Mando Mice! - More Common Than You'd Think

[BradKlein]

Here's a decent looking Stradolin on ebay, showing signs of rodent habitation somewhere in it's life. The Country Mouse, having made a home in an old barn-archived mandolin, likes to enlarge the ff-holes a bit (possibly to change the resonant frequency of the instrument). I've come across a number in my efforts to restore or salvage inexpensive instruments.

The discerning rodent seems to prefer Stradolin, Harmony, and Kay products, but I imagine that some have done their work on valuable old-master violins and other instruments. It's best to empty them of fecal pellets and grass seeds before getting to work!

[Denny Gies]

This is exactly why we put a rattlesnake rattle in our mandolins.

[Steve Ostrander]

Kind of like a tone ball, only its alive....

[BradKlein]

This is exactly why we put a rattlesnake rattle in our mandolins.

True that! I've never seen ff-hole damage AND a rattle inside. (it's still too early to publish these results, until I have a larger sample size)

[colorado_al]

Maybe someone was just practicing this with a mouse

[Tobin]

The discerning rodent seems to prefer Stradolin, Harmony, and Kay products, but I imagine that some have done their work on valuable old-master violins and other instruments. It's best to empty them of fecal pellets and grass seeds before getting to work!

I think we need a double-blind study to test whether fecal pellets and grass seeds have any effect on tone.

[Sothoth]

You know, I've always looked at my Mando and thought... "it looks really cozy in there. Too bad I can't fit through the F-hole." It's nice to know I wasn't alone in this thought. I read that mice are (genetically) an 85% match to humans. It's interesting to see that this similarity effects our mutual interest in mandolins

[Steve VandeWater]

Perhaps someone with more computer knowledge can embed this video. It features some musical mice. Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENRzf7gPxj4