KC area Luthier suggestions for 3" crack/ top of my Northfield

[Lee Lauridsen]

I have discovered a 3" crack starting from the bottom edge of one of the f scrolls running straight up towards the scroll on my Northfield Artist Series mandolin. I'm pretty sure this isn't a huge challenge for a good luthier, and I want to take it to someone known for doing really good work. (My playing and my bank accounts don't merit this mandolin, but I'm stubborn and I love it and I want it fixed very well by someone who knows what they're doing.)

Suggested luthier(s) in and near the KC metro area?

Thanks,

Lee

[Jim Roberts]

One of the best luthiers in the country just north of Lawrence:

http://www.leoposch.com/

[Lee Lauridsen]

Awesome! Thanks much.

[Mandolin Cafe]

One of the best luthiers in the country just north of Lawrence:

http://www.leoposch.com/

I concur with Jim on that. I only let two people I trust the most work on my mandoin. Leo, or Mike Horan at Mass Street Music.

[stevojack665]

Mark Franzke is very good!
https://www.mfstrings.com/about.html

Mike Black also:
http://www.blackmandolins.com/index.html

KC & Lawrence area is a hotbed of great Mandolin makers repair people.

[Jim Roberts]

I concur with Jim on that. I only let two people I trust the most work on my mandoin. Leo, or Mike Horan at Mass Street Music.

Oh yeah, I forgot about Mike at Mass Street Music. He is superb, too.

[Phil Vinyard]

I second all of the above. Plus I trust my mandolins only to Matt Harmon at Mass Street. He did a stunning job refretting and rehabbing my 1921 Gibson. And he is also good about telling when you don't need anything done to your instrument. Very ethical.

[Lee Lauridsen]

I concur with Jim on that. I only let two people I trust the most work on my mandoin. Leo, or Mike Horan at Mass Street Music.

Thanks!

[Lee Lauridsen]

Mark Franzke is very good!
https://www.mfstrings.com/about.html

Mike Black also:
http://www.blackmandolins.com/index.html

KC & Lawrence area is a hotbed of great Mandolin makers repair people.

Ah, good suggestions - thanks!

[Gary Leonard]

How did it get cracked?

[Lee Lauridsen]

How did it get cracked?

Good question: I'm not entirely sure. One real possibility is that in mid-July I bought and "installed" a McClung armrest. I loved it immediately, but I fear I may have clamped it down too hard to keep it from moving (an earlier armrest I owned refused to stay in place). I also placed it "up" away from the button and pretty close to the f scroll because that location seemed to fit my arm position best. And the low end of the f scroll is exactly where the crack begins. If the armrest is to blame, I likely compounded the problem when I took the mandolin with me on a business trip and thoughtlessly put a fairly thick polishing cloth on top of the strings down to the bridge. I have a good case, but I fear the height of the armrest, plus the added height from the cloth, may have made the fit in the case too tight and pushed the armrest down into the mandolin top too much. However, one fact that seems a bit contrary to that theory is that the crack is slightly offset such that the piece of wood on the "f" hole side of the crack is depressed slightly below part of the top where the armrest was. (See attached phoo)

Another possibility is that is that it cracked when I accidentally knocked if off its stand in my "music room"/home office a couple of weeks ago. I definitely was annoyed at myself, but it landed on a large area rug and I didn't notice any cracks until this past Saturday, though I confess I didn't examine it as carefully as I should have.

I don't think it was a humidity issue. I kept my room well humidified all winter with an automatic humidifier that kept the humidity at approx. 42%, as confirmed by a separate hygrometer in the room. But I confess I haven't been checking the humidity levels this summer, despite running my A/C pretty much constantly.

Way, way more information than you likely wanted, but it made me think it through in advance of talking to the folks a Mass Street Music tomorrow.

Thanks,

Lee

[HoGo]

That is commonly called f-hole wing crack and typically is result of pressure on the wing, like someone grabbing mandolin and pressing with thumb right on the wing or in some cases by pulling finger stuck in the f-hole (we mandolin players are sometimes weird guys :-))
Good repairperson should be able to repair this (nearly) invisibly on such instrument (stained wood + nitro lacquer is good combination for easy touch up).
Humidity or the fingerrest are very unlikely reasons for this crack.

[CES]

Ouch! Best of luck on the repair. You’ve got some great options!

[Dick Hutchings]

Someone I know did that... The thumb that is.

[Lee Lauridsen]

That is commonly called f-hole wing crack and typically is result of pressure on the wing, like someone grabbing mandolin and pressing with thumb right on the wing or in some cases by pulling finger stuck in the f-hole (we mandolin players are sometimes weird guys :-))
Good repairperson should be able to repair this (nearly) invisibly on such instrument (stained wood + nitro lacquer is good combination for easy touch up).
Humidity or the fingerrest are very unlikely reasons for this crack.

Adrian, I think your suspicion that it was a thumb on the wing is likely correct. As I was putting the mandolin in the case this morning to take it to a luthier, my thumb landed on the wing f-hole wing and it made a slight sound and I almost fainted (slight exaggeration). I tried to show the luthier how that happened and I had to contort my hand to get it close to the wing. I obviously need to slow WAY down and be much more careful with it.