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I pick this mandolin up once or twice a week. Flatiron A5-Jr. Tonight, top strings very out of tune. But I couldn't get them stay in tune. Then heard a noise at the bottom and looked down and saw this. Is this a normal occurrence? Recommendations on fixing?
Attachment 190034
Not very common! Just replace it, anything can fail. Shouldn't cost more than $30, but of course you can spend as much as you like on a replacement. Just don't expect a more expensive model to impact the tone.
The price and quality of these are all over the place but I generally go for the Prucha tailpieces sold by Greg Boyd.
https://gregboyd.com/product/prucha-...lpiece-nickel/
Before I started building, I had a mandolin that was built in a factory in this country and it happened several times. I replaced the tailpiece about 4-5 times. I guess it was just some bad metal. It eventually stopped. I just replaced the t/p.
I usually get a stainless steel tailpiece like Mike recommends. Different source, but in stainless they are much stronger. Haven't had one of them fail so far.
Flatiron's are known for this - I had the exact same incident as have many others.
I too have been treated to phosphor bronze spaghetti upon opening a case. Some of the Allen cast tailpieces have hole patterns that match your Flatiron. Whether you do it yourself or have it installed, it's a satisfying change. Treat yourself.
That tailpiece looks like thin brass sheet. Prucha tailpieces are stainless steel base and covers are plated brass. They are much stronger.
Thank you all for the responses. I'll look at those tailpieces.
Can't help You but if You now have a cover spare, I would like to have it ;-)
Yes, the fitment of the cover ,if you have the original "Flatiron", may be difficult. There seem to be several makers of these over the years. The Prucha may be the best bet to start.
It happened to me once when I let a mando sit for too long and I believe humidity had a factor. And it too was on a Flatiron.
Electroplated steels are subject to hydrogen embrittlement, and low-cost products like this hardware are often steel, already damaged by the stamping and forming processes. Plus, the plating I’ve seen is *wrong* in terms of being just a single film.
Common (300 series) stainless both will not embrittle, and also doesn’t need plating. So a ss base with any kind of material for a cover should be durable. Bronze, aluminum also ok, but of course cast items can suffer from bubbles and fractures, so snapped-off hooks may be seen.
The shine-entranced bike and hotrod crowd often have experience with important parts that shouldn’t have been chromed!
The broken original is certainly brass if you zoom in you can see the golden cast at the break. Very likely the britteness due to stamping process is reason why it broke.
Yup. The tailpiece on my Flatiron is a replacement. Like everyone else has said, go for the stainless steel. Not sure which model mine has, but the original cover slips fairly well.