This is a very, very short version of the construction of one of my mandolins. This page will be added to as time allows.

I won't tell you that I use the finest materials, wood or parts to build my instruments. I've heard this phrase over-used a lot. If someone uses only the finest materials, there would only be one instrument made. And then, what is everyone else use? The materials that I use are very good and the effort that I use to build each instrument is the best that I can provide. I learn something different from each instrument I build. When being transformed into musical instruments, the wood and the rest of the materials tend to have certain characteristics and quirks of their own. This is what I call their personality. When completed, I want all the parts that became the instrument to work well together in order to have great playability and voice. An ensemble of parts.

I use figured maple for the ribs, back, and neck. The head block, tail block and point blocks are also cut from maple, but generally I won't use figured wood for these parts.

The maple stock starts out about 1" thick and 6" wide and anywhere from 30" to 40" in length. The rib material is ripped in lengths of about 30" and thickness sanded to 2.5 mm. I hand bend my sides using a 1" black pipe heated with a propane torch. After the sides are bent, they will be clamped into block forms until they are cool and dry. They are generally left in these forms for a day after they are bent. I use an inside body form when I glue up the ribs. The kerf lining is cut using a band saw and glued into the rib assembly. This rib assembly is then thickness sanded. This way the kerf lining and ribs are all level.

The spruce that I use for my tops are cut from spruce billets that are about 7/8" thick and 5 3/4" wide. The edges are jointed and glued. The outline of the body is then  drawn on the top. The top is marked to allow for the height of the binding using a cutter wheel mounted in the drill press. I like to use short pins placed in the head block and tail block to keep the top and rim in alignment while I carve the top and scroll. I rough out the top using gouges and flat chisels to shave the wood. Graduating the top to the proper thicknesses is done using a graduation punch. I use this punch and a dial indicator caliper to measure the thickness as I scrape and sand the top.  After the top is carved, I'll cut out the "f" holes and install the tone bars. The top is then glued to the rim and routed and bound.

I use several templates for the neck and peg head. The neck starts  out by laminating two pieces of curly maple to make the neck blank. The blank is squared and a channel is cut down the length. This channel is where a carbon fiber truss rod is placed. The carbon fiber truss rod is epoxied into the channel and capped with a strip of red oak. It depends on the model of mandolin being built, but there is about twelve pieces of wood that go into the neck and peg head. After the basic shape of the neck has been cut out with a band saw, the pieces that were cut away are used to make the ears of the peg head. The neck and peg head are then dressed to the final shape with rasps, files and bench sander. I cut the peg head veneer and bind it before it is glued to the peg head. After binding, the peg head veneer is then sanded to its final thickness. The logo for the peg head is hand cut from mother of pearl blanks. The veneer is glued to the peg head and routed for the logo. The mother of pearl  logo is then inlayed into the veneer.

The finger board is also cut, bound and routed to accept the mother of pearl fret markers. It is then thickness sanded and the frets are installed along with the sided markers.

The neck joint is cut into the body to accept the neck. I use a jig to clamp  the body into and cut the joint with either a router or hand saw. The body and neck are then glued up in a jig that allows for the neck angle while keeping everything straight. The neck joint is then pinned with maple dowels. The fretboard extender is made and glued and pinned in place.

The back is made much the same way as the top. After the back is carved it is glued to the body and the binding channels are cut. The back is bound at this point. The instrument is sanded to prepare for the dyeing and finishing.

I use a waterborne finish on my instruments. I will apply several coats, wet sanding between each coat. After the finish is applied, the instrument is polished and ready to be set up to play.