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Thread: Have an old mandolin that needs help

  1. #1

    Default Have an old mandolin that needs help

    Im pretty amaeteur to mandolins, I've been practicing chords on a little cigar box thing with a mandolin neck.

    I'd probably have more fun playing a real instrument, I have one which is rode hard and put away wet. The bodys pretty warped up, it's not a candidate for restoration at all. I just kind of want to have a playable instrument.

    The problem I have is the braces inside are broken, it's an oval hole, the brace under the hole is pretty broken off (I can press it back up to where I could probably glue it with a c clamp)] and another one im guessing came from the other side of the bridge is completely broken off. I have a bridge I can try to put on it, I just don't want to string it up to have it break in half. I figured if there's no other way to fix it I could put metal brackets running past the bridge to the sides of it and sand and glue it to the front, but that might be some extreme butchery.

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    Am I better off taking it someplace and asking for a budget job? The first picture is the broken brace through the hole, the second is the front of it with the piece that fell out.
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  2. #2
    Registered User Tavy's Avatar
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    Default Re: Have an old mandolin that needs help

    Given that you can buy playable second hand budget mandolins for $50 or so, it's not worth spending any money on that one IMO.

    If you want repair it yourself, then I would recommend top removal, and then put everything back together properly...

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  4. #3
    Mediocre but OK with that Paul Busman's Avatar
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    Default Re: Have an old mandolin that needs help

    I agree-- if you really want to get this repaired, do it yourself. People here will help with advice. Otherwise, keep it as an interesting wall ornament and get something like this:
    https://www.amazon.com/Rogue-RM-100A...QSKP07WWK9KR4V

    I don't have one, but people here on the cafe report that with a decent setup, they play fairly well. Learn to do the setup yourself because mandolins need tweaking from time to time.
    For wooden musical fun that doesn't involve strumming, check out:
    www.busmanwhistles.com
    Handcrafted pennywhistles in exotic hardwoods.

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  6. #4

    Default Re: Have an old mandolin that needs help

    I was kind of trying to find a way just to get this one playable. I can get everything back together with a c-clamp but the one brace that was under the bridge.

    I'm not restoring anything here, just wondering if putting braces across the front of it would support the bridge across the front of the body. This thing has been played too much to hang on the wall.

  7. #5

    Default Re: Have an old mandolin that needs help

    Suggestion from a fellow amateur wood-butcher: If you really want to do something with this one, and understand that your efforts may make it playable but it wont be all that great (top is conspicuously slab-cut, or plywood), you should go ahead and do what you want to try with it. You really cant make it any worse, by which I mean its ideal to experiment on. I would suggest removing the back, which is easier and less conspicuous, and installing new braces that can be easily fitted wherever you like, not trying to force the old ones back in a position where they dont want to hold anymore. (Snap). Go ahead, have fun.

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  9. #6

    Default Re: Have an old mandolin that needs help

    Quote Originally Posted by Bill Cameron View Post
    Suggestion from a fellow amateur wood-butcher: If you really want to do something with this one, and understand that your efforts may make it playable but it wont be all that great (top is conspicuously slab-cut, or plywood), you should go ahead and do what you want to try with it. You really cant make it any worse, by which I mean its ideal to experiment on. I would suggest removing the back, which is easier and less conspicuous, and installing new braces that can be easily fitted wherever you like, not trying to force the old ones back in a position where they dont want to hold anymore. (Snap). Go ahead, have fun.
    Well that's what I figure. I can move the braces to where they'll touch the inside of the front of it, not sure if I'd do more damage or not gluing them that way. I definitely don't have the woodworking skills to saw the back off it and get it back on, which I understand is the correct way to do it, but the body is really warped and twisted up. No guarantee the piece that fell out will even fit back on, which I doubt. It's been strung and played in the condition its in and you can see where the string tension distorted the body.

    I have an acoustic guitar that has a similar problem and it sounds great, my friend actually asks to borrow it a lot haha. but that's just nylon strings vs. steel and while I could probably string this one up, I have a feeling it would eventually see some kind of failure. I don't have any use for an instrument to hang on my wall and I keep saying the cheap fix would seem to be metal bracing across the front over where the braces would have been on the inside. It would be ugly, but at least I would have a playable instrument. Can't seem to find where anyone has tried something like this, but like you said it can't make it worse if it's just a decoration at this point anyway.

  10. #7

    Default Re: Have an old mandolin that needs help

    Well have at it then! Honestly I'm not really picturing what kind of metal bracing you plan to use but...much as I can imagine what you are proposing to do I think anchoring metal to it will kill the vibrations of the top, less so if you are just using metal corner brackets at the edge of the top to keep it attached to the sides--is there separation there or are youjust looking for a way to attach new exterior brace to the top?

  11. #8
    Mando accumulator allenhopkins's Avatar
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    Default Re: Have an old mandolin that needs help

    Metal external top bracing may somehow give you a playable mandolin, but likely to be an inaudible one.
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  12. #9
    Registered User Walt's Avatar
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    Default Re: Have an old mandolin that needs help

    I know where you're coming from wanting to get experimental adding metal brackets to the mandolin. When I was a kid, my first mandolin top (a very cheap laminate) caved in. My dad found two heavy duty springs out of a water pump and we put them inside through the f holes (kind of like sound posts). In retrospect, this seems like a very, very bad idea. But you know what, it worked at the time and I played that mandolin like that until I could save up enough to buy my first good mando. And on top of that, we had fun trying to figure out how to get the mandolin working again.
    All that being said, if your goal is "a playable instrument," Musician's Friend has a Rogue mandolin for $50, brand new. Get something like that. If you were to make a trip to the hardware store to get materials to fix the mandolin you have now, you'd probably spend $30. And even after fixing the top issues, you'll likely run into other problems that affect playability (neck bow, unlevel frets, improper bridge/nut height).
    A $50 Rogue mando is a beginner's instrument in every sense of the word, and they get a bad rap; but I'll give you my real world experience. My best friend told me one day that he ordered one for his roommate. Even though I had never seen one, I told him that it would likely need extensive work out of the box to get into playing condition (not an unreasonable assumption considering it costs me more than $50 just to ship a mandolin). When it arrived my friend brought it over for a setup. Honest, I didn't really need to do anything. I did adjust the bridge a little, but the mando was actually playable out of the box. And it actually sounded like a mandolin.
    Good luck with whatever you end up doing.

  13. #10
    Registered User sblock's Avatar
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    Default Re: Have an old mandolin that needs help

    From the looks of it, this was never a high-quality mandolin in the first place, and it's in terrible shape. Restoring such a budget mandolin seems like a fool's errand, unless you just want to do it to gain the experience, or if the activity itself gives you pleasure. In which case, carry on.

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