Dusepo
Well-known member
Here's a baroque mandolin I built:
Another great looking instrument.
You make so many different bowl backed instruments that I'm thinking that you must be building without the traditional solid mould/former ( info to be found on Youtube for lutes/ouds). Are you using two end blocks and bending the staves between them with perhaps just a couple of supports to ensure symmetry?
I ask the question because I know there's a lot of work in making the mould, fine for multiple builds but surely not possible for one off builds.
I do use moulds. I just have many moulds! Here are just some of them hanging on my workshop wall (they don't all fit on one wall):
Jo, thanks for that clarification. I see you are using what I call skeletal rather than solid moulds. I have a German 'spoonback' guitar with a back made from 7 pieces. It looks much easier to make than a bowl back (parallel sided staves). I was thinking a very simple skeletal mould could be used to make a similar back. It's on my list for another alternate tenor uke as I find this is less susceptible to sliding off the lap than a bowl back. Have you made an instrument with this type of back?
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