A Pointless Repair

I recently took a trip to NJ and NY with my Flatiron, and during the trip I once again had the bottom point break off. Unfortunately, this time I did not find it in the case, like I have in the past. I've lost track of how many times this has happened. I've glued it back on with various glues over the years, but the last time I used epoxy to fix it in place, and I did a sloppy job of it. So I asked Frank Ford at Gryphon to make me a new one that would hide all the chipping caused by the poor application of epoxy. Very clever the way the point is wider on the side with the chipping and normal on the side with the cleaner break. Thanks Frank! The case has been the culprit all along, I'll be looking for a new one, probably an oblong rectangular one like an Airloom Deluxe.
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BTW the cracks in the top and bottom bindings at the point are from a previous repair when the instrument got knocked off a stand at a gig. I told Frank it didn't have to look perfect (lots of wear in the last 26 years from gigging), just wanted it "functional" (A-style owners will no doubt understand the ironic quotes).

How fortunate to have Frank as a resource. Thanks for the photos!

What is interesting to me is how thick the finish appears where the chipping is.

26 years of patina is a beautiful thing. Frank is a treasure.

Don-
I think the finish is fairly thick, but the chipping removed some of the wood when the point piece tore off, and that may exaggerate the perception of depth. I wish my phone pic was better focused, but pic 1 vs pic 2 gives different veiws of finish depth.

Wow, I feel dumb!... I read through this thread and thought to myself "why is this repair pointless?... is it because it keeps breaking?" HA!... what a dummy.

Well done repair on a likely beautiful instrument! (Love Flatirons)

Somewhat curious as to how the case is the culprit. What kind of case was this? btw, I have a Northfield Recurve case I'll be putting up in the ads shortly. Good, lightweight, protective case.

Alan-
When I picked up the mandolin from Gryphon after the repair, the Northfield rep just happen to be in the store and he let me put my mandolin in the Recurve case he had with him. My case (came with the Flatiron when I bought it in '93) has almost no cushioning (maybe 1/4") at the tip of the point in question. The Recurve case has 3-4 times the thickness of cushion in the same place. This lack of cushion in my case means that the point is the least protected part of the instrument and the most susceptible to the shocks of handling. I was gigging about once every other week for about 8 years and traveling to the east coast from CA about once a year with it. I'll take a picture when I get home from work and post it to show you what I mean.

Because of the lack of cushion at the place where the mandolin sees the most pressure as it is set down and stacked with other equipment, the point kept falling off.
Case Pictures
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