BANDOLA PROJECT
8 string banjo, tuned CGDA

The neck and rim are from an old imported banjo
it was already setup with  mandolin tuning machines and the plywood rim had a celluloid  trim inside that was peeling and the finish was pretty awful.
It has a bunch of mixed Gold and Nickel hardware, some new parts, some fabricated parts.............Ill go thru and add what I think will work best and take away some too.
Basically just something to fool around with because I think I can make it into a playable Bandola.

Mandola is in the Mandolin family, a longer scale that is the same as tenor banjo and is tuned CGDA
This is the banjo equal of this instrument.

I prefer to use parts like this that have no real value when I do this type of project and then later if successful I will make one that is a better version.
 
 
 

I cut away the large Import peghead to give it a design of my own liking
It had plastic dot inlay and a large "S" at the one marker so I just stuck some loose stars in it for some sort of look.
It was very thick and chunky so I thinned the profile in the back as well
 

Board polished, ready for some frets

Finish completed.
Simple sunburst, 6 coats of clear.

Now under the old celluloid was a disaster, all the ply had been drilled poorly and broken out on the backsides of the holes for the anchor shoes.
None of these anchor shoes are in perfect alignment it was attempted with no template so I will just put some mahogany veneer and use my rapid fix to fill up the break outs before I glue it in

Its a chunk of wood, and should sound OK after these are all sealed up

Laminate glued in

Not too bad for a junker, Ill drill it out and add more finish

It has a backplate of Poplar, Ill redo it as well now that it is sanded

Frets in, ready to try out a setup or three

SETUP PICS
 

I have some string gauges I like, a bridge and nut roughed in with spacing as wide as I can get it.
I will come in with them until I find the most comfortable spacings
Its an old head, and the Import lightweight stretcher band.
Tone ring is a massive 3 lb 1970s Stewart Mc Donald "NO HOLE" flathead ring, sure to give it alot of power.
Vintage Mandolin style tailpiece with cover just seemed right
 

Throwing some bridges at it, and different string gauges to get the tensions I want
 

Right now I have a setup that is octave C /C ,  octave G /G ,,  DD ,,AA
The C and G have octave higher strings on the bass sides so its gauged for now at.

C=  014 Steel - 028 Wound
G=  009 Steel - 018 Wound
D=     014 Steel - 014 Steel
A=      010 Steel - 010 steel
Tone is very good, all notes are noting out ok which is great for the first setup.
Very clear and pure D and A strings and the octave C and G are working well together

Very good for what it is, from what it was.
Ill get an armrest on it and it can find a new home

Thanks for watching
Vinnie