The Venice

We found this pretty little mandolin on e-bay, oh, at least six or seven years ago. It was made in the mountain village of Paracho, known as the "Guitar Capital of Mexico", by a very old mustachioed gentleman who has forgotten more about the craft of lutherie than most people will ever know. Actually, it was probably made by the new guy that had just been hired a week before. It sells for about a hundred bucks, after all.

But cheap doesn't necessarily mean bad--it just means you shouldn't expect the best. I've heard this mandolin played by a real musician, and in the proper hands it makes beautiful music. In my hands, well, sounds come out of it. I'll get there eventually.

Anyway, I thought I'd introduce the focus of my studies and the source of my frustrations. Here she is, the "Venice" model from Lone Star guitars.

It has a cedar top (just like my guitar), which is fairly non-standard as these instruments go. It looks like it came from Mexico, probably meant to be played in a Mariachi band, or at least a very Southern Texas Country and Western band. The open classical guitar style tuners are pretty rare on a mandolin--I think this is probably the only one I've ever seen that has them. Both of the "A" string tuners are problematic--they don't very much like being turned, but I eventually fight them hard enough to get them to pitch.

As pretty as the front of this mandolin is, the back side is really the distinctive feature. I don't have a clue what woods they used to make the back, but it is nice to look at.

One of the downsides of buying a cheap instrument is that the "fit and finish" isn't up to snuff compared to the more expensive models. I have no problem with a little extra glue in the joints or an imperfect bookmatch on the top, but I really missed not having fret markers. I missed it so much that I decided to paint some on myself.

That's one of the upsides to buying a cheap instrument--you aren't scared to go all DIY on it. To mark the frets, I took a screw and used it to drill small holes in the side of the fretboard at the 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 10th frets. I drilled the standard two at the 12th. Then I got some white craft paint from my youngest daughter, dipped the screw in the paint, then poked it into the holes I drilled. Voila! Nearly perfect white dot markers on my fretboard.