This summer (2025), I finally gave up on finding a mandolin that I enjoyed playing and decided to try my hand at building one. I based it off of the Gibson F5 copy described in Roger Siminoff's book on building a bluegrass mandolin. The back, sides, and neck are from wood that I had around. The bloodwood fretboard and accents gave a nice color and I really love the quilted Sitka spruce that I got from Alaska Woods. (I also ordered a piece of cedar for an archtop, a project that I'll hopefully get into before too long.)

The carving and steam bending processes were new to me and while the bending led to some lessons learned—and some scars—I couldn't be happier with the instrument. It plays better than things I've found for thousands, but that's mostly because I'm not afraid to tweak the setup since it's mine.

But wow, was that a doozy of a project.

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