What to do? Modify or replace.

[pops1]

My mandolin sounds good above the 12th fret, it is not light, but rather heavy. You can play hard and not overdrive the instrument. I have lighter instruments, but none, and I mean none sound as good as my Brentrup. Hans builds his mandolins to be played soft or hard and not overdrive the top. A lighter instrument can be played too hard, the Brentrup can be played soft or hard, open or high on the neck and it will reward you with wonderful sound. It is a wonderful instrument built by a master craftsman and rewards me daily as I play it. What you want is out there, I am not sure every mandolin can be made to sound good in the high register. If any mandolin could be modified to sound good everywhere no one would be buying a higher end mandolin as any mandolin could be THE mandolin.

[fscotte]

I'd kind of hate to mar the finish, but I wonder if there's some other way I can think of to accomplish this. What if I glued the stiffener to the masking tape? Would it couple adequately across the thickness of the paper to make a good test or would it be a waste of time?

That's the idea. Masking tape first, then glue the brace to the tape.

Like I said, this is only to determine if the top is not stiff enough or already too stiff.

I'll say this, most mandos are already stiff enough and using a test brace (can also be glued to the back as well) just helps you understand where your mando sits in the stiffness range. If your mando has an improved high end with the test brace, then its likely not stiff enough. Where you go from that point would require some more complex work.

[FatBear]

Well life went haywire again and I missed your last post until now, fscotte, so I haven't done the test bracing.

I did find that those heavier A and E strings and my instrument took a little while to get it together. Or maybe I just learned how to play them a little differently than the lighter ones. In any case, I have moved the plink point up about 2-3 frets. This is a step in the right direction and this was easy.

So here's another question: What effect will the angle of the strings from the tailpiece to the bridge have on plinkiness/ringing? I put on an Allen cast bronze tailpiece a few years ago. I had to bend it a little because it was made for an arch top and mine is flat. Allen does give instructions for doing that. Well I'm not 100% sure I got the angle right. So if I got it a little low, the strings would be pulling down harder on the bridge and if I got it a little high, the pressure would be lighter. Which way is better? (Assuming it is not ridiculously high or low, of course.)