Quite a while back I bought a (apparently Lyon and Healy or cousin) bowlback mandolin, off eBay. I didn't notice that the seller was a pawn shop: known for being experts in assessing a vintage instrument's integrity.
Anyway as it turns out the neck was twisted. Not a little, a noticeable amount. If you think of a clock face, it was about 4.5-5 minutes off of nine, the angle that that it differed from horizontal. Like it you looked down the neck, from head to bridge, the bridge lay at 2:45. But the nut lay at 2:40. (Just pretend the 'little hand' stayed right on the 3.)
Because of the twist, the E strings hit the first five frets, they all played the same note, obviously making the mandolin unplayable, unless one knows a bunch of songs that never use the e strings...
I tried taller bridges, taller nuts, nuts and bridges elevated on one side, etc.
So the mandolin, my favorite as far as its tone, was useless, so I figured what did I have to lose by trying to get the neck straighter.
I'd asked on here, but neck resetting and luthiers are not something I can afford, being as I live on social security.
So, I first tried bracing the mandolin and weighting the neck opposite its low side, which actually made *some* progress. Then, I tried more drastic measures. I couldn't play the mando anyway, so if I ruined it, I would have just ruined it more... and learned something.
I lay a length of metal along the neck, and clamped it tightly (protecting the neck from clamp marks). I then placed the mandolin face down across a rectangular crock pot, put an inch of water in the crock pot and turned it on high. I draped the whole mess and left it alone for an hour or two. The metal and the mandolin were both really warm, and the steam rehydrated the wood.
I then removed it and let it sit and cool awhile. Although not perfect, the mandolin neck is now maybe a minute off, and by using a tiny shim (like the tip of a flat toothpick) under one side of the nut on the low (e) side, I restrung it with extra light GHS strings, managed to get it tuned even on the twelfth fret, and my mandolin is again playable and still sounds lovely.
I wouldn't recommend doing that on a Gibson, but it made my useless mandolin sing again. If the neck returns to its original twist, at least I know a way to make it playable. I'm no professional, no musician, and I play only for myself, so it was worth the risk. It was only like $100 or $150, so I wouldn't be out a lot.
On the downside, the finish suffered a few small white-grayish spots probably from moisture, but a minor payoff to make my bowlback sing again. It really has such a lovely tone.
I can't find the "attach photos" thing, so use your imagination...
In my internet research, I found photos of a guitar made with an intentional severe twist to its neck, and my next attempt was going to be how they set up the nut and bridge on the thing so the strings stayed off the frets, but I'm glad my jerryrigged MacGyver mandolin fix worked...
Bookmarks