IV Kit arrived today Is this normal?

[StuartGold]

The kit arrived today but when I opened the box, I noticed that the top had some possible problems. I have attached photos for you to look at. I don't know if this is normal or not. I was expecting to sand the top a bit to smooth it out but there appears to be a gouge (between 1/64 to 1/32"deep) in the top that I have detailed and one of the areas of the top that comes to a point seems to have the point taken off inside of the purfiling line. Is this normal for these kits?

[OlderThanWillie]

No, not normal and not acceptable. Contact the company and send them the photos. Ask for another top. If they don't cooperate you can challenge the charge if you used a credit card to pay. Good luck.

[James Sanford]

I assume the kit came from International Violin because of the name in the background. If you are unhappy with the top, and I can see where you might be, I would e-mail these pictures to them and ask if they would replace the top for you. No harm in asking.

Both problems could be dealt with if you wish to but I do not know your skill level.

What is the thickness of the top at the gouge area? You may be able to contour the top so that the gouge disappears depending on the amount of material in that area. The gouge is in the recurve area so it might take a bit of filler to make it level.

The problem at the point would likely be taken care of with binding and judicious blending of the point guard with the ribs.

Hope this helps.

[fatt-dad]

Call Ken and talk to him.

f-d

[bmac]

The tiny missing chunk at the top is not a problem,,, Just carve a replacement and glue it in. If done carefully it will not show. the same for the "gouge" in the bottom.. It is in a safe area and you will want to sand that area down anyway you will do no structural damage by sanding down that area and most folks sand considerably in that area to establish a really nice shape to the front. The front is considerably thicker than it needs to be structurally and that area is normally thinned considerably... See Siminoff book on graduating the top.

In fact if you are like the rest of us you are bound to make far more serious mistakes in your shaping of the mandolin that those two little blips. I certainly have in the two IV kits I have built. In fact if I were you I would accept the mando as delivered because I have heard of folks getting fronts which have been cosmetically unacceptable and yours looks darned good in my opinion.

I think your major concern will be the binding channel, getting it smooth and accurate (to accept the binding over the entire front.... Patience and careful sanding will do it. If you don't already have a Siminoff book you really need one to get the best tone from your instrument. It all depends on the fine tuning which is not covered in the basic instructions which come with the kit (if it is like mine were).

In my opinion you are set to go.

[Jritter3]

Call Ken and talk to him.

f-d

I agree, I had some problems with my IV A-style kit when I ordered it. Much like you, I posted a thread on this board to ask for help, and to my surprise Ken himself saw the thread. I subsequently contacted him and he sent me a replacement part, no problems. Their customer service is great, and for that reason I am a repeat customer.

[bmac]

I should have addressed the question,,, "Is this normal?"

My answer is a qualified "Yes, this is normal."

Part of being a wood worker is learning to work with wood, its beauty, its strengths, weaknesses, and its flaws as well as your own mistakes. You will make mistakes far worse than those blips and you will have to deal with them. that is part of the responsibility and fun of wood working. Some folks look at a flaw as a mistake... Others look at the mistake as an opportunity.

[Sandy Beckler]

I would speak with Ken, I found him to be most gracious and accommodating.

Sandy

[NAS]

That should not be a problem, your going to want to put some recurve into it if its going to sound any good. I had to carve quite a bit of thickness out of the recurve on the one I did

[bmac]

Maybe I am over stressing a point, but if you really have to have "perfect" then buy a new mandolin. Or buy a Siminoff kit which costs about three or four times as much, if I recall. Unfortunately if you examine a new mandolin very carefully you may find a few "flaws". If you obcess on them you will never be satisfied, because all (or close to all) wooden objects have flaws, many of which have been minimized through careful craftsmanhip and sometimes color... There are reasons why sunbursts are common on mandolins... they can hide lots of problems and "defects" in wood and craftsmanship..

[NAS]

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[NAS]

OOPS, just spotted the damaged corner, so you could ask for a replacement. But that is a common repair for Violin makers and repairer to replace a partial corner, The only problem is you probably don't have a piece of matching spruce as it's a kit. I always keep the waste from my violin plates (and Mando ones) for just such an eventulaity, I can usually find a piece with matching grain so the repair is invisible.

[bmac]

Nat:
That has been my experience too... On my first IV kit I was over cautious about graduating and did very little... While I was not dissatisfied I built another using more aggressive graduating following the Siminoff book fairly closely, and yes the tonal difference was remarkable. i suspect I could have taken it thinner on the recurve areas but I was impressed with the enhanced tone compared with my first kit build. I think the Siminoff book is a "must have" for the beginner kit builder because it can give one confidence to make intelligent adjustments for tonal reasons.