Whats wrong with my mandolin?

[Misericordia]

I recently bought a cheap mandolin off of amazon to fool around with. I had experience playing violin for 8 years. However, after I tuned it, the octave frets were too low, so I tried moving the bridge closer to the fretboard. The bridge also has an adjustable height, but i did not mess with that. That in turn caused the first 2 or 3 frets to be incredibly high in pitch. Is there anyway to fix this myself? My bridge happens to be at a pretty steep angle as well, like 15 degrees towards the fretboard. Is that normal?

Thanks for any help.

[MikeEdgerton]

No it's not normal to lean and the bridge top is compensated and might have been reversed. The bridge is also probably misplaced. There's a chance the fretboard is wrong but chances are it's one of the other items. The instrument needs a proper setup.

[DHopkins]

Do a search for Robert Meldrum in this forum. He has a free downloadable booklet available that might help you. Even if you don't feel comfortable with doing a set-up, there are some things that are easily accomplished that you might try. In addition, it'll give you a little more info about the mandolin.

[HonketyHank]

See my signature. It's good stuff.

[Bertram Henze]

Some photos would say more than words, I guess.

[Ivan Kelsall]

The make & model of your mandolin would maybe help a bit. If you're familiar with setting up a Violin,then you know what's required in setting up almost any common stringed instrument. The bridge needs to be in the correct position to give you a ''true octave'' at the 12th fret. After that,it needs to be adjusted to give you a playable string height (action) from the nut to tailpiece end.
If - after you've done those 2 things,it's still causing a problem,then maybe you need to look at other possible causes such as the neck requiring a truss rod adjustment - does it have a truss rod ??. You might have a few frets which are too high / low ?,
Ivan

[Willie Poole]

Measure from the nut to the 12th fret, then set your bridge that same distance from the 12th fret, that will get you in the ball park as far as intonation goes and then adjust the height of the bridge so that the E strings are about 1/16th of an inch above the 12th fret and the G strings are about 1/8 of an inch above the 12th fret, IF the neck on the mandolin is straight that should get it in a playable condition but as it is stated above a good set up will make most inexpensive mandolins sound better than they are when you buy them because getting them set up correctly can get expensive...

Don`t be afraid to try some minor adjustments...When you move the bridge do it with some slack in the strings and then you can also set the bridge so that it appears to be standing straight up, not leaning...

Good luck and let us know how this turns out...

Willie

[Misericordia]

Heres some pictures of the bridge. Dont mind the missing e string, I need to change it.

[John Kelly]

The bridge looks as if it is the right way round as far as intonation goes, judging by the way the compensation on the saddle aligns on pic 1. From pic 3 it looks as if the foot of the bridge has been seriously miscut - there is a definite forward lean on it that seems to be caused by a very badly cut (or sanded) foot. The foot should allow the bridge to sit vertically on the mando's soundboard but yours looks like this would not be possible. New bridge would seem to be in order.

[Bertram Henze]

What John said. The bridge resembles the Titanic 2 hrs after it hit an iceberg.

[Misericordia]

Thanks, I figured. So I can probably assume that replacing the bridge would correct the problems with intonation? Is it possible to sand thr bridge oneself?

[Ray(T)]

It's possible but not something I'd try personally - I'd leave it to a luthier. You need to ensure that the base exactly matches the contour of mandolin's top.

It looks to me that the bridge is at the very bottom of its adjustment and you might also like to take some off the bottom of the saddle. The thing to watch is that you don't sand the saddle and bridge base so thin as to make them unstable. Difficult to tell from the photos but a thin saddle and base with no adjustment left suggests that there may be a problem with the neck angle on the instrument.

[John Kelly]

Thanks, I figured. So I can probably assume that replacing the bridge would correct the problems with intonation? Is it possible to sand thr bridge oneself?

From your photos I'd say not to bother trying to sand or otherwise reshape the bridge foot. There seems to be quite an angle already in it and removing enough to level it up could leave you with not a lot of useful bridge foot.
Also, as Ray says, the saddle seems to be lowered as far as it can go already, so really a new bridge would be the best option. Can you return the instrument if it was a new one?

[Phil Goodson]

If you choose to work on the bridge yourself, I'd be tempted to turn the bridge base 180 degrees, but keep the saddle in its present orientation (that means flipping the saddle on the bridge before turning the whole bridge.)

At that point, the bridge will be leaning AWAY from the fingerboard. Then I'd sand the base bottom so it's tight to the mandolin top. As I sanded, I'd try to sand more of the forward edge than the back edge, in an effort to decrease the backwards lean until the lean is only 5-10 degrees from vertical.
This will minimize the amount of wood that needs to be removed.

Then place the bridge for accurate intonation and raise it to get a good action at the 12th fret.

[Peter Coronado]

As John Kelly said, if you can, return it. The bridge is clearly defective. Sanding on it may eliminate the chance to return it. For not too much money there are Cafe partners that sell instruments that are properly setup. NFI on my part.

[Misericordia]

Thanks. Returning it is not really an option, sadly. I half expected something wrong with buying a dirt cheap instrument with my prior experience of cheap and defective violins. With nothing to lose, Ill try to sand the bridge to try to make it straighter, but it looks like it is heavily sanded already with almost no arch between the feet. If that fails Ill just buy another bridge.

[David Houchens]

Turn the whole bridge around. The angle of the bottom might line up with the plane of the arch.

[Peter Coronado]

If you decide to buy a new one here is a place to get one (NFI). The Meldrum book gives helpful instructions.

https://www.internationalviolin.com/...-plated-wheels

[Steve Sorensen]

1. Return it.
2. Move up the quality food chain.
3. Get a good set-up from an experienced mandolin shop.
4. Enjoy playing.

Steve

[colorado_al]

I'd do what Phil recommends. Take the saddle off of the bridge foot and turn the foot around and put the saddle back on and see how it is. I suspect that the bridge foot is the wrong way around. If it needs more adjustment, then sand the foot to get it more level. It is pretty easy to sand the bridge foot on the instrument. Remove the strings. Remove the bridge. Take some mid grade sand paper and cut a piece out that is bigger than the bridge and tape it to the mandolin in the bridge location. Then sand the bridge on the sandpaper moving in a motion that is towards and away from the tailpiece, not to and from the F Holes. You should be able to get it more level without too much of an issue.

[Ivan Kelsall]

This is pic.#3 the right way around - looking straight at it from the side - WTH ???!!!!. I'd ask the OP to remove the bridge,place it on a dead flat surface ie.a mirror, & take a few pics,so that we can see the bridge on it's own.

From this pic.,it seems as though the foot has been sanded to ressemble a wedge ?. If so,it needs to be replaced.

Even if the foot was the wrong way around,i'd never expect to see an angle like that on one - at least,not a ''normally'' arched one,
Ivan

[graham darden]

With the severe angle of the bridge, unless the string slots are cut at a little more than that angle, it is possible that the break on the strings is not at the front edge of the saddle.
Graham

[mreidsma]

I’m not convinced the base is misshapen - it looks more like the screw posts are bent. My mandolin had the same issue when I got it, and a combination of gentle straightening and turning the base around so the angle was away from the fretboard solved it. The string tension then pulled the angle almost straight.

It would be helpful to see a photo of the bridge off the mandolin, and maybe remove the saddle so we can see the screw posts, too. (I remember searching the forums when I had bent screw posts and everyone said, “that never happens.” It does. )

[bennyb]

I went over to Amazon, looks like the mandolin in question is a Hola!. From the pics there and from the OP's pics, I'm guessing the bridge saddle is symmetrical, that is, flipped 180, you'll get the same compensation. If the notches are actually angled down(I doubt it) in one direction or the other, the high point should be on the fretboard side. Over at Frets.com Frank Ford shows how to set an archtop bridge. It's slow and tedious work at best, and starting with this bridge wont make it any faster. So, flipping the base around and seeing if you can live with it is likely the best "cheap" option.

[Willie Poole]

As I have asked before...Why don`t folks let us know where they are located, there just may be someone that could take a look at this thing in person and see that it just might not be a huge problem at all...I have some extra bridges laying around and if the OP is close by maybe I could help him/her out some...Are you in or near Maryland?

Willie...