Though I play guitar I have yet to build one. The mando on the left has a pawlonia (Empress wood) top and is very loud and spanky. I made it for a woman and she wanted the neck even narrower than the usual Gibson neck. So I kept whittling off wood and showing her and she kept wanting less. The neck is hard rock maple and has held up very well. It is my first mandolin and was made in 1998. Right mando is from 2007 and has a carved pine top and maple neck and back. Good sounding mando. It is my 3rd or 4th mandolin. The guitar is a Korean made Epiphone Jazz box I bought new in the early 1990's and is a great sounding guitar. I'm attempting to learn how to play Brazilian Choro music on it right now. The two cello's are instruments I made for my own nefarious uses playing music in early music groups and of course at Bluegrass jams. The newest one is the furthest to the right and also the best sounding. I use bass guitar tuners on my cellos and have very stable stay in tune instruments that are also easy to tune. Palepainter I love your paint work. I'm so paint challenged that I use mostly rub on finishes, less risk of some sort of major blemish.
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