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Thread: Howe Orme Mandolinetto Bridge

  1. #1

    Default Howe Orme Mandolinetto Bridge

    Hi all,

    I was recently asked to restore a fairly damaged Howe-Orme mahogany mandolinetto for a friend of mine. While this is a very cool instrument, it had major issues including someone dumping a mystery white glue into the neck joint and under the fingerboard extension. I was able to carefully remove the old glue through water, vinegar and a dental pick, and was able to successfully repair the other damage and re-assemble the body. I now have to reproduce the original bridge which was long ago lost. These are arch topped instruments and the bridges I've been able to see online are quite complex. I will need to cut the bridge to match the arch among other details.

    I don't expect that I will ever find a vintage replacement, but I am hoping that someone might have one of these and would be kind enough to share hi-rez pics I can use to model the replacement after.

    Thanks in advance for any help you can share!

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  2. #2
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Howe Orme Mandolinetto Bridge

    If it was me I'd spend some time on Gregg Miner's Howe-Orme pages. You should find what yo're looking for.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

  3. #3
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Howe Orme Mandolinetto Bridge

    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

  4. #4

    Default Re: Howe Orme Mandolinetto Bridge

    A 10” plastic contour gauge should get the first pass at the contour, which, as you wrote, is dramatic, but the bridges look pretty simple.

  5. #5

    Default Re: Howe Orme Mandolinetto Bridge

    Thanks very much! I had been to Greg's site, and had pulled off a couple examples but missed the image you put up, Mike. That's a really good, clear shot in profile and it looks to be original. That tells me what I need to know. Richard, great idea to get the rough arch off the top then I figure to fine tune the fit by putting sandpaper on the top upside out and gently move the bridge over the top. Also I'm thinking about cutting the arch before I cut the final details of the top of the bridge... more flexibility if I have trouble getting the arch right...

  6. #6
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: Howe Orme Mandolinetto Bridge

    Unlike other uke-shaped mandolinettos the H-O’s are more like cylinderback Vegas except to the top is also cylindered (if that is a word). They made guitars the same way and I had a Vega guitar that was very similar. I believe these were steam-bent.
    Jim

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  7. #7

    Default Re: Howe Orme Mandolinetto Bridge

    I've been pulled away from this job recently by other obligations, but am back on this project again. Here's the latest:

    I decided to attempt to match the bottom arch profile on a bridge blank first, then rough out the bridge shape once that bottom was established. As discussed, I used a contour gauge to match the approx. arch, then cut it roughly to shape with a jeweler's saw.

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    One I had the shape roughed out, I began the slow process of matching the contour exactly to the top. I did this by placing a sheet of 120 sand paper with the paper side against the top, the very carefully moving the bridge blank back and forth until the contour matched. this was a long slow process! Once I got the shape very close (final sanding will take place at the very end of the entire process), I sketched out an approx. outline of the bridge based off of photos from Greg Miner's website and from pics and measurements sent by Lowell Levinger (thanks to both of you!), then cut out a paper template which I glued to the bridge blank.

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    Once again, I roughed out the shape with a jewelers saw, then cleaned up things on a belt sander and cut out the curves with a Dremel.

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    The bridge has not been tapered or thinned yet and has been cut quite high. It will be adjusted once the neck is re-set and the actual string height is re-established.

    The next phase of this restoration will be to complete the neck re-set (a butt joint) and establish the final bridge height. At that point, I'll taper the bridge to thin the mass of the bridge and match original examples, do a final seating of the bridge, and cut my string slots. I've seen examples of these bridges that are all wood or have a bone cap (fancier models). For this project, I'll go with the all wood version.

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  9. #8
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    Default Re: Howe Orme Mandolinetto Bridge

    thanks for sharing information.

  10. #9

    Default Re: Howe Orme Mandolinetto Bridge

    Well, it's been a busy summer and I knew I didn't need to get this completed until the Folk Alliance Midwest Conference where I will return it to it's rightful owner. That starts Thursday, so I finally got around to doing the finish touch ups and set up on this.

    I thinned the bridge blank to the appropriate proportions, thinning it as it reached the top as I had seen in other examples. I had previously cut the arch our to match the top of the instrument, then used the "sandpaper on the top" of the mandolinette to fine tune the fit. Once the bridge was cut to size and dimension, I cut a new bone nut as the original was missing from the instrument when I got it. I did a full set up to make the action as playable as possible. There was a twist in the fingerboard right as it left the body. Since it didn't show up until after the fingerboard was free of the body, I was able to set it up to compensate for that and still gt a solid, playable action.

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  12. #10
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    Default Re: Howe Orme Mandolinetto Bridge

    Congrats on salvaging the mandolinetto, and it looks great. There aren't that many around, so it's nice to see one brought back from the dead. My first reaction to your photo was that the bridge looked high, but then I realized that the fretboard extension is now elevated. I think the extensions were all flush to start with (?). I'm curious how that would affect the sound

  13. #11

    Default Re: Howe Orme Mandolinetto Bridge

    When I got this, the neck had come loose, the heel had cracked and someone had attempted a "dump and roll" repair where they simply poured some kind of white glue into the loose neck joint and in then process, glued the fingerboard extension down to the top. This clearly had happened some time ago and the glue was extremely difficult to remove.
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    It had originally been a floating extension, although I couldn't tell from its condition how much it had originally been floating above the top. When I got it, the neck alignment went straight into the top when it should have aligned to be over the bridge. It was a holy mess that took a lot of time, dental pics, and warm water to remove the glue and then take off the neck. When it was finally free, I found it to be a butt joint, not a dove tail joint. The heel had been broken and mis-aligned when it was glued. With heat and moisture, I was able to undo the badly glued heel break, clean it up, then re-glue correctly and then drill and dowel the heel to re-build it's strength and integrity.

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    Since the heel and the heel pocket on the instrument body were seriously compromised, I cleaned up the damaged wood in both the pocket and the glue side of the heel, and added a thin mahogany cap to the broken heel on the joint side to add additional strength and create a solid glue surface. While it did spec out correctly when I dry clamped everything, it changed slightly when I added strings and tension. Fortunately I had cut the new bridge high then trimmed it down to proper set up specs.

    I had studied every example I could find on these Howe Mandolinettos and bridge height varies considerably with every example. I had actually expected to trim down the bridge height another 1/8th of an inch or so, but the string tension (John Pearse Light Gauge Mandolin Strings) compressed the top just enough to keep the bridge height to where it is now.

    It's loud and bright, and plays surprisingly well! I took it to the Folk Alliance Midwest Conference and played it on a showcase before returning it to it's rightful owner.

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