Instruments with non-standard tunings.
This body is maple plywood over a hollow pine core, double-bound. It came out very lightweight, too light to balance even a guitar neck. This was originally going to be the 12-string, but I realized that it would never balance. So I shuffled parts and bodies between some other projects - a planned six-string got canceled and became the twelver. That left this body free. I thought about it a while and decided it would make a good mandolin.
More: Audiovox Mandolin ...
This is a fret slot cleaning tool that I made from my old favorite steel packing strap in about 5 minutes. Once again, the inspiration is the StewMac catalog, where their tool is much nicer, and about $15. I ground the strap to a hooked point on the bench grinder and made the handle from popsicle sticks and tape. My tool is double-ended, very similar to my binding scrapers. The material is nearly the right thickness, a few passes on a file and it was perfect. The edges are all square, so the tip is a tiny chisel.
More: Fret Slot Cleaning Tool ...