Mandolin Tailpieces

Weldon47 · Jul 20, 2007

These are mandolin tail piece covers I did for my friend Tom Ellis. Tom has started making mandolins again after a long absence from that scene. The tail pieces are made for Ellis by Bill James and the design (shape of the cover) is proprietary to Ellis Mandolins. Great stuff to work on & another example of where engraving will show up. We (engravers) are definitely not limited to just firearms, knives & jewelry anymore!

Enjoy,

Weldon

BrianPowley · Jul 20, 2007

Weldon,
Thanks for posting the pictures,and you're right.........you never know where engraving is going to show up.
I did a few tailpieces for a customer that was restoring Gibson Mandolins, but my work on them can't compare to the superb job you've displayed.
Nice stuff!

Tim Wells · Jul 20, 2007

Tom is an old aquaintance of mine. I was wanting to build my own F5 in the 80's because I couldn't afford one of his so I went to see him there on Cooper Lane and he proved to be a gracious man. One of these days I'm going back out there and go fishin! On one of my visits, one of Skaggs' mandolins was in for repair and I got to check it out, I think it was the second one he made for him.

If I thought I couldn't afford one then I dang sure can't now. Mandolin prices have gone into outer space from what they were in the 70's and 80's.

Tom has things well figured out and I'm glad to see him doing this again. He's the Winston Churchill of mandolin making! All I gotta do now is get that winning lottery ticket and I'm gonna have a mess of custom and vintage instruments laying around to keep me busy!

Marcus Hunt · Jul 21, 2007

They look great Weldon. Still waiting on mine to arrive from you but we've had a couple of postal strikes that have put things into disaray. These look like great little jobs if you can get them!

Sam · Jul 21, 2007

Those are real beauties, Weldon. I've done a few...including one for Bill Monroe the year he won a Grammy. Looking at yours makes we want to engrave another one. Most of mine were very simple compared to yours. Thanks for posting these, and I hope you can get them into the Gallery.
~Sam

Ron Smith · Jul 21, 2007

Beautiful work Weldon! Are these inlayed into the head? I did some instrument work many years ago for a local guitar maker. Supposidly had a pretty big reputation, but he is long gone now. It is interesting work and fun to do. Make some more Mandolins beautiful!!! There are so many things out there to beautify and those pieces are proof................and Keep us posted. ......Ron S

Cody · Jul 21, 2007

See, this is the kind of thing that drives me nuts. I could have stared at one of these things for a year and not come up with a suitable layout. Here's four wonderfull layouts. I just have no imagination. Wonderful work Weldon and thanks for sharing. I saved the pictures so I can study them in hopes that it will help me to learn to see different layout potential within a particular shape.

Thanks

Tim Wells · Jul 21, 2007

Ron,
These are tailpieces and not inlaid anywhere. It is just a brass cover that goes over the tail piece to hide where the strings attach to the tail end. These are a lot better built than those thin covers Gibson uses though, you can get more depth because they're thicker. I have 6 to do one of these days when the honey do list gets shorter... it does get shorter don't it?

Weldon47 · Jul 21, 2007

Tim,

Tom Ellis is the man! I did one of the tail pieces on an Ellis mando for Ricky Skaggs back in the day! I engraved a banjo or two for him as well though that's been a while ago.
Brian, my hats still off to you, man, the pics of the Gibson super 400 tail piece you made from scratch and engraved were awesome.
Thanks, Ron! I also do some tail piece engraving for Collings in Austin, they make an awesome line of guitars and some great mandolins as well.

Thanks,
Weldon

pilkguns · Jul 22, 2007

Weldon, great work and nice to see some serious scroll on banjos, not your typical "git'r'done" patterns.

ddushane · Jul 23, 2007

Those are nice Weldon! Dwayne

Mandolin Tailpieces

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