Thought I would post a photo of a mandolyn

[bigbike]

that I am in the process of rebuilding. Never rebuilt or repaired a mandolin before, but this instrument was at one time someones pride and joy as the neck shows wear on the back from some ones hand.

Grant it the scroll on the left side has damage toward the top of the "F" and I am not even gonna attempt to repair it. I figured I would just leave it. I just tonight got a chance to start sanding it down to refinish it. I am thinking a black lacquer for the top and since the bottom and sides are maple a light to medium stain on that. The white binding will be a nice contrast.

Now my questions-I have a pick guard to put on-just how do they attach-directly to the top or is there sometype of suspension system that anchors it off the side. Also how does one know how high to make the bridge? I bought an adjustable bridge and have no idea how high or exactly where to place it. i know where the last one was on the instrument because the top had caved at that point and hense the reason why I got the instrument given to me to "repair and have fun with".

47890

[Jim Kirkland]

I would make sure everything is stable (neck, top, frets, back, sides) before doing much to the finish. I would set up first and make sure all is working properly before doing anything else. Do a search here and there is lot of information about set up.

[allenhopkins]

Shape of your mandolin, and the "commas" at the end of the segmented f-holes, suggest you may have a Kay mandolin there. Kay was a low-to-mid-range Chicago manufacturer.

If as you say "the top caved in," getting that taken care of should be Priority #1. Kays tended to be plywood, and I don't know what kind of bracing system they had. Might be a single transverse brace at or near the bridge location. If the brace is broken or has come unglued, it would need to be repaired. Might be difficult to work through those f-holes to fix it, but you don't sound like you're contemplating removing the back to work on the top. If you don't fix the problem of the collapsing top, a new higher bridge will just continue to force the top down, until the mandolin's unplayable.

Once the top's stabilized, and you've checked for other issues, such as:
is the neck-body joint stable, and is the neck attached at the correct angle?
is the neck un-warped, with the correct amount of relief (no truss rod, so you can't adjust the neck that way)?
are there any other cracks, breaks, seam separations?
do the tuners work properly?
-- then you proceed with the finish work. Sanding the top should be done judiciously, since if you remove wood as well as the old finish, you're weakening the top structurally.

Locating the bridge: the bridge is placed at a point where the distance from the nut to the 12th (octave) fret, is the same as the distance from the 12th fret to the bridge saddle. Once the bridge is approximately located, and the instrument strung up near pitch, you can tweak the bridge location by getting the 12th fret harmonic equal in pitch to the 12th fret fretted note. As you know, your mandolin has a "floating" bridge held on by string pressure, and not glued to the top. You can use the adjustment wheels on the adjustable bridge to set the string height or "action" where you want it. Be aware that changing the action may lead to some more bridge placement tweaking.

Pickguard: if it's a Kay, most Kay pickguards I've seen were just screwed to the top of the instrument. (Not the classiest approach.) You could investigate a raised pickguard, with a clamp attached to the rim of the mandolin. Alternatively, a good music repair store will have self-adhesive clear or opaque pickguard plastic, which can be cut and fitted to the instrument's top. Many mandolins have no pickguards at all, so one is not mandatory.

It really wouldn't hurt to take the mandolin to a repair shop, and at least have someone look at it before you really dig in. If you have a top that's collapsing, putting a nice coat of lacquer on it will only produce a more attractive "wall hanger." An experienced repair person can give you an idea of what would be involved to get the mandolin playable. You could then decide how much you were willing to put into its restoration. You don't have a really expensive instrument there, and whatever value your time has, a few hours of it spent in fix-up would probably exceed the mandolin's market value. But one can't put a price on the satisfaction you'll get if you can get it to "sing" again. Good luck!

[bigbike]

Thanks Allan:

I have removed the back and braced the top. So further collapse is not an issue. Now whether it was done "right" is another issue:redface:, but the top is very stable. Playing several instruments, banjo being primary, I know that 95% or more of all instruments sold are entry level. I was not expecting anything more. I do know that it is old-based on the varnish that was on it I would date it to the mid 40's at least. The wear pattern on the neck indicates that SOMEONE use to play the heck out of this instrument. So I am hoping to get this mandolin to be "as good as" a kit mandolin or perhaps even better. I know the sides and bottom are maple. And no I am not gonna sand the top much more, as I am planning on black lacquer-which should cover a lot of "sins". I may black laquer the entire instrument, I do not know at this point. I figured this was a good instrument to take a part and study how mandolins are built. The neck is good, true and stable, the body seems solid enough-what sound will be produced is anybodies guess as this will be my venture into mandolins. I do have an old SS STewart (name only) banjolin archtop-(original skin head) that needs the neck reset, because the action is too high and since it WAS made in the 20s other than perhaps shimming the neck I am not going to touch it. I may send it out to a friend of mine who does old banjo restorations (his specialty) to have the neck reset.

In digging thru my few instrument build, repair items I found I had a mandolin pick guard. What I do not have is any way to secure it to the top. That is why I was asking how they are secured. The few I have studied photos of, seem to have some sort of suspension that bolts to the side of the instrument and then a screw anchoring it to the top. But is that possible on an archtop instrument? I mean wouldn't the archtop cause the pick guard to rock, or at least "buzz" in some way, since it is not a level surface under the pick guard?

Thanks-Jan

[allenhopkins]

...In digging thru my few instrument build, repair items I found I had a mandolin pick guard. What I do not have is any way to secure it to the top. That is why I was asking how they are secured. The few I have studied photos of, seem to have some sort of suspension that bolts to the side of the instrument and then a screw anchoring it to the top. But is that possible on an archtop instrument? I mean wouldn't the archtop cause the pick guard to rock, or at least "buzz" in some way, since it is not a level surface under the pick guard?

Sounds like you have it well under control. I hope I wasn't too pedantic in my post, but I didn't know your level of expertise.

As to the pickguard: the so-called "raised" pickguard is often attached to the side of the neck, and the other side (toward the rim) has a bracket that extends out to the side of the mandolin, then is clamped to the instrument's edge. The bracket is L-shaped to hold the pickguard above the mandolin top. Some Gibson instruments also had a pin on the "bottom end" of the pickguard that fit through a hole in the bridge to stabilize them. So the pickguard (or "fingerrest" as some termed it) only touched the top on its inner edge, and was held suspended above the instrument's top by the mounting bracket.

As I said, the more common practice for inexpensive mandolins, was to glue or screw the pickguard directly to the top.

[bigbike]

As I said, the more common practice for inexpensive mandolins, was to glue or screw the pickguard directly to the top.

Actually tonight I got more sanding done on the instrument and then found where there had been evidence of a pick guard screwed into the top. The one I have to put on it is a slightly different style, but I think it will look fine with a black top. I even thru the bridge, cut the saddle for the strings and strung the instrument up tonight just to play it. It is very tinny-with hardly any low end resenation at all. But at least I can play it and stomped out my first ever banjo tune-Amy Ray's "let it ring"-only 5 chords so it is easy to do.