Inside His Majesty's Mandolin

[Tavy]

I recently acquired one of the "by His Majesty's Letters Patent" mandolins, unfortunately the back was already half off:



So it was time to take it off completely and see what's inside - fairly typical bracing on top and back - top is 3mm spruce, back is 3mm slab cut maple (one piece), sides are 1.5mm curly maple (too thin IMO - they're collapsing somewhat):



A few interesting / strange points: there's a metal fixture on the main cross brace (appears to be original):



No idea what that is for unless it's a weight?!?!?

There are also some reinforcement patches on the top, plus two holes directly under the bridge (which actually miss the reinforcement plates!), again I can't really imagine why these were put in there:



What these are all about of course is the picture on the back:



This appears to be printed/transferred on after the finish was applied - which I guess explains why these tend to be in rather shabby condition Plus I've seen these both with and without the image, so I guess they just finished them all the same, and then applied the image to a select few afterwards.

Anyway lots to do on this one, and I've always wondered what these were like, so it'll be interesting to find out.... I'll just have to resist the temptation to try and make it "better"

[Marc Woodward]

Hi John,

I had one of these years ago - can't now recall what happened to it.... looked cool but sound was disappointing as far as I recall (I would have had my first Gibson A1 then so needless to say this instrument was quieter - but it's not really a fair comparison!),
However it was pretty and probably I had faulty expectations of it... it will be interesting to hear how your's sounds when it's done,
Cheers,
Marc

Marc

[Eugene]

These are whacky. Thanks for sharing its innards.

[brunello97]

Great post, John, it is good to see inside one of these. I have always liked the images (decals?) on the backs. I wonder if the hole you referenced are for one of the hold-down string tensioners that one sees also on DeMeglio and some other Italian mandolins. I have seen some of these on other 'Royal' mandolins.

I look forward to seeing more of your repair images (and hearing this when you are done.) Any thoughts on how you might clean up the back while preserving the image?

Mick

[Tavy]

Marc, sorry to hear yours didn't sound so hot - though clearly they're a very different beast from a Gibby - I have heard some good things about these in the past so we'll see I guess.

Mick, that one you show is seriously minty - is it yours? Restored?

Good point about the string tensioners, I had thought that the holes were right under the bridge ('cos that's were the bridge was when I got it), but on second thoughts I'm not so sure. Guess I'd better figure that out before I close up the body again!

With regard to finish it's going to be challenging to say the least - I'll probably fix the structural issues, set it up, and see what I have and then decide whether to touch up or leave it distressed. BTW The red color is in the finish, not in the wood, which is a shame actually as the sides on mine are really quite flamed, but the flame is mostly hidden by the finish. Haven't got around to figuring out what the old finish is yet either...

[Tavy]

Time for an update: the instrument passed a milestone today - the low point - from now on things can only get better - I hope!.

The only point of interest inside was that the holes for the string tensioner screws completely missed the reinforcement plates on the top, so I added some new ebony ones, in the possibly vain hope that these will last longer (about a 100 years for preference!) before the screws pull out again:



Externally, the cause for the damage to the back is now clear - it had shrunk quite a bit, pulling the sides in and causing the braces to poke out through sides Also the linings weren't that great in these, so new linings go in, along with new wood to patch the sides and back:



I don't normally like showing images at this stage, as (a) the instrument looks like ****, and (b) I like to know that things will actually get better before posting

Still, full steam ahead with finish touch-up now, the black and red areas are almost all done, time to fix up "Her Majesty" next, and then some new finish can go back on...

[Tavy]

It's been a long time coming, but this one is finally finished off now. Photos and sound clip in this thread.