locate a vintage Gibson repair man ...

[Larry Mossman]

Hello all.

I have a fine Gibson mandolin from the late teens that is in need of some repair. There is no truss rod and a slight warp in the neck. My local guitar tech says it would need to be "heat treated" to straighten the neck? Could also use some new frets. I am hoping to locate a qualified luither or repair guy who has experience working on these old instruments ~ someone to look this mandolin over and let me know what it needs. I love this mandolin, A/B'd it with a snakehead and chose to keep this one hands-down. Sheraton brown, oval hole A (the plain jane). thanks for any help. Larry

[JEStanek]

Gail Hester comes to mind as someone very familiar with vintage Gibsons and thier needs.

Jamie

[Chunky But Funky]

Lou Stiver (Northwestern PA) fixed a top crack in my 1918 A4 and I couldn't be happier with the results. He does all the vintage repairs for Acoustic Music Works. When the playability of mine degrades, if ever, I plan to have a carbon fiber rod installed, radius the fretboard and wider frets installed. I seem to remember a price of about $600 for the carbon fiber rod surgery. I forget who does it, but Steve from AMW should be able to point you in the right direction. Depends on the severity of the warp.

Doug

[D.E.Williams]

How vintage does the repair guy need to be?

[fiddledoc]

Looking at your location, no one is really close to you. The closest shop I know that does good vintage work is Spruce Tree Music in Madison, WI. Couldn't go wrong there. If you wanted to ship it, you could ship it to our shop here in Nashville. I just did a similar job on a 1918 F-4 that came out great. Lots of other Cafe members would undoubtedly also do a great job.

[David Houchens]

I can't imagine heat treating an F5 neck.much less a short one from the teens. If it needs some frets anyhow, I'd suggest having the warp worked out of the fingerboard. Then refret. Just my penny an a half.

[Big Joe]

I'm pretty much a vintage guy, and I certainly know Gibson . Heat setting a neck...particularly on a mandolin like this is not going to do what you want. One would have to inspect the instrument to determine what is causing the problem and then determine the correct repair. We work on all vintage Gibson mandolins and have many years of doing this. There are several on the cafe who can do the work as can we. If you would like us to check it out just get hold of me by PM or calling our number on our website listed below.

[pops1]

I live in S.W. Wisconsin and have been doing repairs for 20+ years. I play an old Gibson and i will be in Iowa City next week if you would like me to look at it. I would NOT heat warp it if i were you. Send a PM with your phone number if you would like.

[Skip Kelley]

As Jamie has already said, Gail would be a great one for the job!

[fiddledoc]

I didn't say I used heat on the F-4. I removed the fingerboard which released a bunch of tension. Wider fret slots and a refret made the neck straight as an arrow.

[fiddledoc]

Sorry to turn this into a feeding frenzy of repairmen. If I were you mossmanl, I'd go with somebody local.

[Larry Mossman]

I will give it some thought and make a plan, I do appreciate the recommendations. Even though this was my first post I am an avid reader and freq. visitor to the Cafe'. What a resource, thanks to all who make it possible. Larry

[David Houchens]

fiddledoc,The OP said his local guitar tech said it would need heat treating. No one that I saw said you heat treated anything. I have seen the damage that heat treating (not by me) any neck can cause if too much heat is applied or too quickly. I will not do this myself. All I said was I couldn't see heat treating a neck that short.
No feeding frenzy. If one doesn't want opinions they wouldn't ask questions.
mossmanl, I also agree that Gail would do you a fantastic job. Along with many others here.

[woodwiz]

Leo Posch in McLouth, KS, and Keith George north of Kansas City both do outstanding work.

Keith lives in the country and usually does work through music stores, but he's authorized repairman for some of the major makers, grew up in the business, and is highly competent and honest. Excellent work at good prices.

Posch gets repair work in from all over the country and is also a good maker. Last time I talked to him (over a year ago) he had a looong backlog, but he's highly regarded in the area.

If I had something I couldn't do myself, I'd take it to one of these guys.