I have my first guitar, a 1960 Stella 1/2 guitar. I tried to
refinish it when I was 16 and ruined any vintage collector
value, if there should be any. I decided to rework it an
turn it into an Octave Mandolin using leftover materials
Rosewood overlay,
New Rosewood fret
board, w/b/w rosette,
Black & Mahogany
binding, Mahogany
overlay on the back of
the headstock, and a
Rosewood heel cap.
The plan is to bind the
headstock and fret
board with w/b/w.
binding and to inlay the
headstock and fret
board.
I also made the
Rosewood tail piece.
The Mahogany
binding was tough
to do. It does not
want to bend very
easily. I bound it first
with black ABS
binding before the
Mahogany. The
sound hole is w/b/w
ABS binding that I
laminated.
Mahogany veneer on
the back of the head
stock to hide the
plugged tuner holes.
The Rosewood heel
cap brings the neck
flush with the back.
Fret board is slotted
and bound. The
head stock also
bound. A little more
scraping left to do.