putting the finish on.

MikeZ