Cracked bridge

[Br1ck]

The upper part of the bridge on my mandolin (saddle?) has cracked right at where the adjustment wheel is on the bass side. It is maybe 1/2 inch long, and the lower part underneath the crack came to rest on the lower part of the bridge. Now why this new concaved bridge hasn't caused buzzing all over the neck beats me.

Now my common sense tells me not to glue this, but I thought I'd ask anyway. See, I have a CA bridge sitting in a case ready to go on my Arches build, but the need for that is months away. I suspect the old 199.00 Michael Kelly will get the bridge. I've been wanting to, but holding out because, hey, it's a Michael Kelly, but since I have a necessity now, unless I'm told it's perfectly fine to glue, it's getting the CA bridge.

Everything else I could do short of taking it apart and regrading the top has been done. May as well change the bridge too.

[rcc56]

My long-term success rate with gluing cracked bridge saddles is zero. They have always given way again, sometimes in a few hours or days. Occasionally they have lasted a few months. I've tried Titebond and CA with the same results. I suppose I could try one with hot hide glue, but replacement saddles are once again available, and it hardly seems worth the trouble to keep experimenting.

[pops1]

What rcc56 says, I have never had success there either. Now if you don't change height much you could glue it, and put a shim to fill the proper space from the foot to the saddle and it would be playable. The shim would bear the stress, and since it's an inexpensive mandolin however long it lasts, it lasts. You could also buy a cheap saddle from ebay that would save you from using the CA bridge.

[Tom Haywood]

Gluing it won't last. Fitting the base to the Kelly may make the CA less than optimal to fit to the Arches later. I would go on and use it now, or order a cheaper replacement bridge such as the Golden Gate. Cumberland will likely sell you just a saddle, so you could check the current Kelly base to see if the Cumberland saddle fits and order another CA saddle for the Arches.

[Mandoplumb]

I once bought a used mandolin, had it about a year when the saddle split in two. Was then I noticed that nit had been glued back together, dont know when but it held at least a year. I wouldn't put a CA on a hundred dollar mandolin the $9.99 ones on amazon would probablysound a good on that mandolin.

[billhay4]

Replace.
Bill

[rcc56]

High quality saddles are available from Axiom at axinc.net for $26.50.

Or you could make your own. I recommend using a thick blank, drilling the holes, and cutting the profile after the holes are drilled. If you work the blank too thin before you drill, there is a good possibility of splitting or breaking the blank. I found that out the hard way.

[Jeff Mando]

I was going to suggest a $5.00 ebay bridge, in keeping with the original cost of the mandolin, imported of course, but a quick search showed me you don't have to spend that much, actually $2.64 will get you a mandolin bridge shipped to your door......

[pops1]

I am not sure of the post spacing on these. Some of the cheaper mandolins have a different spacing and you will need to either get one from MK or make your own.

[rcc56]

Make your own. It will be good for you. All that is needed are a couple of good sharp drill bits, a good triangle file, an X-acto needle file set, maybe a small flat file, a couple of sandpaper blocks, and a coping saw to rough out the blank. It'll take three times longer to make the first one than it will to make the fourth or fifth one.

[Br1ck]

Make your own. It will be good for you. All that is needed are a couple of good sharp drill bits, a good triangle file, an X-acto needle file set, maybe a small flat file, a couple of sandpaper blocks, and a coping saw to rough out the blank. It'll take three times longer to make the first one than it will to make the fourth or fifth one.

You know, I like this idea. I hate the idea of buying a crappy bridge, but making a crappy bridge is another story. I spent a lot of time getting the feet to sit just right. Finding a piece of rosewood might be hard though.

[HoGo]

If you want to replace you need saddle with the same spacing and hole size, which can be tricky finding.
I've glued quite a few bridges and in many cases good quality CA glue and immediate clamping can hold it together for years. You can ad tiny piece of wood fitted between base and saddle to support the broken side if you wish...
I hate to throw away ebony and I have saved saddles that were reasonably good (intonation well set and base fitting well to top) by first gluing then I cut away the bottom portion with japanese saw planed the bottom so I removed most of the damaged wood (1/16" or so) and glued strip of good straight grained ebony (typically cut-off from headstocks) with CA glue. Few passes with plane to trim the overhanging ebony, then flatten the underside and glue back the bottom piece (plane the surfaces) again with CA. Scrape off the traces of glue and sand and polish as needed. Drill through the post holes and I'm done in 15 minutes or so. In most cases this is invisible and saves time, money and precious resources (ebony). I have never had such bridge crack again.

[buckhorn]

make your own.. I've made both adjustable and not.. used ebony and rosewood .. the non-adjustable, I've used bone for the saddle and it added to the tone.. sounded great.. if you can make a mando, you can do the bridge....

[rockies]

Glue it up, you've got nothing to lose. CA or Titebond, inject the glue into the crack, clamp it up. Then order a quality replacement. Use the great advice on this site to shape base of new one to the top. Make string grooves same as the broken one. The repaired one will probably last long enough to keep playing until the new ones arrives..if not..nothing lost. Good luck !
Dave

[HoGo]

Glue it up, you've got nothing to lose. CA or Titebond, inject the glue into the crack, clamp it up. Then order a quality replacement. Use the great advice on this site to shape base of new one to the top. Make string grooves same as the broken one. The repaired one will probably last long enough to keep playing until the new ones arrives..if not..nothing lost. Good luck !
Dave

Don't use Titebond, it won't hold. It creeps under tension. CA doesn't creep (regular thin, good brand like Loctite, don't use gel that contains rubber to make it more elastic), or use good grade epoxy like G2 but that would be hard to get inside the crack properly. HHG would be good choce as well if the split is fresh.

[Br1ck]

I was well into fabrication of a new bridge saddle when I received a call from my luthier that a friend's guitar I'd taken in for a setup was ready. I happened to have my mandolin bridge and saddle in my shirt pocket for easy reference, so I asked of he would have a mandolin bridge he would sell me. He didn't. Later I was showing one of the techs my cracked saddle when the owner came over and asked me if that was all I needed, asked me if I had the bridge, disappeared into the back and came out with a saddle that fit. Gave it to me. All I had to do was cut the string slots.

The mandolin sounds way louder now. the new saddle looks to be nicer wood. So the problem is fixed, didn't have to refit the bridge feet, and the mandolin sounds better. Win all around.

The ol 199.00 beater gets improved again. Very like in the Eastman MD 315 or a KM 150 ballpark. I really should take it in to a shop and compare just to make sure I'm not playing tricks on myself.

[dhergert]

Good, congrats!

It's easy to brush aside these MK mandolins because they only cost $199, but if I remember correctly they were retailing just slightly below 1K with the case originally, and they definately can sound and play like a $1K mandolin when they're setup properly and played in. They're certainly worth fixing.

Personally, if I had a broken bridge to replace on one of these, I wouldn't hesitate to purchase and put a CA on it, unless I had the time and some nice rosewood to make one myself. You did good!

[Br1ck]

Good, congrats!

It's easy to brush aside these MK mandolins because they only cost $199, but if I remember correctly they were retailing just slightly below 1K with the case originally, and they definately can sound and play like a $1K mandolin when they're setup properly and played in. They're certainly worth fixing.

Personally, if I had a broken bridge to replace on one of these, I wouldn't hesitate to purchase and put a CA on it, unless I had the time and some nice rosewood to make one myself. You did good!

I actually have a CA bridge and considered using it, but the MK bridge is significantly shorter. I would have had to take a lot off the feet of the CA bridge or ordered a short version. That I lucked into a saddle was the best possible solution.

This has me thinking there must be a lot of mandolins out there that can be vastly improved, but it doesn't make sense from a business point of view to sink labor into them. Having the MK has been an education for sure. Would love to see what something like a MandoVoodoo process would do to this. Anyway, the fun I've had with this mandolin was worth the admission price. It is a great beater.