Mandolin Making Photo Gallery

To view the process I use to make my mandolins, click on any of the thumbnail images below, then hover over the right or left of the larger image to locate navigational arrows for advancing through the series.

A specialized heating blanket is used to heat the wood to the proper temperature for bending. Slightly moist, sides bend easily around custom made fixtures and are left for a few minutes to cool and 'set' the final curves.

I 'point' or drill to rough depth on the front or back, then we carve out the majority of the wood with a good sharp chisel. Old school, very efficient, and doesn't make any dust. And it just feels great to do a little carving. Here, Sam Elieson helped me out in the shop for a few weeks last fall.

A partially finished redwood top with a shellac sealer.

I make my monkey face when I flex a nicely carved maple back.

Necks are glued up and fitted with the neck-joint assemblies before any shaping is done.

Side cauls used to clamp and secure the bent maple sides in the proper shape.

Many small accurate parts come together in my style of neck-joint assembly.

Johnny tweaks the sides.

Side ports are cut by hand and sanded to rough shape. They will be used to 'tune' the body in the final stages.

Tops are clamped to the sides for gluing.

Traditional 'Violin' clamps are used to glue the front to the side-rib assembly. Excess glue is then cleaned up, the front is flexed, and the braces and front are fine-tuned to the final shape.

The side assembly, top, and bracing are fine-tuned and finished at this stage. I sign and date the inside, and the back is ready to glue on.

Before anything gets glued up, it must be flat. This big old piece of granite is my 'flat stone' on which I glue sand paper to work the body.

Fretboards are lined up and glued on, and the final shape of the headstock outline is marked and cut.

It is so satisfying when all the bodies and necks are completed, sanded, and ready to be put together for the first time 'In the White.' This is just the raw wood with no finish. Very soon I'll hear and play them for the first time.

It's a joy to work a neck down to its subtle curves. Roughing out is fast with a rasp, then final shaping takes place when the body is strung up 'in the white

Different players prefer different neck shapes. They can be rounded or v-shaped, or narrow or wide.

'In the 'White,' assembled in the raw wood state to allow final adjustments before staining, coloring, and finishing take place.

Each rib-front assembly is put into my special 'Flex-O-Matic' machine. With 25 pounds pressing precariously on the top, I shave off a little here or a bit there to get it to flex just...right.

Each stage of finishing requires masking to eliminate overspray and to get the color separation that I require for my designs.

This redwood mandolin gets the perfiling accurately masked before the top is sprayed.

The sides are masked to avoid overspray, and foam is placed inside so no spray reaches the interior.

The necks and bodies are separately sprayed and then hung on the wall. For a good sprayed finish, it takes many coats and a good touch with the spray gun. For this latest batch of instruments, I used a waterborne finish, which was much easier on me and the environment. Traditional nitro-cellulose lacquer is my favorite finish so far; it's easy to spray and to fix, but very nasty stuff to be around.

Each tailpiece is hand cut and forged into final shape. Nickel Silver doesn't have any real silver in it, but it's a beautiful, strong, and workable alloy of copper, nickel, and zinc.

There is a lot of music played in my shop. This corner by the wood stove is nice and warm in the winter.

Sam Eliasen plays the Tacoma acoustic bass.

Break time in the shop.

Outside my shop on a cold winter's day.