This mandolin was built in August 2023. It’s made from the same pattern as the others I’ve made, in the Ultimate Bluegrass Mandolin Construction Manual by Roger Siminoff. I made the F5 design in the book into an A5 by omitting the scrolls and points. The top and tone bars are Engelmann spruce, the fretboard and bridge are zebrawood, the peghead overlay is curly walnut and the neck, back and sides are walnut. This is my first mandolin from walnut and my first with a one piece back, though I have built fiddles like this for years. The nut is Corian, the dots are brass, the tailpiece is nickel plated and the tuners are Gotoh. There is a two way truss rod in the neck. The top and back are carved from solid wood in the customary way. My mandolin playing skills are soul-crushingly awful but I hope the video will give some idea of the sound the mandolin could produce in other hands.
