Materials
I got most of the mandolin specific items from Stewart McDonald. That includes the rosewood fretboard which is for a standard 13.875 inch scale mandolin. The bracing material came as a large spruce bar meant for guitars from which I will probably get two mandolins worth of bracing. The spruce top was meant for a classical guitar and is also easily big enough for two mandolin tops. I already had the four Grover mini guitar machines left over from a set of eight from another project.
All of the maple came from a local hardwood dealer. It started as a 1 and 3/4 inch thick by 11 inch by four foot long piece of hard maple. I was really looking for some curly quarter sawn stock, but that is impossible to find locally. On the other hand, wood meant for instruments is generally very expensive, especially for a project which is somewhat experimental. I was very happy with the piece of wood I found. It has a tight grain pattern and a nice look to it, especially when cut across the grain. I was worried about using a non quarter sawn back, but it is very strong and truly not an issue.
If I make another mandolin, I will definitely go with all the inlays, binding, and other extras. I was planning on doing these for this mandolin, but could not justify working on something which is only aesthetic when I had not even played it yet. (I really need to be more patient when it comes to these things.)
