1957 Mandocaster build

[ltdave32]

Hey gang, my best buddy convinced me to build him a Mandocaster; a 4-string electric solidbody mandolin.

He's wanted one of these ever since high school, and I distinctly remember him raving on about it, some 35 years ago.

Here's the real-deal version of what he wants me to make him:



That is a pic of a real 1957 model.

We're going to build two of them, a 4 string version and an 8 string version.


He also wants a tort guard, which I'm glad to hear, because coming up with gold anodized aluminum ain't that easy around these parts.


Here's a shot of the wood to be used, a 50 inch slab of 8/4 poplar and a 25 inch slab of 8/4 maple for the necks:



The cost of the wood? -a paltry 25 bucks for the whole shebang.




More to follow..

[ltdave32]

And here we go:

First step was to obtain the wood. Second step; get a set of blueprints to work with:





The second photo reveals some construction notes, if you want to build it his way. I doing a much more faithful to the original build than what the plans and notes call for.

Which brings us to the third step; get as many parts as you can, whenever you find them. The pickup was a big worry. We didn't want to use the easy way the plans call for, which is to use one-half of a P-bass pickup. We were fortunate to find a guy who as a stockpile of reproductions of the originals; a Seymour Duncan Antiquity series mandocaster pup wound to 4.3k:





(sorry for the bad focus)

I have copied down every dimension, polepiece size, etc of this pickup, and I'm going to wind my own for the 8-string version of these builds.

The other thing we're doing different from the plans is the bridge. The plans call to modify a hard-tail strat bridge plate. I'm making a tele-style bridge and plate, as per the originals. My buddy has a metal brake in his shop, and we'll be folding some metal to form a plate like the originals, and use the tele-style threaded rod for saddles.

We are still looking for Kluson-style tuners that are 6 on a plate, that we can modify to just 4 on a plate. Regular Klusons won't do, as the escutcheons that go around the mounting screws make the tuner spacing too far apart for the headstock. we need the sort that has such escutcheons on the very ends, but uses a "siamese" screw between the two other tuners. I have a pic somewhere of what I mean. One could always use mini grovers or schallers if need be, but I want them Klusons with the white nobs, dammit.

[ltdave32]

hmm.. Maybe I should wait to start a thread after I cut some wood..

[Mister B]

Good luck with your project, I shall certainly be following your progress. I like following Telecaster builds but more unusual instruments tend to be more interesting. I look forward to seeing the end result.

[Buckocaster51]

I'm in!

You and Jack are going to get me to build one of those yet.

[crazydave911]

At some point, you may want to check out Moongazer Music

[ltdave32]

Time for an update!

Here, we tackle the fretboard. I cut some blanks just slightly thinner than 1/4" off of a block of maple, and used my trusty Wfret program to lay out a fret scale @ 13.875 (13 7/8"). I printed a template, cut it out with scissors, sprayed some 3m on the back of the paper strips and applied them to the maple blank. Then I took a very square maple block and clamped it to just the right side of the fret layout lines by about .011, which will place my .023 sawblade at dead-center of the line, and began sawing just a bit deeper than needed (remember, sanding a radius in will shallow the cuts).



Lots of little tiny slots. A tedious bugger, this is:



I clean up and even the depth of the slots out some, then set up a jig to straightly sand a radius on the board, making a squiggly line in the center. When the squiggly line is gone, my radius is finished:



I'm very pleased with the semi-finished product. Now it's time to drill for dot markers and apply some inlays. I borrowed a page from the Leo Fender playbook and made my version of "clay" dots by taking some wood stick matches, burning and grinding them into a charcoal black powder, to be mixed with some JB Wood Weld :



Fast set-up time of 6 minutes on the JB Weld, so I have to be prepared and work quick. First, I lay a strip of tape down the center and over the 12th and 24th fret areas, then mark for my holes and drill them. The purpose of the tape is to keep that JB Weld out of the fret slots, and from getting all over the place:



Mix it up and start applying with a spreader:



I opted to pull the tape off before the JB fully set up, as I might have a hardened mess on my hands if I wait too long. I'm very pleased with the results:



All the dots came out super-straight, and sit just proud of the surface. Success!

I'll have to wait a few hours for the JB Weld to harden up, then I can take to it with the radius block and progress to finer grits to finish-sand the board.

[guitarbuilder]

cool dot making... I've never seen that way before....

[Martyn]

Nice work Dave! I'm watching this closely 'cos I started my electric mando fingerboard today

[ltdave32]

Originally Posted by guitarbuilder

cool dot making... I've never seen that way before....

I've never done it that way before, I just thought "why not? Leo did that with the clay markers by using Durham's water putty or something similar, so why can't I?" I have done something similar to my Gibson-style builds where I needed black filler epoxy around the MOP logo, and it worked fine. So, I asked myself why not the dots?

I've sanded it out now, as it was hard within an hour, and I must say I'm pleased. I'll do this again.

[ltdave32]

Originally Posted by Martyn

Nice work Dave! I'm watching this closely 'cos I started my electric mando fingerboard today

Good deal! Odd isn't it? Working on something so tiny..

[Martyn]

What radius are you using for the fingerboard Dave?

[ltdave32]

Originally Posted by Martyn

What radius are you using for the fingerboard Dave?

I'm partial to a wider radius, so I've chosen 12".

[ltdave32]

That epoxy hardens up really fast, so I was able to sand everything down to 320 grit, and rub on a coat of Zinzzer amber shellac for a sealer. This gave me the exact tint I wanted:





I'll let things go for now, but next is to glue on that fret board, trim to the neck taper and shape the headstock transition, then install the frets.

[ltdave32]

I wasn't happy with the transition area from fret board to headstock, so I opted to cut another neck. I cut a truss rod slot and got that installed, and made a bit of a plug to fit over the adjustment socket so there's not a gaping hole there:



I lined up the FB and got that glued up last night, then after work today I set to trimming the FB to fit the new neck:



I cut a 1/8" nut slot, and set to work on the headstock transition:



I'm starting to get a feel for the way Fender did things. That man was a genius of the art production without sacrificing quality. Fender style products come together much quicker than Gibson style products.



Here's how I set up that tuner arrangement that requires such tight tolerances; first I mark precise positions one-half inch off the leading upper edge of the headstock, then drill a pilot hole all the way through with a very small drill bit:



Flip 'er over, and drill for the bushings with an 11/32" bit, about halfway through the headstock:



And flip 'er over again, this time drilling through the back with a 1/4" bit, right down the middle of the pilot holes:



It turned out just as nice and precise as the first one:



Now I've got to press in the frets while the back of the neck is still and uncarved, flat blank. Makes for a really nice platform for fret work. I'll get that done later this week. My buddy wants to come out here and put a hand in shaping the neck, so after the frets are in, I'm going to lay off for a while.

[Jack Wells]

Do you really think you need a truss rod?

[ltdave32]

Originally Posted by Jack Wells

Do you really think you need a truss rod?

Probably not, what with it being such a short maple neck. But my buddy whom I'm building it for really had a bugaboo about it, so I let him order one.

Plenty of other acoustic mandolins have TR's, so I figured there might be some benefit.

[Jack Wells]

I have a couple of contemporary Fender 8-string mandolins. No signs of truss rods on either one.

[ltdave32]

Originally Posted by Jack Wells

I have a couple of contemporary Fender 8-string mandolins. No signs of truss rods on either one.

Ah, well. It's a bit late now, anyway. I don't think it will hurt anything.

[Ed Miller]

Yes, the new ones are non adjustable. I queried my inside rep back when they came out. His response was since they have a lifetime warranty to the original owner,Fender felt it wasn't an issue. I replied that I see their point but in ten years when they start hitting the used market and need adjusted, that is prescicely why they need adjustable necks now.