Tweaking my MK Firefly Custom

[Rayce]

I was wondering if any of you MK owners out there could offer suggestions on ways of getting the most of my firefly. I dont really know much about bridges or tuners from a technical/acoustic standpoint, but its my understanding that one-piece tailpieces are preferable to stock, and ebony bridges are preferably to rosewood. What about the tuners? I was checking out elderlyInstruments and saw they had a varied selection of ebony bridges and i just dont know which is better or anything. Just looking for some tips.

[phynie]

the newer mk's already have grover tuners on them. Grovers are great tuners. If I were you I would not bother looking for replacements unless they don't turn as smoothly as you would like them to. The schallers are pretty much the same quality as the grovers.(I prefer the grovers) that pretty much leaves you with Waverley's that cost about as much as the mandolin itself. As for bridges, everyone has their opinions. Personally, I put a brekke bridge on my MK and am pleased to death with it. I feel that it really opened up the sound. But you do have many different bridge options. Such as if you wanted to keep the same style bridge you could look into the loar style copies (smith bridges or the such). You also could look into getting the fossilized Ivory inserts for those bridges which have gotten rave reviews on this board. And don't forget, if you want to upgrade, you could also upgrade the nut on the mando to a bone of fossil ivory one. I think upgrading is half the fun to owning a mandolin.

[Stillpicking]

MK "Butterfly" upgrades are:

Ebony Sullivan bridge from FQM
Schaller tuners from Elderly
Pearl nut FQM
Universal (solid) tail piece Weber
Thomastick Strings ( heavy) from Elderly

They all have added tone and volume to my MK

Have fun with the upgrades.

[SteveW]

I also recently put on the Sullivan bridge from FQMS. The bridge itself, and the professional setup job that went with getting it installed, did wonders for the tone and action on my Firefly Flame. I may get a new nut put on at some point, too.

[calkan]

I also put a Brekke Bridge on my Legacy Deluxe. It warmed the tone from the standard bridge, but also gave more volume to my instrument. I am happy with Brekke's Bridge. I also installed a tone guard, which gave the volume a boost. I thought about ordering my MK with the Allen tail piece, but I am satisfied with the standard tailpiece which came with it. Some day I may try a one piece tailpiece, but for now, I am happy with the results. I am in the process of experimenting with different brands of strings. Right now I have D'addario FT74's on my MK. I have a set of medium thomastik-infield waiting to be installed. I tried the GHS silk & steel and J74 D'addario's. They all have their qualities.