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It was nearing the Christmas of 1992 and I had been attending night school non-stop for what seemed an eternity (as well as working full time). I was looking forward to enjoying a little time off of both work and school for the upcoming Christmas break. I had always been interested in woodworking, particularly luthiery. Also, I had been playing the guitar for a number of years and I always thought that I would like to one day build a custom guitar for myself.
I decided to occupy myself during that little break by trying my hand at pearl inlay - just to see if I could do it. Time being limited, I wanted to try something small, so I bought a mandolin fretboard blank, some flat pearl stock, and a book on pearl inlay. I sketched out some "swirly" designs and went to work. Well, it went so well, I decided I'd try to inlay my signature into a headstock veneer... again, just to see if I could. After that... well I just had to make a neck to put them on. That, of course, required a headstock design and I opted for something a little bit unique.
The next thing I knew, I was considering a body style to go with the overall look of the neck and headstock - I didn't want to do a plain "A" or teardrop style, and I didn't want to go full out "F" style, with scrolls and everything. I decided I wanted something unique for the body shape as well and I sketched out a template that was a cross between the "A" and the "F". I first drew an "A", then put 3 points on it with an offset waist.
I bought some flame maple and began bending the sides to shape. I also had to bookmatch and carve the front and back to a traditional arch (this was work!) The maple that I got for the back wasn't quite wide enough to accomodate the lower point, so I took some leftover material from the neck (mahohany with birdseye maple center stripe) and attached the flame maple to it as "wings". This gave the back the appearance of the neck extending through the body (see rear view photo on page 3).
Final assembly brought some new problems, I didn't feel a traditional dovetail joint was needed, so the neck was to be attached with a simple mortise and tenon joint, with 2 screws holding it together from the inside. Unfortunately, with only 2 "F" holes for internal access, there was no way to get a screwdriver inside the completed assembly, let alone tightening some screws! I ended up buying an extra long screwdriver, grinding it down along the edges and sliding the slimmed down tool through the strap pin hole at the tail end of the instrument.
Finished in a sort of a "peach" tone, using nitrocellulose lacquer, even it's color is unique. For the finishing touches, I made a pickguard out of ebony (a piece of headstock veneer) cut to match the contour of the body and edged in white binding... then finished in clear lacquer. I then treated the instrument to all gold plated hardware.
Well, working in my spare time, a little here and a little there, the instrument ended up taking me a couple of years to complete, and I sure enjoyed the process and learned a whole lot along the way. ...but building an instrument from scratch without any plans prior to starting is NOT something I would recommend.
I never did get around to building that guitar as I had intended to... and to make matters worse, I never did really learn how to play much of anything on the mandolin! But I do have an instrument that's a source of great pride.
The "Hoelle" has a bright sound that really rings! I've attached a sound clip so that you can hear it too! Just click on the link below the photo at right and hear it duet with a fingerstyle guitar on "Scarborough Fair".
Tom
p.s. - Be sure to check out pages 2 & 3 to see more photos of the Hoelle mandolin.
...and don't forget the sound clip below the photo at right! e-mail me Go to my home page. Details... (page 2) Some More Photos... (page 3) |
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