Help with repairing bowlback mandolin

[RandomMando]

Hey guys, I've been playing the mandolin since christmas, and this past weekend my grandpa gave me a bowlback mandolin. Its in pretty rough shape, and was hoping for some advice on fixing it up, as well as on bowlbacks in general.

I need a new nut and bridge, and does the material make a lot of difference for them?

What kind of music is the bowlback good for, as compared to my A-Style?

Thanks

[Rodney Riley]

Whatever music you want to play on it. Check this out for blues stuff. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoXfz-_fBJo
Just enjoy and play. Might look here and maybe find one that looks like the one you have. To see what kind of bridge you need to look for. http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/sh...860#post894860

[Jim Baker]

Whatever you make the nut and bridge from needs to be hard and durable. I recenty finished making a couple nuts and bridge saddles from bone. It can be sawed, filed and sanded and is very tought stuff. You can get bone from your local butcher shop or as I did from the back yard.
Your bridge should be the most dense wood you can find. I made mine from a piece of Indian rosewood but there are other dense woods you can use.

[dave17120]

Hello Random...... cool name that!!

Check out my site, I have structured it in such a way as to be useful to anyone who wants to do some restoration work on mandolins, particularly old bowls, that would perhaps otherwise not be 'economically viable' to repair. (Hate that phrase!!)

Anyway, the site is mandolinluthier.... have a look. Dave