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Kevin Dempsey the Guitarist is still going strong, but Martin Jenkins and Swarb left the party early. Kev's a great Guitarist and an old mate from Coventry. Both Guitar and Mandocello were made by...

I bought one from JJ Ryan in Glasgow, it's really excellent. https://www.jjryanmandolins.co.uk

I got a text file instead of an mp3. Any other way to send it ?

Hi Folks,

just acquired this nice little Instrument. I've had quite a few Guitars over the years but this is the first Mandolin. It has the usual cracked tailpiece but someone has brazed a chunk...

Fiddle and Mandolin have four strings & are tuned the same so "fiddle tunes" can always be played on Mandolin.

I had Elixir strings on the G and D (36 and 24) which I replaced with Daddarios and the sound is much more solid.

I found a piece of firestripe so I made it another Pickguard and I'll save the...

Hello

the sticker is wrong and a recent replacement. It's a National 1930's Mandolin, probably Style N. I think The coverplate "rib" should point toward the tail. I suspect it's an early one as...

As I understand it, wood doesn't shrink lengthways so I'd say nothing is shrinking. A set of Mandolin strings have around 90KG of tension, which presses the bridge downwards and pulls the headstock...

Thanks for the info. I've posted for a friend who isn't a Member, so haven't seen it. The tuners and headstock are clearly made for one another and the strings take a strangely sharp angle as they...

Hi Jillity, going on the pic you posted, that's really not a typical Session. Six squeezeboxes makes it a Squeezebox Band. The Sessions I go to are heavy on fiddles but generally one Melodeon and a...

Thanks for the replies, folks. I have a nice brick Garage with power and light, some decent power tools, cordless drill, orbital sander, circular saw. Also some good chisels, mallet; all the things...

Here she is. Lovely job by Matt Ryan, Manchester UK. Replaced the first seven and dressed the rest to match.

186783

Here's mine:

It's a Beltona. 185410

When I got interested in acoustic guitars, I started collecting them and soon I had about 25. Anyway, time passed and I was only playing three of them so I sold the rest which took a year or so. My...

Hi Todd, your instruments look beautiful and original and I wish you success. I’d keep contributing the Mandolin Cafe and publish pics of your latest builds. We all like to see what’s being created...

i’ve recently bought a Beltona. Haven’t played it at a Session yet as it’s gone back to Steve Evans for a slight adjustment. I previously had an RM1 which was really too loud & made me self...

It sounds really good to me especially for the classical-type piece you played. My old friend Martin Jenkins played a Mandocello which he christened the "Swine o phone" probably because it was a...

I imagine the end block has come adrift and the string tension has broken the bodywork. I think this is an easy repair, when you take all the metalwork off you'll see what's going on.

Agree. Here's mine, it's a Beltona.180608

This changed my mind about cheap old Mandolins.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlfYqIY-jyQ&fbclid=IwAR1cg-Q5JXe8Q0nbu0LeCdR8GT-4EyZdNTnTecNR1VDoK8TjljC3mhQOom8

I play an oval hole because I can hear what I'm playing when I'm in a group as the sound comes out sideways a bit more.

The mistake I made was to turn the Mandolin too far towards my ears to hear...

Cathedranola was a Slingerland name, here's the matching Guitar. Slingerland made high quality drums out of a factory in Chicago & went into Banjos & resonator instruments. Gibson own the name now....

It seems to have five pairs of strings which probably makes it a Cittern. Reynolds was the top Portraitist of his time so I guess he'd have an eye for accurate detail. It's a great painting.

Ebony has pale streaks in it, maybe you just didn't notice them before.

Ordinary French polish i.e. Shellac isn't a very tough finish, but on the other hand it's easy to remove and re-apply. I...

I've been playing five years and have worked at it pretty hard as I felt I had some catching up to do. I'd played Guitar before but never used a pick so it was a good while before my left and right...