Doing Things Wrong

Other Guitars

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.


image

Cutting nut slots ( the slot for the nut, not the slots in the nut for the strings ) has always been a pain in the ass. I've done it with the table saw, with the fret slotting jig, and freehand with a file, and it is always more adventure than I like. There has to be a better way, and this contraption is it. ( The gray clamp is not part of the jig, it is just there to keep the router from tipping off. )

Printed from luthierylabs.com