"Mandolin Hacks"

[Hudmister]

Using small vise grips for tuning when the tuner button has broken off. I have done this on both mandolin and guitar and it makes a good excuse for never changing strings.

Tying a knot in an E string so as to be able to continue playing when you have no replacement string. It works

[Beanzy]

Yep, for me hacks are get out of jail tricks that work around a given situation. They’re definitely not seen as the refined or ‘correct’ way to do things... however many of our current skills may have started out as hacks; where someone wasn’t happy with the status quo, so they thought about it and worked around things. Sometimes they came up with something new, which in those cases was more effective than that which went before, so became the norm.

My hack was less elegant being a spare string situation.
I had cleaned out the mandolin case on my bowlback and never put the spare strings back in. Was away working for a week, delayed returning so dived in grabbed the mandolin and drove up to the concert.
An A string broke when tuning up. I whipped the broken one off reversed it twisted a loop in the wrong end using the edge of the music stand, then strung it back the other way with just enough grip from the broken loop in the machine head hole to get get it started. It got me through the concert no problem.

[MontanaMatt]

Forehead oil on left finger tips to reduce finger friction and facilitate swift shifting.

[roysboy]

Does using a mandolin as a canoe paddle count?

NO ....but using a banjo does

[MandoNina]

Using a tennis bag as a mandolin bag



Obviously not a hard case so not optimal in all situations, but it is water resistent and it has some padding.
Also nobody gets jumped for their tennis racket.

[Hudmister]

Using a tennis bag as a mandolin bag



Obviously not a hard case so not optimal in all situations, but it is water resistent and it has some padding.
Also nobody gets jumped for their tennis racket.

Great hack for sure...but let us know more about that mandolin you've got there.

[mandroid]

If Johnny B Goode could 'carry his guitar in a gunny sack', he can bring 2 mandolins (or 6 ukes)

[Steve Ostrander]

Cut off the top 10 inches of a sock, put your hand into it and slide it up to your forearm. Instant "arm rest" and it keeps your skin from effecting the finish.

That sounds just like something called A LONG SLEEVE

Somebody actually makes a small tool for punching out picks from credit cards. I use my credit card for buying really expensive picks for mandolins.

[Roger Moss]

Using a tennis bag as a mandolin bag



Obviously not a hard case so not optimal in all situations, but it is water resistent and it has some padding.
Also nobody gets jumped for their tennis racket.

Maybe for one of these...

https://www.amazon.com/Wilson-Open-J.../dp/B00C1DEFHI

[Roger Moss]

Somebody actually makes a small tool for punching out picks from credit cards.

https://www.amazon.com/HQMaster-Prof.../dp/B00HN0VHGG

[MikeEdgerton]

I don't want to be a Debbie Downer here but most of this has been here before. Tennis racket covers as bags for A style mandolins probably goes back more than 10 years. Carry on.

https://www.google.com/search?q=tenn...nt=firefox-b-1

[MikeZito]

I don't want to be a Debbie Downer here but most of this has been here before. Tennis racket covers as bags for A style mandolins probably goes back more than 10 years.

If you searched hard enough, a vast majority of EVERYTHING that gets posted on these forums has probably been here before . . . but it's kind of like when your grandfather tells you the same stories over, and over, and over again - you just listen and (out of kindness) reply when necessary.

Or you can think of it this way . . . just because you have seen the movie before, doesn't mean that everyone else has - a new audience comes to the theater every night.


By the way - has anybody ever heard of these old Gibson mandolins by some guy name Floyd Loar?

[MikeEdgerton]

Yeah, that search stuff kind of escapes me.

[Roger Moss]

By the way - has anybody ever heard of these old Gibson mandolins by some guy name Floyd Loar?

Wasn't he the barber on "The Andy Griffith Show"?

[Austin Koerner]

One of of my favorites that I learned on here is using the empty paper from a string package under the tailpiece to prevent the tag ends of the old strings scratching the top of the mando when changing strings.

[HonketyHank]

By the way - has anybody ever heard of these old Gibson mandolins by some guy name Floyd Loar?

Not him, but they got several of his brother's, brand new, at the Guitar Center down the road here. Theodor Loar. aka The.

My hack is already mentioned, but it works -- you can get two pretty good mandolin straps out of a pair of 72" leather boot laces.

[pops1]

I carry a gauge to measure action in my case. It is a piece of an aluminum from a badge for a Weber speaker that I scraped 1/32" lines in with a knife. then I put black in the lines so I could see them. Would have been cheaper if I didn't have to buy the speaker, but the badge was free.

[JeffD]

Cut off the top 10 inches of a sock, put your hand into it and slide it up to your forearm. Instant "arm rest" and it keeps your skin from effecting the finish.

Yes. I have done that. I now use a wrist band of terri cloth. Does a great job.

[JeffD]

My mandolin is my life hack.

[MandoNina]

I don't want to be a Debbie Downer here but most of this has been here before. Tennis racket covers as bags for A style mandolins probably goes back more than 10 years. Carry on.

Really? You don't?
I just joined the mandolin cafe last year. You can't expect new members to search through thousands and thousands of old posts, ensuring they're not asking or suggesting something that has already been asked or suggested before.

Anyway, I'd say there's quite a few decent hacks here on these pages now ( at least I think so :)
Later on I'll go through them and put them all in one post

[HonketyHank]

Mandolin don't care. Mandolin love old hacks. New ones, too.

I'm gonna sign up for another credit card so I can make some backup picks to go with my bootlace strap.

[Mark Gunter]

I'm gonna sign up for another credit card so I can make some backup picks to go with my bootlace strap.

From one old hack to another, that's a funny post if I ever read one

[Kevin Stueve]

Mandolin don't care. Mandolin love old hacks. New ones, too.

I'm gonna sign up for another credit card so I can make some backup picks to go with my bootlace strap.

I tried the bootlace strap and now I can't keep my boots on

[MikeEdgerton]

I just joined the mandolin cafe last year. You can't expect new members to search through thousands and thousands of old posts, ensuring they're not asking or suggesting something that has already been asked or suggested before.

Why would you do that when Google can deliver it in a few seconds? I tell you, here's a hack. Go to Google and enter "credit card picks site:mandolincafe.com". That's a hack.

Nanos gigantum humeris insidentes.

[Tom Coletti]

If you have a tendency for flatpicks to slip or move around too much in your hand due to nerve or muscle weakening, or if you simply lost your flatpick in the void, a banjo thumbpick can be used as a substitute. Simply slide it over your thumb and gently grip the bottom with a closed fist or the side of your palm if your fingers cannot be drawn inward.

Could potentially save players with hand injuries or weaker grip strength from the hassle of bracing or physically taping their fingers onto a pick every time they want to play.