tonegard on a slightly smaller bodied F

Tried searching for this and didn't turn up much.

Pulled the Tonegard off my old mandolin to put on the new one, but it's fairly loose. Enough so that it moves around and if I'm not careful can completely fall off while it's not pressed to my chest. Tone gard site says the standard gard fits mandolins with a 9-7/8" wide back, measured the new one and it's just a hair over 9-1/2". Maybe 9-5/8" at the outside. Measured the old one and it clocks in just under 10". The gard was quite snug on that one though so maybe a new one that hasn't been stretched out would work?

Suggestions or experience here? Do I need to fork out for a custom one? I could probably just build up one of the arms with some more rubber and make it work, also.

You can bend the arms, but you don't want to do that a lot or it will weaken and eventually break. I wouldn't switch the TG back and forth between mandos, I would buy one for each and leave it on.

Hi Stephen,

I am a big fan of tonegards, but I found that my Brentrup F5 wasn't significantly louder/different with one on, so I actually go without for Hans' instruments. I do use a deco gard on Greenie, and it never comes off.

Another option is to contact Tony and send him a tracing of your F5R and have a custom gard made. I did this for a couple instruments and was very happy with the results. Tony has busy and slower times, so you have to be patient if he's out straight filling orders.

I'm sure Tony can give you advice on making your current gard fit, and let you know if bending the arms will work.

Otherwise you could order a new standard sized gard, see if it fits, and easily sell it here on the cafe if it doesn't.

Good luck, Larry

Its a protector of the back varnish from my sweaty belly..

the new CAM ones got a Powder coat, the plastic glazing can pop off
when bent too much.

the older round wire ones got a spray paint.. its mild steel
and not spring tempered .

So .. bend the arms to fit, once.

About 9 3/4" is about as small as a standard Sunrise Tone-Gard is made to fit. Anything else is a custom. And like all the guys before, you don't want to go bending the arms in and out to the extremes as it was not designed for that.

More and more I'm seeing a wide variance in the dimensions on mandolins, even from some of the manufacturers other than Gibson. I'm not sure why. But the only way to know for sure what you are dealing with is to measure across the back at the widest point. Just because it looks like a F5 doesn't mean it's exactly the same.

Because most mandolins are based off of Gibson designs, I use their spec's as the basis for my two standard sizes. F5/A5 spec is approx. 9 7/8" +/- 1/16", and the old ovals 10 3/16" +/- 1/16".

Hope this helps.