Gibson H-2 Mandola Serial 55405 Restoration

[Mandyourmanners]

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Hello everybody, reposting my mandola restoration post with new pictures. The instrument arrived yesterday and after a thorough inspection I have it stripped and humidifying, so I have at least 2 weeks to organize the next step.

Good news:

The arch of the carved top looks very healthy, applying gentle pressure around the cracks aligns the arch very close to perfect.

The neck is quite healthy and straight. There is some relief, possibly too much but I have yet to redress the frets. After the 15th fret the relief appears to show slight under bow in the neck, which I believe a fret redress will fix. But I am watching the neck block joint for I believe some poor cleating may be forcing the treble side of the neck at the neck joint a little bit proud (see below). No fret wire pushing on the binding!

Bridge looks original or replaced to spec. Any other thoughts on the bridge? I was happy to discover no shim, indicating that after damage to the instrument nobody forced a compromised structure to perform.

The back and sides look in good condition. The holes on the back around the neck joint appear to be from clamps, less apparent in person than photos. Thinking I will leave them as is, maybe buff them a little.

Someone has really cared for this instrument, very clean inside and some really great work. Alas, evidence of top cracks surrounding to long cracks in the past successfully repaired and cleated.

Bad news:

The brace has cracked/split on the treble side. The thinnest 3/8" of the treble side of the brace is separate from the rest of the brace and is glued to the top just past the first of two long cracks. Proceeding without removing the back I believe hide glue soaked veneer patches could help strengthen the brace. Or cleating flush to (or just beside?) the split brace. The brace's condition has caused me to think seriously about removing the back for proper brace repair operations. Pressure on the brace realigns the top arch/cracks nicely. Advice on brace repair, does this type of split require replacement with the back off? My thoughts are try a simple fix through the sound hole first, if this proves structurally poor take the back off. Any resources on brace repair are welcome.

Existing cleating is a mix of excellent work and questionable choices. Small diamond cleats (not pictured) about every 7/8" has held well, total of 8 (2 series on either side of longest crack) between the brace and tailpiece. In pictures you can see on both treble and bass sides of the sound hole (close to neck joint) there is a series of 3 cleats NOT perpendicular to top grain. The bass side has held well, small crack repair visible with finish damage but structurally sound. The treble side makes me think these cleats need replacing with perpendicular cleating because the cleating has come loose closest to the neck (past crack where top has separated from binding and side shelf) AND the arching of the cleats do not appear flush with the top. The pictures are likely more clear than typing.

The top binding near the treble side series of 3 NOT perpendicular braces is clearly loose and the top section is clear of the side's shelf. I will need to loosen and re-glue a few inches of binding to work on this area, but those cleats prevent flexible movement around this area. Again, it appears to work on these cracks and to fix the binding in this area will require removing these 3 cleats. Thoughts? I think this whole area has more glue and filler than healthy, along with poor cleating this has forced the top apart. I believe I could repair without altering top binding if I can remove/loosen these cleats. Will assess after humidity.

Different glues: Some white glue holding strong in binding repair and filling small holes between treble side of neck and top. There has also been some 'decent' looking repair around the sound hole, looks like a little cleaning and glue around the sound hole should finish that area up, with a small spruce(?) splint between the outer stripped circle and middle circle just after the crack clearly visible in the centre circle. The variety of glues worries me, but I plan on cleaning and prepping wood and sound hole materials well and using hide glue as usual. Any thoughts on approaching mystery glues? What about hide glue on sound hole materials?

Finally, there is some separation of the back's binding. I am torn between removing the back for all these tasks and properly re-gluing the back AND trying everything without removing the back first and touching up the binding on the back with hide glue. In the latter case I think I will loosen up the back an extra inch on both sides of the separation to allow for the treble side top area cracks, sides, and binding to come together without too much rigidity, closing the back binding after gluing these treble side top areas. Again, thoughts?

General thoughts looking at the photos? I am mostly concerned with those 3 NOT perpendicular treble side cleats (meaning the bass side cleats of same design should be treated the same?) and strengthening/fixing the brace. Please share your thoughts on the matter, it appears the instrument has been repaired and cleated on at least two separate occasions and I do not know how to approach cleats that seem to impair the top closing up other than replacing them. If humidity does not help I also think the sound hole repairs need attention to minimize the outward pressure of foreign glues and fillers, it doesn't even look too rounded. The cracks will be reassessed after humidity does some work.

Year for serial number 55405? I'm thinking 1919-1920.
Pickguard reads Pat Mar 30, '09. Original or reproduction?

Thanks for your interest and advice.

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[rcc56]

The pictures are helpful.
The top is repairable, but it is in bad shape. I am reluctant to offer many suggestions without the instrument in hand, but I'll mention a couple of things.

1] I would not bother to repair a split brace on an instrument with a top in this condition. I would replace it with a new brace.
2] The cleats on the upper treble side of the top will need to be removed. And note that part of the top has come loose from the lining.
3] To successfully reglue those cracks and expect the repairs to hold for the long term, you are going to have to find a way to get all of the old glue out of there, and get the glueing surfaces as fresh as possible.
4] This instrument may indeed be [but not necessarily must be] a candidate for back removal. If you do so, you will need to make a mold to hold the instrument in shape until you re-assemble it. In this case, the mold can be made from a sheet of rigid building insulation available at Lowe's or Home Depot.

I won't say anymore without seeing the instrument personally. If you are anywhere near southeast Tennessee, you are welcome to pay me a visit with the instrument and a notebook in hand. PM me if you want.

[William Smith]

The bridge is original as is the pickguard from the pix you sent me but your guard is missing the adjustable clamp-those clamps are hard to come by and can be very expensive-Check your email as I sent you a message this morning about that! Once fixed you may want an adjustable bridge but you shouldn't have a problem with the original one piece bridge-heck many original one piece bridges are still in use today!
And I'd say its a 1920 H-2 Mandola and once fixed it should sound mighty fine! Nothing wrong with cracks and such once fixed-it'll be more a great player than say a pristine collector piece! I think its great and very thrilled for you to give her a new lease on life! I'd say take the back off and you'll be able to really get those cracks cleaned up and fixed proper! Keep us posted-I love it man!