Cadet Flatiron truss rod tool? What do I need?

[Joe Fusco]

I have a beat-up, old (late 80s?)Flatiron Cadet that has served me well as a session player. It's time to bring it back to life. What kind of Allen wrench/tool do I need to do a neck adjustment. I'm primarily a guitarist/multi-instrumentalist and I love to come up with Mandolin parts when a piece of music calls for it. I thank you in advance for your consideration. https://soundcloud.com/joe-fusco-acoustic-guitar

P.S. I also have a hairline crack up the back that I want to repair with glue. I live on the East Coast so Covid has closed all of our non-essential shops down so I have to do it myself. Is there a prefered glue for this? I'll gladly let a luthier have at it in the near future. I just want to use it and keep it intact as much as possible until then. I thank you again.

[Explorer]

I have a beat-up, old (late 80s?)Flatiron Cadet that has served me well as a session player. It's time to bring it back to life. What kind of Allen wrench/tool do I need to do a neck adjustment.

A while ago, I bought one of those Allen key sets which are all attached to a holder, like a Swiss Army knife. I've used it for adjusting truss rods, electric guitar bridges, and other jobs. Since hardware stores are essential businesses, you can likely buy one easily.

Incidentally, I don't think I've ever had to do a neck relief adjustment on any of my Flatirons, and two of my mandolas are older than the Cadet line. My Flatiron Scout mandola is the same vintage as yours, and once I got past my initial set-up, no adjustment has been needed. The relatively short neck on these things compared to guitar seems to make them a little less mobile, and Flatiron had the instruments set up for relatively light gauges, as listed on that label inside on the neck block, so there shouldn't be a lot of string tension to cause issues. My instruments have lived around the Chesapeake area for extended periods without needing adjustment, so maybe I've just been lucky to get a few Flatiron flat-tops from different vintages which proved more stable than most.

I also have a hairline crack up the back that I want to repair with glue. I live on the East Coast so Covid has closed all of our non-essential shops down so I have to do it myself. Is there a prefered glue for this? I'll gladly let a luthier have at it in the near future. I just want to use it and keep it intact as much as possible until then. I thank you again.

You might try posting this specific question, with an appropriate informative title, in the Builders and Repairs forum. Folks there are super helpful and generous with their knowledge.

Good luck!

[pops1]

If you plan on getting the crack repaired in the future, don't put any glue in there. If it is a hairline crack and you must do something only hot hide glue.

[Joe Fusco]

A while ago, I bought one of those Allen key sets which are all attached to a holder, like a Swiss Army knife. I've used it for adjusting truss rods, electric guitar bridges, and other jobs. Since hardware stores are essential businesses, you can likely buy one easily.

Incidentally, I don't think I've ever had to do a neck relief adjustment on any of my Flatirons, and two of my mandolas are older than the Cadet line. My Flatiron Scout mandola is the same vintage as yours, and once I got past my initial set-up, no adjustment has been needed. The relatively short neck on these things compared to guitar seems to make them a little less mobile, and Flatiron had the instruments set up for relatively light gauges, as listed on that label inside on the neck block, so there shouldn't be a lot of string tension to cause issues. My instruments have lived around the Chesapeake area for extended periods without needing adjustment, so maybe I've just been lucky to get a few Flatiron flat-tops from different vintages which proved more stable than most.



You might try posting this specific question, with an appropriate informative title, in the Builders and Repairs forum. Folks there are super helpful and generous with their knowledge.

Good luck!

Thank you Explorer. Light strings and allen wrench on the way. Thank you, again.

Joe

[pheffernan]

My Flatiron Scout mandola is the same vintage as yours, and once I got past my initial set-up, no adjustment has been needed.

I’ve never heard the name Scout employed with a Flatiron pancake. Is that where Andy Poe derived the name of his flattop line?

[Explorer]

I’ve never heard the name Scout employed with a Flatiron pancake. Is that where Andy Poe derived the name of his flattop line?

That's an interesting question, and one which never occurred to me. Flatiron's use of the name Scout for a line of pancake mandolas, at the same time the name Cadet was applied to a line of pancake mandolins, just struck me as naturally arising from the idea of "camp" mandolins. I just figured that Andy's use of "Scout" was his attempt to pay homage to the Cadet line, as the Scout mandola is pretty rare.

The Cadet and the Scout both have pretty heavy coloring on the top and back, and I seem to remember the pricing being lower than the plain yet visible unbound wood equivalent instruments. I assumed the wood was less visually striking, or even cosmetically flawed, and required covering.

I picked up a pretty old Flatiron pancake mandola with what I think of as an unattractive sunburst, so I'm glad I first ran across the 1SH, with no binding, or I might never have taken to the line in the first place. I just don't like binding. *laugh*

I'm considering asking Sawchyn if they'd be willing to make an octave mandolin without binding. That was what kept me from buying an OM from Flatiron when they were available. I recently played one of Sawchyn's Beavertail octaves, and it was beautiful sounding and played easily... but that binding stopped me cold. *laugh*

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Okay... sorry about the hijack, folks!

[fatt-dad]

make sure you got the correct gauge string on that mandolin! GHS A250s are the spec gauge. EXP74 are too heavy!

Pheff does bring up a good point; however.

f-d

[pheffernan]

I'm considering asking Sawchyn if they'd be willing to make an octave mandolin without binding. That was what kept me from buying an OM from Flatiron when they were available. I recently played one of Sawchyn's Beavertail octaves, and it was beautiful sounding and played easily... but that binding stopped me cold.

I’ve never played a Sawchyn, but his instruments certainly speak to me. I would imagine that Andy Poe could build you a heckuva flattop octave, if he’s building at all. His website doesn’t seem to have been updated in three years (my #74 was delivered in February of 2017): https://www.poestrings.net/home

[Joe Fusco]

If you plan on getting the crack repaired in the future, don't put any glue in there. If it is a hairline crack and you must do something only hot hide glue.

Thanks, Pops! Advised.

[Joe Fusco]

make sure you got the correct gauge string on that mandolin! GHS A250s are the spec gauge. EXP74 are too heavy!

Pheff does bring up a good point; however.

f-d

Thanks, Fatt-Dad.