Pava Finish Question

  1. timacn
    timacn
    Hello. I wanted to ask you a Pava question, so here is a copy of something I sent to the Ellis shop regarding the Pava's finish. (modified slightly for the group) I was wondering if you could tell me what the finish in the area in question looks like on your Pava. Any opinions or insights you could give to me would be most helpful and appreciated. Here's the copy:

    Hello. I'm calling with a question about a Pava Pro mandolin. I bought one from Elderly two weeks ago. It was beautiful, sounded great, and played perfectly. Last night, however, I looked down at the neck of the mandolin in the area of the “heel button” (the area immediately above the apex of the mandolin body under the neck) and saw that it looked dusty. When I tried to wipe the dust away, I discovered that it was not dust at all, but the wood was not finished.

    On closer inspection, I saw that the nitro cellulose covered a portion of the heel button. The vast majority of the heel button surface was just bare wood, however. In addition, the heel button on the bottom appeared, as I recall, to have bare wood showing through in several places. I also noticed that the bottom side of the fretboard directly under the bottom of the binding was also unfinished wood. (I’m not talking about the underside of the fretboard, which I did not expect to be finished.)

    Anyway, I sent the mandolin back to Elderly and asked them to check out another Pava Pro that they just got in. The floor salesman told me it was the same in the area around the heel button. He said, if I recall correctly, that the area did not not seem to be finished.

    Otherwise the mandolin was perfect, looked and sounded exquisitely beautiful, and is clearly the best such instrument I have or have ever played. My question to you is this: Is the heel button area supposed to be finished or bare wood? (I did check an old Weber that I have, same structure as the Pava (not as nice) and the heel button is completely finished.

    Just wondering whether these things comprise some sort of finish anomaly or if they are supposed to be like that. I still want a Pava Pro very much, but 3K plus is a lot of money (for me) and I want the instrument to be as it was meant to be.

    Thanks for your help.
  2. prbardack
    prbardack
    The area you describe on my Pava seems to be finished a bit better than is yours, in that there's no raw wood there, it doesn't look dusty, and it's the same color as the rest of the body. But you're right, it's not glossy finished. When I bought it at the Mandolin Store I pointed it out, and they said that that is not uncommon with many mandolins, because the finish is often applied after the instrument is already made ... and it's tough to get finish at that spot. This is the fourth mandolin I've owned, BTW, and this has been the case with all of them. My advice? Apply some lemon oil with a fine cloth or Q Tip to that area; it'll darken and seal the dusty look you don't like, eliminating some of what bugs you. And then remember that nobody on earth other than you will ever know that that space is less finished, and enjoy your wonderful new Pava. It's a fantastic instrument!
  3. Nate Lee
    Nate Lee
    My Pava #83 has a bit of a dusty look on/under the fretboard extension. As I recall, the mandolins I had before (Weber Big Sky, Red Diamond F5, Kentucky KM675) also had the same problem ranging from a dusty look to completely exposed wood. I think, as stated above, that this is a very tough area to finish. I find that Pava's attention to detail is exquisite, and if there was a way to make that area look as good as the rest of the mandolin, she would probably be doing it.
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