Spanish Style Mandolin Hand Built Small Shop, Flat Top, All Solid Woods, Luthier Restored, Video

Spanish-style mandolin. Purely hand made. Lots of hand tool marks. Lots of artisan mojo. Obviously made by one person in a small shop, probably without any power tools. Can't tell which country this was made in; I just know that the design and shape is Spanish. The peghead slots were hand-carved with a chisel. Two piece top, looks like maple. Book-matched quilted mahogany back. the sides are mahogany but not book matched. The bridge was entirely hand carved out of rosewood. It also had a hand carved rosewood nut, but it was broken so I replaced it. The body is unbound. The rosette looks like hand-cut rosewood, mahogany, maple and mother-of-pearl. The tailpiece had been replaced when I got it. It was probably originally one of those flimsy aluminum jobs that always seem to crack if you look at them sideways.

The whole instrument is solid wood! The NECK: was carved out of one piece of maple without a separate fingerboard, like 1950s Telecasters. It has a pronounced D profile. The side position dots are hand-painted. The most unusual thing about the neck is that it has aluminum frets. They are a bit wavy. The fret slots were cut by hand and you can tell. They aren't perfectly parallel. I set them as flat as they would go. I still had to level, crown and polish them. After making the new nut and leveling the frets, I shaved the bridge and recut the slots for a nice low action. Then a new set of strings.

I steamed out some dents in the wood. You can still see the shadow of one to the left of the bridge. I filled in the blemishes in the lacquer. Then I polished and buffed the lacquer. It now has a new set of phosphor bronze strings. Also; comes with a brand new gig bag. It actually sounds good and plays well.

Henry Nelson Luthiery stuff might cost more than other listings, but we think it's worth it. We're not going anywhere. We stand behind our gear. We do research and accurate descriptions. We test our stuff and usually do restoration work; sometimes light, sometimes intense (read our item descriptions for details). I'm an experienced luthier and I use traditional techniques and materials: hide glue and nitrocellulose lacquer. I even make my own French polish and shellac from scratch. In addition, our vintage gear holds its value, unlike new stuff. We have a no-hassle return policy. The return shipping is on you, but the item price and shipping to you is refunded. Simply return it in the same condition in a timely manner.