Finishing

More stain, more varnish - but not glossy varnish, with the peghead and fingering area painted a gloss black.

The bridges were made of scraps of wood, black with an "ivory" strip in the centre.

The metal plate that the strings are attached to - I don't know its name - was made from construction board, cut, scored and folded, covered with aluminium foil. Each one could be attached to the mandolin with a single upholstery nail.

string anchor plates

upholstery nails

Instead of one large sound-hole, I decided to use two f-holes, as they would be narrower and could more easily be simulated with flat black paint. The picture shows one f-hole properly painted, with the second one half-painted.

"f-holes"

The frets are actually lines drawn on the glossy black surface with a silver-ink pen. The strings are suggested, in the same way, with thinner lines.

frets & strings

That completes the "standard" mandolin. I tried putting pegs in one, but they did not seem to add to the general impression of "mandolin" when seen from the audience.

peghead and name

A word about the name, "Snug". In Shakespeare's A Midummer Night's Dream, one of the amateur theatre players who perform the play-within-a-play is a joiner (that is, a cabinet-maker) named "Snug". I played that role in Kanata Theatre's production. Since then, I have signed all the furnishings that I make for stage use with the name "Snug", of Athens.