Alrite Total Makeover

[Tukanu]

I recently picked up a badly neglected Alrite for a little over $300 with the idea of restoring it as much is practical. I hope to chronicle the process over the next few months. I welcome all advice as the process goes along.

First, a rundown of the pros and cons. The peghead is in good shape and contains “The Gibson” pearl inlay. It is identical to the A-1 inlay. I have not seen any pictures of an Alrite with this inlay. The neck is in good shape and the fret board is level.

Unfortunately, the last few inches have been ground down nearly to the soundboard. The divots in the first few frets have been filled in, and most of the frets have been lowered almost to the level of the fretboard. The fretboard can’t be saved.

The top has a beautifully induced arch…inward! This is the most common problem with the Alrite, and was fully expected. The good news is that there are no cracks in the top. The top is severely sunk at the point where the base side tonebar meets the tail block. But again, no cracks, just major sinking. There are a couple of diamond shaped patches in the top on either side of the bridge location…very unusual.

The back has two splits that run the entire length of the back. These were poorly filled with glue.

The tailpiece might be the original. The arm rest is brass and was brazed to the 3-leaf cloud tailpiece cover. The lower part of the tailpiece appears to be original with no additional screw holes that would indicate that is was a replacement. The original bridge and pickguard are missing.

I pulled the back by using a hot iron and a putty knife. It came off without a problem.
The top bracing has assumed the concave shape of the sunken top. There a a couple of added braces that were installed to stabilize the area below the bridge. They have failed. There are two patches supporting the diamond shaped top patches. Most of the glue linings are loose.

So the plan is to remove all the bracing and attempt to correct the soundboard sink by slowly adding pressure to the affected area over a 4 week period. I also plan on removing the back braces, cleaning off the fill-glue, and regluing the pieces back together. I am thinking of grinding down the fretboard nearly to the level of the top, and gluing down a new ebony fretboard over the old. This will give me a little more height above the soundboard. I am also considering replacing the bracing based on the construction plans from Crystal Forest. I have built a couple flattops based on the plans, and they sound good and are very stable.

Again, all suggestions are greatly appreciated.

[SGraham]

Thanks for posting the pics. I'm looking forward to seeing this mando come back to life.

[pops1]

Your plan sounds good, I would however remove the fretboard entirely and replace it. A 100w light bulb in a bench light located close to the fingerboard will heat it to the point of easy removal. Protect the top and any wood not the fingerboard with cardboard covered in foil. It can be easily cut to fit around the fingerboard and protect the rest of the mandolin from the heat. You may also find that when you remove the braces the top will easily flatten out.

[Tukanu]

Thanks for the advice on removing the fretboard. I was concerned about damaging the spruce top by fully removing the fretboard. I would love to be able to pop those pearl dots out and re-use them as well
.

BTW: The label is gone but the FON is #2972. I would like to know if this suggests a newer or older production run.

[tonydxn]

Good luck . . . you will have fun, and I will be following it on here.

[Tukanu]

I removed the fretboard this weekend using the 100 watt shop lamp suggestion. It was only mildly successful. The pearwood fret board literally crumbled as I worked the putty knife along the neck. I ended up having to grind most of it down to the neck level on a piece of 80 grit stuck down on my benchtop. I was able to get it totally removed without any scuffing to the soundboard or peg head.

You can see in the photo the maple insert is pretty large. It extends to within an 1/8 of an inch of the edge of the neck.

The braces were easily removed with a hot artist’s pallet knife, working from one end of the brace to the other.

In order to bring the top back to level, I laid a damp cloth in the area of the offending-bending. I covered this with plastic and used small blocks and go-bars to gently press the top back to level. By the next day, the top had returned to a mostly level surface. The go-bars worked really well at keeping constant pressure as the wood softened and relaxed. Also, I removed a small section of the glue linings in the area where the sunken top meets the tail block in order to allow the top to properly flatten out.

I am going to let his dry out thoroughly for a few days under pressure while I begin making the new braces.

[MarkELynch]

I’m enjoying watching your progress.

Is there any evidence that the neck was replaced previously? The neck has all the earmarks of once belonging to an A1. An original Alrite neck would be without The Gibson inlay and would have an ebony nut not a white bone nut. I have an original Alrite complete with bridge, tailpiece and pickguard and would be happy to help with photos or descriptions if you need them.

Can you read the batch (FON) number stamped on the neck block?

Mark

[Tukanu]

I agree, the neck looks like an A1. With the fretboard removed, I can clearly see the dovetail from both the top and the back. It is so precisely fit, and the edge binding appears perfect fir as well. I think it is original. The FON is 2972. I wonder if this is a very early, or very late instrument, and the builder used an A1 neck.

[Tukanu]

I’m enjoying watching your progress.

Is there any evidence that the neck was replaced previously? The neck has all the earmarks of once belonging to an A1. An original Alrite neck would be without The Gibson inlay and would have an ebony nut not a white bone nut. I have an original Alrite complete with bridge, tailpiece and pickguard and would be happy to help with photos or descriptions if you need them.

Can you read the batch (FON) number stamped on the neck block?

Mark

Mark, can you read the FON on your Alrite? And the serial number? This might help me figure out the aprox serial number of my Alrite.

[pops1]

The lamp works well for ebony, pearwood at this age is usually very crumbly and I would not want to be gluing anything to old pearwood. I would make sure to get all of that off the fingerboard, you will be way ahead with an ebony board.

[Tukanu]

Thanks pops1. Although it doesn't show in the picture, I was able to sand the pearwood off completely. The neck is nice and level, and will be a great base for the new fretboard.

[SGraham]

So far so good!

[G7MOF]

I’m enjoying watching your progress.

Is there any evidence that the neck was replaced previously? The neck has all the earmarks of once belonging to an A1. An original Alrite neck would be without The Gibson inlay and would have an ebony nut not a white bone nut. I have an original Alrite complete with bridge, tailpiece and pickguard and would be happy to help with photos or descriptions if you need them.

Can you read the batch (FON) number stamped on the neck block?

Mark

As will I, Peter.

[MarkELynch]

Mark, can you read the FON on your Alrite? And the serial number? This might help me figure out the aprox serial number of my Alrite.

The FON is 3454 and the serial number is 897 on my Alrite.

[Jeff Mando]

The label is gone but the FON is #2972. I would like to know if this suggests a newer or older production run.

According to Gruhn, the Alrite was only made in 1917. Unless, there is newer info available.

[Tukanu]

Thanks Mark.

[Tukanu]

Hi Jeff,
I'm trying to figure out why my Alrite has "The Gibson" on the peg head. So I am trying see if it was early or late.

[pops1]

Hi Jeff,
I'm trying to figure out why my Alrite has "The Gibson" on the peg head. So I am trying see if it was early or late.

All but the lowest in the line from that time frame have "the Gibson" on the headstock.

[Tukanu]

All but the lowest in the line from that time frame have "the Gibson" on the headstock.

Not sure what you mean? I have not seen an Alrite with "Gibson" on the peghead. Maybe it was an option. I have noticed that some A1's have it and some don't.

[Tukanu]

The top dried fairly flat after 2 days of clamping pressure. Some of the purfling came loose in the process, but a little super glue got everything back in place.

I sanded out the top and got rid of 95% of the nicks and other marks. You can see the dovetail pretty clearly.
The top braces came off without much trouble.

The new braces are in place. I followed the size and location spec's of the Crystal Forest plans. I used a 25ft radius for the main lateral brace. This is fairly flat and only adds a slight bit of positive curvature to the top. I don't think there is a need for any more bracing below the lateral brace. I think I will put more of a radius on the back with two lateral braces like my old Martin has.

[Tukanu]

Here is the inside all braced up. The pattern is based on the plans from Crystal Forest. They provide structural support for the bridge without being too overbearing. Also notice that all the glue linings for the back are new as well. There is a small patch that stabilizes a small crack in the top that developed after the new braces were installed.

[Tukanu]

Forgive me Father, for I have thinned. Please don't judge me too harshly. This is not a restoration, but rather makeover to try to extend the life of this old mando. After removing the back braces and gluing the splits back in place, I decided to run the back thru my drum sander in order to get a nice level surface for re-attaching the back, and removing the thick layer of urethane varnish that was hastily applied to the back. I tried to only sand down to the thickness of the varnish so as to not thin the back too much. By the way, the back is cherry, not birch. I added two lateral braces that hopefully will stave off any future cracks. The back had two length wide splits. As you can see in the photo, I patched the splits down the entire length of the back. The braces have a radius of 15 feet which is similar to most guitar backs.

One last confession: There was not much left of the original label, so I made a counterfeit label....please don't tell anyone.

Here are the before and after pics:

[tonydxn]

This is coming along nicely. Interesting to see how different people approach a job.

Good idea to reconstruct the label. There seems to be something vaguely familiar about it

Just a question about your new top braces. That cross brace looks quite high up. Will the bridge sit directly on that, or will it be some distance away? How far?

BTW in case you were wondering about the FON in the one I rebuilt, I don't think it had one. Either it never had one, or it had faded away.

[Tukanu]

The main brace for the top sits directly below the bridge. The photo distorts the actual location. Also, the photo distorts the size of the back braces. They are not quite as massive as they appear. (1/4" x 5/8"). I plan on adding a carbon fiber rod to the neck today while I wait for the new fret board to arrive from Stew-Mac.

I am curious how you got your tuners so clean? what did you use on the metal, and on the buttons?

David

[tonydxn]

I used something we have in UK called Liberon Burnishing Cream, applied with an old toothbrush. It's a very mild solvent and abrasive, designed for perking up antiques without destroying the patina - gentler than T-cut. I've heard that toothpaste does a pretty good job too, though I've never tried it myself.