The top jig is for initial shaping of the neck.  The middle form is for supporting the peghead when it is being cut in the bandsaw.  Notice the "clamp holes" so the neck can be held firm in the jig.  The bottom fixture is for clamping the fretboard on a semi-finished neck.  I found that foam weather-stripping is great for surfaces that you don't want to get dented.  In this jig, I hogged out a rough contour of the mandolin neck and then attached two layers of the weather-stripping.

Like the fixtures above, a clamp with an 1 1/2" hole drilled in it and lined with weather-stripping turns out to be a great way to hold the instrument.

Here is a tool I made to route the binding grove around the mandolin.  I have several purchased tools like this one that fit on a dremel or similar high speed cutter, but I wanted to be able to easily adjust the depth of my cut instead of just "taking what I get."  I haven't used this tool yet, but am looking forward to giving it a try when I bind my next instrument.

This is one of my favorite toys in the shop.  I purchase a kit and built this computer driven 3-axis milling machine.  I use software called "DanCAD" and "DanCAM" to create and interpret sets of 3 coordinate From-To line segments.  The CAM software interprets these x,y,&z directions into discrete signals that are sent through the parallel port to the electronics that converts these into stepper-motor pulses which move the attached dremel tool.  The tool has a range of about 14" by 16" by 2.5" depth.  The resolution is about +/- .001 for a very light cut.  This tool has many wonderful used in mandolin building.  I use it for top and back rough carving to making inlays.  The beauty of CAD / CAM is that once the hard work of defining the tool path is finished, you just turn the machine on and walk away to work on something else!  The dryer hose is attached to a fan to suck up the dust.

Dental burrs are great for inlay work.  The smallest I have has a diameter of 1/2 mm or about .020"  I also use a variety of small carbide cutters.  I tried a 1/64" cutter for cutting some mother of pearl on my computer driven milling machine, but I found out that it only took a very small side load and "ping" my $15 cutter was no more.  I've had good success with the carbide dental burrs so far, and a about $3 per cutter, a break doesn't hurt so much!  The small squares on the Engineering paper are .200".

This has turned out to be one of my best home made tools.  By replacing the thumb nut on my 6" calipers with a small disk, I am able to measure the thickness of my tops a backs quickly.  I use a caliper to calibrate the dial and then draw a series of "contours" in the surface of the tops and backs to indicate where I need to remove more wood.  I believe I can hold about .005" accuracy.

The jig on the left is for holding the mandolin top so that it can be "rocked" and the neck joint accurately cut.  This is done prior to the back being attached.  The jig on the right is for setting the proper neck angle and aligning the neck to the body prior to gluing.

 Here is a point of controversy! On my four instruments so far, I have used a V-joint as described in Roger Siminoff's book.  I am very careful to make a tight joint, and then I pin the joint from the back.  The original F-5 instruments used a dovetail joint to attached the neck.  I believe that there is little advantage to the dovetail since I believe equal strength can be obtained by the V-joint.  Also my joint allows me to keep the edges of the neck and top square at the 15th fret and thus I don't need to add the 15th fret inserts seen on earlier instruments.  I believe this is a more pleasing design.

This thickness sander is a recent addition to the shop.  I made it from a plan in and old "Woodworking Journal" magazine.  I have found it is great in sanding the top and back blanks to the 5/8" thickness that I start with.  I can hold less that .010" accuracy across the surface.
 mandolin.htm