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Tipsam

Another vintage "tater-bug".

Rating: 4 votes, 5.00 average.
I'm new here, and don't spend much time on forums of any sort, but I have a question and was hoping someone out there could help me. A friend of mine has an old "tater bug" that she inherited form her mother and I am cleaning, restoring and restringing for her. I'd like to know exactly what type of mando it is. It's a bit grungy, hasn't been played in probably 30 years, has a small lengthwise crack in the bowl. Tuners are still good (original), the tailpiece is intact (not original, but old).

Right now I have it stripped of the tuners and tailpiece, which I've cleaned up. The crack I fixed with superglue and will use a bit of epoxy on top of that. I am lightly sanding it with 000 steel wool, then will apply something like MinWax, lightly. I don't want to sand the scratches and "character" out of it!!

Oh yes, it is missing some mother-of-pearl inlays on the "binding" around the body, which I'm not sure yet how to replace.

If anyone knows what make it is, I would sure appreciate the info!!
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Comments

  1. Tipsam's Avatar
    One more thing: if anyone has an original tailpiece for this, or knows where one may be found, I'd appreciate it! If not, I've cleaned up the Bell Brand and will put it back on.

    (And of course I bought a set of GHS UltraLight strings to put on it when the time comes...)
  2. Jim Garber's Avatar
    Prob better to post this on the forums. I would prob never have read this except by chance.

    I am not really sure what this is but prob Chicago made. Looks pretty nice. be careful with the epoxy. Are you using it inside? Frankly, I would just reinforce the crack with some gauze and Titebond or hide glue.
  3. Tipsam's Avatar
    [QUOTE=Jim Garber;bt1343]Prob better to post this on the forums. I would prob never have read this except by chance.

    Thanks---um, don't want to sound stupid, but I couldn't figure out how to post on the forum, so I clicked on "blog" and saw the posting form and assumed this was it...
  4. Scott Tichenor's Avatar
    Instructions in video form, how to post on the Cafe forum with images.