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Robin Williamson is and was, according to his peers, one of those people who can pick up any instrument and immediately get music from it. Regarding individual instruments, he was a "jack of all...

Davey,

Thanks, that sounds promising. I have contacted her to see if she can help.


Cheers,

I use nylon strings on a ca 1889 SS Stewart American Princess 5 string classic banjo and it sounds wonderful. I would expect the same result with a mandolin banjo strung with 4 nylon strings,...

Some of the older banjos had strong enough necks, it's how the neck is attached to the pot that doesn't like the heavier strings.

For a while I had a KM-21. Never put more than lights on mine as the top had already begun to sink. Braces were tight (had a very experienced luthier check it out before purchase).

You might want...

Should it take 11 - 40?? In theory, yes. I would consider it to be the absolute maximum, though.
If it sounds thin with 10 - 36, check the brace again with a light and a mirror while the...

I think the problems associated with the celluloid degrading are worst in an instrument stashed away in the case for ages while the off-gassing does its insidious work. Your use of epoxy resin may...

Here is the "before" photo showing the guard. The top had suffered a little- the only metalwork damage was the bracket which I filed and reused as seen in the first photo. You can see the case lid...

607E is a 1939 factory order number, indicating that assembly began sometime in 1939.

There has been some lack of consensus about exactly how to interpret an EK number on the back of a peghead,...

Davey, I vividly recall the first time I listened to the Columbia "King of the Delta Blues" album of RJ. It was sometime in 1966 when I was stationed in Germany with the Army. I can't recall if I...

A few years a go I was given some timber by a friend who is a very fine woodturner. He put it through his bandsaw and thicknesser to make back and side pieces for me. The timber is very similar to...

Look up padauk, goncalo alves, macacauba, granadillo, and bubinga. Those are all under the umbrella of "some type of rosewood", or at least legumes which can have similar coloring to what your...

Maybe Padauk?

My first guess was some-kinda rosewood, and that's about as close as I can pin it down from pictures. It doesn't look like EIR, it doesn't look like Brazilian, it doesn't look like Honduran, so......

I was thinking the same thing as John. I'd be surprised if it was cedar, although it's possible. It looks like a side/back set for a guitar and it would be likely that it's some harder tonewood. You...

How heavy is the wood? How stiff? What kind of 'tap tone'? What does it smell like?

The stripes looks like cedar.

People here have been converting them from righty to lefty for years. Other than the bridge saddle and the nut the only issue is that the dots on the top of the neck will be on the bottom. I'm with...

I'd just swap the bridge saddle and nut. Some folks care too much about internal asymmetry of tonebars but several eperiments have shown that it doesn't make much difference. I've seen converted...

Good reference, Mike.
Also, something that finish carpenters might not have, but is useful, is a dial or digital 6” caliper. Here in my exile from the shop, I’m reminded daily about calipers but...

I've always loved Darryl Wolfe's bridge top machine.

https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/threads/23839-Show-Off-Your-Jig?p=292585&viewfull=1#post292585

IMHO, 97% of instrument repair can be accomplished with hand tools....small Japanese saw, miniature files, sandpaper (sometimes wrapped around a dowel stick for shaping), small C clamps,...

Many years ago, I visited Fred Oster's Vintage Instruments shop in Philadelphia.
He routinely carries many very fine violin family instruments, and he happened to have an early Stradivari violin in...

Once you sharpen your chisels to be sharp enough to do this work you can never use them on a door again, or strike them with anything. May want to keep one or two for the doors, haha

Addendum:

I've spent the last several days glueing and cleating cracks and glueing loose braces in an F-5G and a 20 year old J-45 guitar that have had a hard life.

I have nice 20th century...