Finally we arrive at the part of the build that can be the most difficult and often frustrating, and yet it can be the most beautiful and rewarding of the whole experience. The inlaying and finishing.
Taking the mandolin through these next steps is a very delicate walk for the luthier. Hundreds of hours are now invested and the danger of making a mistake is high. Just a little bump on the peghead scroll, or dropping something on the soundboard or splatteringing some dark stain on the instrument can make it or break it…IT’s heaven or hell for the luthier as they go through these last steps.
We’ll start with the F5’s ornate peghead inlay.
An F5 in the white, painstakingly sanded with fine paper until every scratch is gone. A lovely thing. And now we’re about to ruin it, and then hopefully make it awesome!
Applying a Potassium Dichromate solution to the maple only. Dichromate gets a bad rap for being nasty stuff but it yields a unique look that is seen on the Loars.
a light sanding back Yields this lovely suntan. This is the canvas I’ll build my colors on.
Starting out the overall yellow stain
Adding medium brown
Looking happy & sunny. Now lets bring the darkness.
Adding my Dark brown and blending it until I’m satisfied
The soundboard getting it’s final stain blend. It alwayys looks a little more varied than the maple.
A sprayed seal coat of TN shellac
painting the back of the peghead black. the black dyed pearwood veneer is painted over with black paint. This is an often overlooked detail.
After sealing, I scrape the binding clean of the stain residue.
Scraping the scroll binding.
Mixing up my own spirit varnish from Shellac and other resins.
The binding has been scraped clean and I’ve sprayed a base coat of Spirit Varnish. I lightly sand with very fine paper and then begin the french polishing
This is my French polishing pad. I apply Varnish to the pad a few drops at a time and work the surface, pushing down and compacting the material into the wood’s pores, all the while building a smooth surface.
The process is repeated several times. Placing the Varnish by spraying, Scuffing it, followed by french polishing.
After leaving the instrument to harden for a week or two, a final rub-out with Novus #2 yields the finished Surface. This is Wiens F5 #40.
