Grizzly mandolin kit questions

[ChuckBarnett]

I was given a "kit" bought from Grizzly a guy said he'd never complete. Directions are included. The kit is mostly complete -the body is completely done! and frets are in the f/b, neck is shaped, etc. Not sure what the attraction is, particularly.

The main question involves making modifications to the thickness of the top (I saw a brief video from a mandolin maker who has a jig to determine top flexibility and where to thin more.) But this looks like a laminated top. So...

Do I just slap it together??

Thanks, all,

Chuck Barnett

[Danl8]

IMHO, yes, slap it together. I am a fan of ukes; made some and even have a hundred-year-old Martin uke, but ukes probably will never have Stradivarius-like complexity in sound. Certainly one from a Grizzly kit is unlikely to aspire to that level. So slap that baby and make it sing!

[tippie53]

post some pics if you have a solid top you may be able to do some things but with this kit you may be best to build it as directed . You may be changing things structurally so on this one follow instructions

[ChuckBarnett]

Not being but a 1 instrument 'luthier' I can only go on what I've heard. Who would make something they could be proud of and appreciate out of plywood??!! And, second, should I bother with this?

Is my attitude showing if not my ignorance? (Somebody help the boy!)

mandolin top -plywood.jpg

[robinsonb5]

Not being but a 1 instrument 'luthier' I can only go on what I've heard. Who would make something they could be proud of and appreciate out of plywood??!!

"Plywood" doesn't necessarily equate to "terrible". A few months back I put together one of the really cheap kit guitars with ready-made neck and plywood body, thnking it would be a great way to dip a toe into guitar building waters without investing more time and money than I could spare. I figured that even if I ended up with something that sounds like barbed wire on a bucket I'd learn enough for the project to be worthwhile. As it turns out the guitar sounds much better than I expected and is now one of the favourites in my collection.

And, second, should I bother with this?

If you're going to enjoy putting it together, or you're going to learn something worthwhile from the process, then sure, why not?

On the other hand, if assembling and finishing it is going to be a chore that you're only contemplating because you were given the kit, and if you don't particularly want the completed mandolin for your own playing pleasure, then maybe you should look for a project that's going to be more satisfying!

[ChuckBarnett]

Thank you, Robinsonb5, for the good perspective! I needed that. I will take advantage of this to learn a bit about mandolins. :)

It will be interesting to hear what sort of sound it has, although I've no context to compare to.

[Danl8]

Chuck,
Plywood (wood laminates) and HPL (high pressure laminates -resin and paper) are used successfully in lower end instruments. I believe my mandolin is plywood and it sounds great. CF Martin uses HPL in their lower end guitars successfully. No real reason to believe a reasonable instrument can't be made of plywood.
-d.