vkioulaphides
Mar-18-2004, 12:02pm
Last year I reinstalled the little horizontal, ebony bar that sits on and across the strings under the bridge of de Meglios on my 1897 1A; the previous owner had given it to me, albeit broken, as a token of good faith.
Upon reinstallation, I soon realized how handy it was as a "surrogate bridge" for wrist orientation, withOUT, however, the undesirable effects of touching the bridge itself with my wrist.
Now, after the freeze-dried winter we've had, the poor instrument was buzzing— the G-strings, at least #http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif #What to do? Back to the repairman for a glacially-timed repair? Oh, noooooo...
Lo and behold! I tighten the screws on the bar, thereby pressing a wee bit harder on the strings and...TADA!!! No more buzz! (The strings were evidently buzzing against the tortoiseshell tailpiece-cover, i.e. below the bridge.)
Moral of the story: You acquire a vintage instrument; as part of the "package deal", you also inherit a... what-on-earth-is-this, a thingy-or-other, an object of initially zero apparent value or use that simply, if also mysteriously, came with the instrument and was once part of it. Dear friends: DON'T THROW IT AWAY! #http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif
Upon reinstallation, I soon realized how handy it was as a "surrogate bridge" for wrist orientation, withOUT, however, the undesirable effects of touching the bridge itself with my wrist.
Now, after the freeze-dried winter we've had, the poor instrument was buzzing— the G-strings, at least #http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif #What to do? Back to the repairman for a glacially-timed repair? Oh, noooooo...
Lo and behold! I tighten the screws on the bar, thereby pressing a wee bit harder on the strings and...TADA!!! No more buzz! (The strings were evidently buzzing against the tortoiseshell tailpiece-cover, i.e. below the bridge.)
Moral of the story: You acquire a vintage instrument; as part of the "package deal", you also inherit a... what-on-earth-is-this, a thingy-or-other, an object of initially zero apparent value or use that simply, if also mysteriously, came with the instrument and was once part of it. Dear friends: DON'T THROW IT AWAY! #http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif