Re: Sanding for bass
I think what you're referring to is "voicing," which involved shaving down the braces on those "overbraced" Martin dreadnaughts, as well as thinning the top, and fine-sanding the inside surfaces to produce more sound reflection and less sound absorption. I have a '57 D-18 that was "voiced," and it sounds very nice indeed. On the other hand, I have a '70 D-41, unvoiced, and it sounds good too, so...
Do the same for a mandolin? Well -- a carved-top mandolin is of unequal thickness in different areas of the top, and it's "graduated" the way it is for a reason. Changing the graduation of the top may give you a wholly different sound, not the one you're anticipating. You're reducing the structural strength of the top, which can be a problem in itself; check out all the early 20th-century Gibson carved-models with significant sinkage of the top arch. And if you have an f-hole instrument, it's not at all easy to do "voicing" working through the f-holes.
There are mandolin specialists -- I believe Randy Wood is one -- who have made a reputation for taking unresponsive carved-top mandolins, regraduating the top, and coming out with better-sounding instruments. Whether they remove the tops to perform this regraduation, I don't know. But I think it's a little more complex than just "sanding the top for bass." The type of response you get from your mandolin, is a function of much more than top thickness; it includes shape and location of soundholes, size and placement of braces and/or tone bars, plus of course the type of wood and finish used.
I'd shy away from any automatic or S.O.P. decision to thin the top of a mandolin, without taking it to an expert in the field. Plus, doing this would immediately void any manufacturer or dealer warranty the instrument might have. A lot of people blithely altered the tops of their Martin guitars, and weren't uniformly pleased with the result. A path to be trodden very cautiously, IMHO.
Allen Hopkins
Gibsn: '54 F5 3pt F2 A-N Custm K1 m'cello
Natl Triolian Dobro mando
Victoria b-back Merrill alumnm b-back
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