I made an Electric Mandolin for the

It's a WING MAN[dolin]! Here's my take on the #ButternutChallenge-- a fun collaborative project formed at the Catskills Maker Camp this year. Be sure to check out all the other Butternutty videos in this playlist: • #ButternutChallenge
About a year ago I found a craigslist posting in upstate NY from a retired duck carver getting rid of his wood collection. It was take it all or leave it, so I packed my car to the brim with no plan of what to make with all this wood. When we were sitting around a table at the Catskills Maker Camp, I asked if anyone had worked with Butternut wood before. No one had, but everyone was curious to give it a go. Thus, the butternut challenge was born! Only rule? No ducks. We've had some rulebreakers, but we love 'em anyway.
This mandolin was not my best project by a lot. It's hard to see in the video but there are a bunch of imperfections driving me crazy. I certainly learned a lot, but I also procrastinated (heehee) and had to condense this build into 3 days. This left me limited finishing options (wish I could have varnished it) and not enough time to really slow down and think through every single step before I just went for it. But, all in all I'm really proud of the design and if I find a better mandolin parts supplier may try again sometime!
💥Many thanks to a random retiring duck carver on craigslist for practically sponsoring this video challenge! 💥
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Electric Mandolin Kit (Saga MT-10): amzn.to/2RQCSpW
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[background music credits]
🔔Our theme music is written just for us by the incredible Alexander Parrish!
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[@WDCallahan]

OMG that face she made when it worked! 🥰

[@BeautyandtheBolt]

Best. Feeling. Ever.

[@WDCallahan]

@@BeautyandtheBolt I could see that. I even rewatched it and it made me smile and laugh every time. 😁

[@basildaoust2821]

I'm like a year late, but you still rock the world with everything you do. Keep having fun and please let us enjoy your journey.

[@JTWoodworks]

Awesome work Xyla! You definitely made the coolest project. Thank you putting on the challenge and included me!

[@BeautyandtheBolt]

Thank you for participating!! Even if you made a -duck- "not a duck" 😜It was such an honor building alongside you guys.

[@enlightened1ne]

“Disclaimer: I don’t know how to play the mandolin” - plays mandolin really well.

[@bluecurlygirl]

Horror story here - PLEASE DO NOT PUSH THINGS THROUGH WITH YOUR HANDS LIKE SHE SAID. In the 80's I was in secondary (high) school. Friend of mine got a job over the summer in metal workers. Running stuff through the metal press and it jammed. He tried to push it through with his hand and the press came down on his hand. Everything below the knuckles of the right hand was ripped off. He wrote with his right hand. In the remainder of the summer he had to learn to write with his left hand before returning to school. It hasn't held him back in any way at all however I'm quite sure he'd have still skipped the pain if he could. So yes safety first. Love this challenge. Just found your channel through Michael Alm and his bananas. New subbie. Beautiful make there girl. Well done.

[@BeautyandtheBolt]

Ahhh that's so scary! Thanks for sharing-- I think it's always really important to remind ourselves that no matter how much of a rush we are in, safety should never get compromised.

[@AFMR0420]

You’re freaking awesome. More i watch you the more awesome i realize you are.

[@waynearuda8840]

Thanks for sharing. I really appreciate the out takes and errors that face all of us on any given project. I really love the look on your face when you played the first note and heard it through the amp/speaker. Priceless!!

[@tracyalan7201]

Pretty talented. I watched the canoe building, corset and table. This was great. I remember having wood shop in 8th grade and how hard it was to a simple bird house. You make it seem so easy. I love the tools and I know my brother-in-law and son-in-law would have loved the tools that you had on this video. Pretty awesome. I told my older sister about you and she loves your videos as well. Keep being awesome and Mahalo (thank you).

[@mikelee1906]

I really like that you are confident enough to show your mistakes along the way! I believe you learn as much if not more from mistakes. And even better when you can save someone else the time and frustration of making mistakes by showing yours! Well done. Keep up the great work!!

[@davebauerart]

Looks great! I really like the design. Thanks for the challenge, it was so much fun.

[@blastradiu5]

Very cool mandolin.

[@billskinner4661]

I actually saw the boat video first one. I'm impressed.

[@actossinestesicos5934]

Beautiful! thanks

[@TheGrantAlexander]

Cool build and even cooler challenge! Thanks for thinking this up and sharing it with the world!

[@BeautyandtheBolt]

Thank you so much! It was a blast working with all the other makers.

[@WesleyTreat]

So great! Thanks for putting together this challenge and inviting each of us to participate!

[@FredMcIntyre]

Awesome job, it turned out great! 😃👍🏻👊🏻

[@mariellecb1]

'Carmic retribution for entrusting my job to robots' - hilarious! Great build. Really beautiful wing design. Thanks forvsharting youf butternuf with me - it was really fun to carve and smelled like butter when I sawed it.

[@TomPetersonRefuseReuse]

That looks really cool!

[@garagemonkeysan]

ButternutChallenge is such a great idea. Cool video and build. Mahalo for sharing! : )

[@SianaGearz]

What a weird bowless hedgehog-shaped violin with frets!

[@thanemakes5377]

Nice work!

[@burgbuilds]

Xyla, this is awesome! I'm inspired. been playing guitar for a long time, always wanted to build one, maybe I will!

[@BeautyandtheBolt]

Do it!!! Tim sway has some great kits

[@jonathanedelson6733]

Have to say amazing work. When you discussed transferring holes from one piece to another, I was reminded of a very cool tool: the 'blind hole spotter'. Not sure if this would have been applicable for your project, and there is the issue of having to buy the proper size, but a life saver in the right situation. -Jon

[@velwheel3135]

Looks good.

[@MichaelAlm]

This is great Xyla! I'm so impressed you were able to make a mandolin in that short amount of time! I'v built a few cigar box guitars, and ukes, and nothing tests your making skills like instruments. Well done

[@MichaelAlm]

Also, thanks for including me in the challenge. It was super fun!

[@BeautyandtheBolt]

True that! I really feel like my skills got butt-kicked pretty hard on this one, but it's incentive to buckle down and do better next time. Thanks so much for participating and making the most beautiful bananas I've ever seen (that sounds worse than what I mean...)

[@clydebalcom8252]

We all make mistakes. What matters most is how we fix those mistakes.

[@bluecurlygirl]

Oh really looking forward to the canoe build. I'd love to be able to build my own. I love rowing and canoeing. Being on or near water calms the mind and feeds the soul in my opinion. I suffer from depression and love getting out to canoe. Please please include lots of detail for beginners. Lucky you. Now you have to learn to play the mandolin too. Gorgeous instrument and nice job on yours there.

[@BeautyandtheBolt]

Thank you. It's been a blast building it, I've grown up canoeing the Adirondacks with my uncle with the dream of someday throughpaddling the entire northern forest canoe trail. AND.... if you would like to build your own, I've nearly convinced my uncle to allow people to come to his shop and take a boat-stripping weekend workshop to build their own canoe! ottercreeksmallcraft.com :)

[@CranmerGuitars]

Love the body design! If you decide to make another you should definitely try making the neck yourself; it's not so hard!

[@christopherbedford9897]

Uhh... "I don't know how to play the mandolin" might be one of the more modest statements I've seen on YT.

[@nileshw1368]

😃 Amazing ! 🎶 👏😊

[@timsway]

nice job!

[@BeautyandtheBolt]

Omg. From the master himself 😍🤣

[@boyle_seo]

you should make short abridged version of it for youtube #shorts !!!

[@FigmentsMade]

It mandolins! It's fantastic! And thank you so much for this challenge. It was a ton of fun!

[@Theexplorographer]

Feb in Vermont....take 6 parkas!! Did a shoot there in 2016 in Feb and it was....COOOOOOOOLD!

[@BeautyandtheBolt]

To rip and route the boards we had to open the door and window to have enough space to run the boards through 😳

[@Theexplorographer]

@@BeautyandtheBolt YIKES!! Break out the long underwear!!

[@Theexplorographer]

@@BeautyandtheBolt Also, I am in Western NY so I kinda feel your pain. I can't even spend 15 mins in my shop right now it's so cold. Most of my machines won't even run when it's this cold out.

[@BadChizzle]

Nice

[@JohnTube2K]

Don’t forget to throw a coin to your witcher.

[@JohnMadeit]

Cool I'm see what everyone made #butternutchallenge. What type of canoe you gonna make?

[@BeautyandtheBolt]

Cedar Strip! Progress is being posted in real time on our Instagram :)

[@audiogear474]

You have mad skills miss beauty.(my first time on your site so don't know your real name). Anyway very informative video.

[@badman6893]

Are all the these tools yours? Were could one find access to a shop of this quality and an CNC machine?

[@W.E.]

Is the floor concave, or is the moulding arched? And why no cover plate on the receptacle??

[@sdspivey]

Also, the ground should always be on top.

[@JolienBrebels]

Really cool mandolin! Another woodworking woman over here! 🙋🙌 I'm glad I discovered your channel! You have a new sub! I'm making wooden toys over on my channel 😀

[@harem137]

these video are the shizzle manizzle

[@harem137]

best video ive seen in a long time!!!::

[@brothernobody1775]

Anyone who's worked with wood long enough has launched a piece or two off a tool or has had a "cursed" project or three...thumb and a half for transparency 😼

[@BeautyandtheBolt]

Thank you!!! I try my best to show my mistakes although it does provide trolls with ammunition... Really appreciate this comment 😊

[@brothernobody1775]

@@BeautyandtheBolt yup, haters are gonna hate.

[@W.E.]

11:50 ... I have never heard "Stairway to Heaven" played so lovely!!!!!

[@BeautyandtheBolt]

I'm not sure if you're joking or not, but just in case- it's the bach cello suites! I played violin for years and then quit when I went to college, and for some reason Bach is the only thing that stuck in my fingers....

[@W.E.]

@@BeautyandtheBolt Yes, that was a joke! :)

[@BeautyandtheBolt]

Ahaha ok phew!!

[@Ahhh_Perrrro]

11:45 Momo Face !!!!

[@BeautyandtheBolt]

Plot twist: I am momo.

[@KS-uv7yc]

Apologies for being blunt, but, wow, as if it were instead a challenge to find the most unimaginative, amateur hacks. Apart from Wesley Treat's glasses, these were so painful to watch.