The profile begins to take shape...

Some refining of the heel area

While not a carving tool, per say, the ever-present cabinet scraper comes in handy, often, during the final carving.

Our good friend, Bill Irwin, made me these templates from Sam's Collings; sweet!

This large sanding block gets the nod when it comes times to knock down any lumps and bumps.

Getting close.

I'll add a backstrap veneer...

Starting to really clean up, eh?

Headstock

..

The zero fret setup; already creating controversy! But I'm here to say, it's here to stay. Someone needs to tell me, in no uncertain terms, why it's bad. As it is, this is the cleanest intonating, sweetest playing mandolin I've yet to make. In the past, these zero fret setups were bugaboo'd because the fret would wear quickly, and the whole thing would go sour, real quick. But with today's stainless steel frets not showing any wear at all, I believe it's time to re-visit this system with an open mind; it for sure eliminates all action and intonation issues at the nut. And it allows any material to now be used for the nut, since it is no longer much of, if any, a factor, tonally.

The first coats of amber

I shot some of the amber on the headstock as well, just to warm it up.

I use these two hooks that are screwed into the tuner holes, as handles! Most of the following photos will not show the true colors, as I'm just a amateur photographer, at best, and using the flash indoors wreaks havoc with the colors!