Winter

[angrymandolinist]

Went to install new Grover tuners on my Kentucky 250S and found a 3" crack that comes out from under the tailpiece, it's maybe an inch from the binding. It follows the grain almost perfectly, and doesn't make it to the bridge. I've been using a makeshift humidifier (damp paper towel in a ziploc bag) but those of us in the Northeast had a nasty, nasty cold front a week ago (17 was the high I think) and we had lost heat in the middle of it, so I assume that's when my mando got the crack.

I know the $250 I spent on it may be chump change to many, but for me it was a pretty big investment.

There's a local music store that should be able to fix it, so when I take it there, what am I looking at as far as procedure and cost?

Thanks guys.

[MANDOLINMYSTER]

Oh that mother nature, she sometimes can be cruel. I'm sure your luthier will fix it up for you with no prblems

[jaydee]

Once that crack is fixed, I think you should try a different type of humidifer. The plastic bag didn't seem to do the trick. I've got Dampit humidifiers in my mandolins and my double basses and they seem to do the trick. They were recomended to me after both of my basses cracked in the Philadelphia winter several years ago. Since I've been using them I haven't suffered weather cracks in any instrument, and that's convinced me that they work. You can get them at elderly music, or at any fiddle shop and they're pretty cheap. Probably less than ten bucks. Just make sure you wring out the excess water in the humidifier itself before hanging it inside the istrument.

Good Luck
Jeremy

[Flowerpot]

I'd advise getting a room humidifier for the room you store the instruments in. It's easy to tell when it needs water, as opposed to a dampit or something inside the instrument, which can be easy to neglect. Also, if you put it in your bedroom, your sinuses will thank you.