1 Mando Woodbridge Feb08 LoRes6

8/13/2019 1 Mando Woodbridge Feb08 LoRes6

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Mandobuild a in four days

with Rick Turner

Have you ever

wondered how wood

and wire make music?

Come nd out by

building a mandolin in

four days under the

tutelage of veteran

luthier Rick Turner.

If you can turn the

pages of a book,

you can build and play

an instrument


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What you will builIn four days you will build a at top and back mandolin patterned after the Gibson Army/Navy model of 1918using techniques both old andnew. The mandolins are built with ne tone woods: westernred cedar for tops, maple orother hardwoods for thebacks and sides, rosewood for ngerboards, andmahogany for the necks.The mandolin you build will surprise you with its

volume and tone; youll havebuilt an instrument worth well more than the cost of the course.

Over the four days thereare numerous jumpingoff points for discussions

of the theories of musicalinstrument construction, wood working techniques,guitar and mandolin history, ne food and wine and justabout anything else a groupof people focused in on a goal

might want to chat about!

For whom is the coursedesigned?

This Instant Mandolinbuilding course has beendesigned for folks of all agesand skill levels; no previousexperience in woodworkingis required. We start from akit of parts prepared by Rickin his shop in Santa Cruz,California, and all assemblyoperations are done by theend of the third day. On thelast day we string up themandolins in the white andhear the miracle of how the wood makes the strings sing

in the air.

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1: Were nishing upone of the soleras the traditional Spanish work board on which we construct theinstrument.

3: This shows the neckand two braces glued to the inside of the top.

2: Rick carving out thelast bits of mahoganyon the neck to prepare forgluing on the top.

4: A student seesan instrumentcoming together andcontemplates the nextsteps.

5: Another studentcontemplating crashing power chords to be playedupon his mandolin!

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6: The sides are glued to the end block.

8: Checking how thesides will t into theneck block.

7: Carving thelongitudinal braces.

9: Closeup of where thesides will be wedge/glued to the neck block.

10: Contemplation,concentration, and verylittle conversation at this point!

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11: A low tech solution for gluing the sides to the top.

13: This is one that gotdropped on the oor which broke the top. We xed it! Sometimes thecourse involves repair

techniques as well asbuilding

12: Have I merely started

a new rubber band ballhere?

14: Fitting and gluing the sides to the top.

15: This shows the

ker ng the notchedlining that reinforces theglue line between the topand sides.

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16: The top ker ng isin, and the strips for theback joint are going in.

18: Mandolin or ping- pong paddle?

17: Using spring paper

clips to clamp the sides toback ker ng.

19: Trimming theoverhanging top usinga router table and a pattern bit.

20: Planing the peghead face surface and gluing the back braces.

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21: Applying glue for the back.

23 24: Once again, low tech is the way to go. Yes,rubber bands to clamp on the back.

22: The back goes into place. This back was

Tasmanian Oak, aeucalypt species.

25: Theyre starting tolook like real mandolinsby the end of the secondday!

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26: Uh-oh! The professoris waxing eloquentabout mandolin bridgedesign

28: Rick applying glue for the decorative peghead face overlay.

27: Sanding the nut endof the peghead overlay.

29: Fitting the overlayagainst the string nut.

30: Clamping on the peghead face overlay veneer walnut in thiscase.

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31: Drilling holes for the tuners using a simple plastic templet.

33: Hand planing theside of the peghead.

32: Sometimes three

hands are better than two.

34: Details, details!Fine sanding the neck.

35: If the devil makes work for idle hands, hesgot no place here!

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36: Rick and a rasp working on a neck.

38: Filing a bevel at themouth of the fret slots.

37: We do fret the smallstuff

39: An impromptu site-made fret press shoe for the drill press.

40: Pressing in fretsusing a drill press.

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41: Checking the levelof the fret tops with astraight edge.

43 44: Hammering in tuning gear bushings.

42: Fitting tuning

gears.

45: Ricks mando ready for a bridge, tailpiece,

and strings.

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46: Cutting a bone nutblank on the band saw.

48: Carving one end of the bridge.

47: Laying out stringslots on an ebony stringnut.

49: In this example, the bridge is made of Padouk.

50: The moment of truth the rst stringgoes on.

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51 52: Lunch time, fourth day. Mandolins waiting for food to bebrought to them.

53: Builderscontemplating their

labour of 3 days.

54: Nine pegheads,seventy two tuninggears, and many hoursof fun.

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55: A plural group like this should be called acarousel of mandolins.

56: Nine happy builders

(Rick front and center).

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The international

connectionRick teaches Build a

Mandolin in Four Days

in Australia under

the auspices of the

Tasmanian Adult Education

Department, and in the

US at The Crucible in

Oakland, California, at

the Roberto Venn School

of Lutherie in Phoenix,

Arizona, and at his own

shop in Santa Cruz,

California. For information

on upcoming classes or to

have Rick come and teach

in your area, email him at:

[email protected]

Who is Rick Turner?

Rick Turner has been

repairing, restoring,and building stringedinstruments since hishigh school days in theearly 1960s. He formallyapprenticed as a luthier in Boston in 1963, played guitar professionally for severalyears, and then committed to production guitar making in the early 1970s. He has builtand repaired instruments formembers of Fleetwood Mac, the Grateful Dead, the Police, the Jefferson Airplane, the

Who, Led Zeppelin, the Doobie Brothers, the Youngbloods,Men at Work, Van Morrison,Ry Cooder, David Lindley, David Crosby, Graham Nash, Joni Mitchell, the Beach Boys, Ricki Lee Jones, BelaFleck, and many others.

Rick currently runs a small

guitar factory in SantaCruz, California, calledRick Turner/RenaissanceGuitars and he is a partnerin D-TAR which specializesin acoustic instrumentampli cation. ww w.renaissanceguitar s.com

ww w.d-ta r.com

Mandolin

1 Mando Woodbridge Feb08 LoRes6

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