Home Mandolin Back Construction

Back I make backs in various woods, depending on the instrument, typically maple or rosewood, and in the fan-back, both. Like the belly, they are made from book-matched quarter-sawn wood, joined with a carefully planed centre join..

Here a back is marked up in Indian Rosewood.	The back is planed down to about 3mm before gluing.	The slightly domed back has struts too. Again the two longer are curved.

Here the bars have been tapered and trimmed ready for fitting to the sides.	The pieces of a fan back, cut and planed and ready for assembly and gluing.	A fan back fitted to the sides after construction. Once glued it is treated as a normal back, except that it will be fabric-lined for strength before the belly is glued on.