Mando Re-finish- Question to those who took the plunge

[mandroid]

I have a Mandola and a 4 string electric built by the same guy , who is primarily a repair person ,
finish is apparently, not his strength.

'Dola has chips and bubbles, ready to chip off , follows grain , along the sides and the back.

Wonder if the prep between layers of lacquer were not as thorough as they should have been..



but they are good players.. .. still thinking on the refinish, hiring it out .. as i only have a small apartment.

[AlanN]

An early experience, kind of related: I bought an A-40 with a white top from Mando Bros. in 1978, which was hanging on the wall. I remember the fiddler Marc Renard playing it after that and singing 'Mama Don't Allow' and inserting 'White Top Mandolin' somewhere in there.

Anyway, I removed the paint and slapped on a few coats of a canned varnish, very amateurly. Sound improvement? Ahem...hardly. Still have it, still play it.

[Daijoki]

If anyone's interested, I'm going to go for it and can document the process/results- recording before/after, pics/details of process, etc.

[Caleb]

If anyone's interested, I'm going to go for it and can document the process/results- recording before/after, pics/details of process, etc.

Very interested. Please post about the process when you do it.

[Flowerpot]

Yes, please post the results, would love to see the carnage, er, the improvements. I joke as I've been there myself.

I took the plunge years ago. Had an early Sigma mandolin, couldn't get past the tinny treble (but it had a good chop) so I stripped it all down, took off the stain too, and thinned the top a little and took down the recurve on the back. I didn't have the gumption to re-do the sunburst, so I finished it blonde by hand-rubbing tru-oil, and kept it thin. It actually came out better than what I expected. Not a professional job by any means, but decent enough that I would get comments about the "beautiful blonde mandolin" I was playing. Better yet, it did improve the sound, noticeably better. I got a couple of years more playing out of it before upgrading -- eventually sold it for $800, paid $650, so heck it was a great experiment. That mando is probably still floating around Virginia somewhere.

[Daijoki]

Hi all,

So I did it. The link below is to a few images. I think you'll see that it didn't cause any great depreciation (although I didn't officially refinish it). So far there is a visual (matte finish) and treble (mellower) improvement.

I'll do a YouTube thing on the process (to save time).

Scott

http://picasaweb.google.com/scottrul...eat=directlink

[Caleb]

Really looks nice! The back of the neck turned out just like mine did. A luthier buddy of mine saw it and liked it as well. Nice work.

[Daijoki]

As promised...

[Caleb]

Enjoyed the video, Scott. I think your mandolin turned out great. Was kind of hoping you'd pick a little though!

Regarding the binding, I sanded/steel wooled right up to it; it's tough stuff and held up fine. I also was pretty rough around the f-holes and the spruce held up fine. I took it all the way down to bare wood in a few places around the f-holes (like on your scroll) to give it a distressed look. Just wanted to put that out there so anyone thinking of it knows they don't have to be too careful with the binding in particular.

Nice work!

[Dobe]

[QUOTE=Caleb;799363]No naysayer here, I say go for it.


What have you got to gain? Certainly the experience will be worth the so called loss in value (It's only money !) Might not hurt to practice on a beater somthin' or other , but I concur:

GO FOR IT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Martin]

Great video Scott, thanks for taking the time to do this. This is about the same process I did to my Loar LM 600
I've started useing white and gray scotchbrite instead of steel wool to avoid getting steel slivers/dust every where.

I like it!

[man dough nollij]

I wonder what would happen (if anything...) if you just started rubbin' away with 4/0 steel wool from the beginning?

[Don Troyer]

Looks like the 515 is for sale on the classifieds now.

[Daijoki]

Don is correct. I'm selling my 515 and buying Mark's Weber Gallatin F:

http://www.mandolincafe.com/cgi-bin/...uery=retrieval

[Clement Barrera-Ng]

Scott - congrats on scoring a Gallatin at a great price. Thanks for sharing all the info on the refinishing project!

[Don Troyer]

Daijoki,
I did the same thing to my 515 about 4 months ago and am very glad I did. Not worried about resale value since i'm planning on keeping it for life. The bare neck is probably the biggest improvement as far as making it easier to play.
It had quite a few nicks and scratches in it any way so went ahead and scotch brited the finish down. I looks good and think it sounds better too.
Congrats on your new mando. Don

[Rob Gerety]

Thanks for posting that you tube video. Gives me some courage. I just might dive in an do this to my 805. Its got some dings and scratches anyway. Maybe I'll pull all the hardware off, do the refi, and then take it to the luthier I use for new frets - and maybe even a new bridge while I'm at it.

This reminds me that there was a fellow who posted a lot on the Larrivee forum years ago that developed a nice process to polish satin finish guitars. Can't remember his name right now. I think he used auto polish and steel wool - something like that. Came out real nice. Might be worth considering after you get that sticky varnish knocked back to satin. Gives it a nice finish without the sticky feel.

[Caleb]

This reminds me that there was a fellow who posted a lot on the Larrivee forum years ago that developed a nice process to polish satin finish guitars. Can't remember his name right now. I think he used auto polish and steel wool - something like that. Came out real nice. Might be worth considering after you get that sticky varnish knocked back to satin. Gives it a nice finish without the sticky feel.

I remember that. Think his name was Orsino or something like that. I used to read that forum quite a bit and remember it.

[ccravens]

Here's my attempt to turn an ugly sunburst-to-black painted Kentuck into a beautiful blonde.

[Ed Goist]

Here's my attempt to turn an ugly sunburst-to-black painted Kentuck into a beautiful blonde.

WOW Chris...Really impressive! As someone whose 'handiness' is challenged by changing strings, this kind of thing seems like magic to me. Very nice!

[ccravens]

Thanks, Eddie.
One winter I thought I had too much time on my hands, I suppose. So I did it.
Now I don't have enough time.
Won't make that mistake again!

[Rob Gerety]

I remember that. Think his name was Orsino or something like that. I used to read that forum quite a bit and remember it.

Found it - http://www.tomyoungguitar.com/OrsinoizingPage.html