Cittern and bowlback mandolin

Well, it's been a month or so since I last posted a progress report - Easter has been mostly occupied with our new vegetable plot, but I have had a bit of time to push on with the cittern. The body is now complete and I'm ready to start fixing on the neck.

I'm also getting cracking on the bowlback mandolin project. I have 'dismantled' the one I bought on ebay (I think the cracked neck made it beyond repair anyway), and taken lots of photos and prepared some drawings. The detailed look at the old Neopolitan instrument was very informative - it was fun to imagine the 'production line' for these inexpensive litte instruments in the south of Italy at the turn of the last century. I have now started to prepare the mould for my own bowlback based on the technique used for lute making.