Originally Posted by
Jeff Mando
I'll repeat, for those who care, what I said in some of those previous posts regarding mandolin soundposts:
YES, they work as a quick & cheap means to "fix" a mandolin with a sunken top, if you can gain access through the soundholes without removing the back. You are simply jacking up the top to where it is playable.
NO, it is not the correct way to fix a valuable mandolin, nor will it sound as good as one that has not sunk -- but you have MADE AN UNPLAYABLE INSTRUMENT PLAYABLE, AGAIN -- and that is a good thing, IMHO.
I'll also repeat the story of my first meeting with David Grisman, 25 years ago when I was working at a vintage shop. I remember he ended up buying a snakehead we had for sale. We talked about a bunch of stuff including his first Loar and how hard it was to come up with the money. I was working on a mandolin with a collapsed top and he told the story of how he "fixed" one of his with a stovebolt (his words) and some nuts from the hardware store jammed in there! I asked him if it worked? He said, "sure, it made it playable! So, I store that tidbit along with the story of John D'Angelico patching bridge plates with Formica in a special place when it comes to guitar repair. After all, if Dawg says it is OK, then I'm good with it!
This has allowed me to do "hillbilly necksets" on student guitars that should have been thrown in the trash, but instead are being used to play music on as we speak. So, yep, there is the old school, hot hide glue way of doing things and then there's the local ACE hardware or Walmart way of doing things.......
I occasionally will use JB Weld, but I draw the line at Gorilla glue........
I should add that I mean no disrespect to the talented builders and luthiers who do things the "right" way and are able to create genuine works of mandolin art. I am not an artist or luthier, just a repairman and most of my clients have a limited budget and/or the instruments do not warrant repairs that would exceed the value of the instrument itself. In the past, I have worked for shops where the average repair quote was $750-1250 which was still inline with the value of the instrument......I want to fix grandpa's old guitar, etc......