What should I do with this?

[lukmanohnz]

I visited my home town last month on business, but managed to fit in some time to visit and jam with all my old friends while there. They all know that I'm learning mandolin now, so I was virtually deluged with offers of loaner mandolins during my stay (I didn't bring mine with me). A dear old friend told me he had a mandolin that had sat unplayed in his closet for years and insisted that he wanted to give it to me as a gift. (I've posted several photos of it below, including a closeup of a poorly repaired crack at the neck joint.) I already own a very nice handmade Capek f-style mandolin in addition to the Savannah SF-100 plywood beginner's mandolin that got me started on this path. Now I've apparently added this Kay A-style to my collection. The Savannah collects dust hanging on the living room wall next to my two old vintage ukes. My wife is not too excited about me continuing to cover the living room walls with my smaller fretted friends. I doubt I will ever play this Kay - the action's not terrible - in fact it plays reasonably well, but the intonation is way off (I'm sure a repositioning of the bridge would solve that problem) and the tone is decidedly pedestrian compared with my Capek. What would you do if you inherited this mandolin? As it was gifted to me by a dear friend (in spite of my repeated entreaties that I already owned a very high quality instrument that satisfied all my needs) I'm not inclined to sell or trade it. Perhaps I should pass it along to my son who is an excellent guitarist and who enjoys noodling on my Capek when he can wrest it from my hands. Any other ideas?
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[Ron McMillan]

It'll never compete with the Capek, but since it's a gift from a good friend, it deserves a little attention that will transform its playability. Intonation will be the easiest thing to fix - it looks like the bridge is WAY out of place, since the 'typical' placement is usually somewhere between the centre kinks of the f-scrolls. Fix the intonation, put new strings on it, adjust the action at the bridge and you have a neat instrument that earns a place in your collection and gives your son the option of practising whenever he wants.

Whether or not it merits space on your living room wall will surely depend on what your wife says; I'd vote for the Savannah going into the basement and the Kay taking its place :-)

ron

[MikeEdgerton]

That was a Korean imported Kay mandolin from the 80's or 90's that has no connection to the Kay's made in the US except the name. If you don't want to play it hang it on the wall.

[Bill Snyder]

I think you have already given the best answer.

"Perhaps I should pass it along to my son who is an excellent guitarist and who enjoys noodling on my Capek when he can wrest it from my hands. "

Of course you do need to move that bridge up and as Ron mentioned a good starting place will be between the f-holes and then you can tweak it from there.

[Denny Gies]

Pass it on to someone who is interested in learning the mandolin. I could be a nice starter mando for a deserving peson.

[EdHanrahan]

After learning about intonation by shifting the bridge to the proper position (do look up Frets.com, besides the many prior posts here), and maybe ensuring that the neck is not on the verge of falling off, I'd be tempted to leave it with someone that you visit regularly but where you don't normally bring a mandolin along. Or keep it around for use at the beach, picnic, or 4-year-old's birthday party, the places that a Capek should avoid.

I had one cheapy at my mom's house on the far side of NYC when she needed help (did a reverse commute one or two nights a week), and one at my in-laws' in FL for the annual visit. Carrying (or shipping) once sure beats continual back-and-forth on airlines, or even on trains.

Don't forget that "smaller friends" are less likely to trigger a spouse's "clutter" reaction when stashed away in a closet.

[stevenmando]

I agree with D Gies, some young person in school that wants to learn mandolin but can't afford an instrument would realy appriciate it and if you could fix it before you donate it that would bring some young person a lot of joy and you would be passing on the mandolin music to them.

[Charlieshafer]

I'm agreeing with the fix-it-up and pass it along suggestions. We've benefitted from many gift instruments for our program, and we loan them out to whoever is interested. It's a great tool for fiddlers to learn all the chords so they can really increase their understanding of double-stops, etc. Starter mandolins are great tools for a whole bunch of reasons.

[RayMan7]

^ Sounds like you should give it to me! I rebuilt my uncles old smashed (yep, thats right) beetle back, and thats what got me started! But he wants it back now lol, and all I have is an old banjo mandolin, which is cool but doesnt sound the same, and I`m 16 with literaly no money so if you did decide to give it to someone please count me in :) Or like you said your son could probably use, or just keep it as a gift from an old buddy. :) Ray

[lukmanohnz]

Thank you everyone for your suggestions. For the time being I have entrusted my son with custodial responsibilities. I've also given him a new set of strings and your suggestion on bridge placement to improve intonation. He's set up his electric for proper intonation, so I am sure he'll do a good job.