Had the first mandolin I ever made with me when I met Ronnie McCoury. I presented his CrocBite mandolin to him, and also had him sign Poor Elmer for me.This thing doesn't feel so much like my old beater anymore!
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It is indeed a lot of tension... but I would worry more about bracing the box somehow, honestly. This mandolin crumpled its first box over its first year. That was the box with the exaggerated s-holes. The replacement box was identical to start, and hasn't sunk a bit since the surgery. This is a laminated top.
Some boxes have nice thick solid mahogany bottoms, too... I've seen some up to 1/4". Those boxes have an even smaller chance of failing.
Thanks, Croc! I have a couple of friends who are interested in mandolins but I have no router with which to put in a truss rod. The tension of eight strings scares me.
No truss rod, just a nice fat oak neck. Still nice and straight after a few years. I usually keep my mandolins tuned in open g though, so the tension is lower. But I think they'll handle standard tuning just fine.
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It is indeed a lot of tension... but I would worry more about bracing the box somehow, honestly. This mandolin crumpled its first box over its first year. That was the box with the exaggerated s-holes. The replacement box was identical to start, and hasn't sunk a bit since the surgery. This is a laminated top.
Some boxes have nice thick solid mahogany bottoms, too... I've seen some up to 1/4". Those boxes have an even smaller chance of failing.
Thanks, Croc! I have a couple of friends who are interested in mandolins but I have no router with which to put in a truss rod. The tension of eight strings scares me.
Sweet. Did you use a truss rod for this?
Cool C.B.!!!