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You’re rockin that Open Road, brother. Fine looking lid.

The Kentucky mandolins are very good. George Gruhn heartily recommends them and he knows mandolins.

I second all of this. I’m only through the orientation vid and halfway through the second of the first week (out of is it 10 I think) and this is the best instructional I’ve ever worked with. Just...

Mapes. Great strings. The Tennessee company makes OEM strings for Steinway, Bösendorfer and lots of other high end instrument makers. Their mandolin strings are the best I’ve ever used. They sound...

I just got the first lesson. It is superb. On the first go-through one might wonder if Mr. Henry is remotely trying to kill you. But after going through it a couple of times everything begins to fall...

Thank you very much for this detail. I shall now proceed.

What is the minimum width of the saddle under the strings? How to know how much is safe to remove?

I’m using a Peterson stroboscopic tuner app with a clip on hard wired plug in to an iPad. Seems very accurate. It’s switchable to cents or Hertz, I have it in hertz for this.

Pops, the idea of removing some wood at the front of that course occurred to me. My question is what is the minimum width that the saddle under the strings can be. To adjust for 5 Hz, it seems like...

Not wound As. And it’s definitely Hz, not cents. I’m using a Peterson strobe reading in Hz.

The slots, from what I can tell, don’t look high, and there’s no indication that that course is at all...

Thanks, but it’s installed correctly. Treble strings in the narrow slots, bass in the wide.

The D is likewise sharp when fretted, though only about 1 Hz.

Hi, All —

On both my mandolins, when bridge is placed for intonation with G and E strings in tune at 12th fret with the harmonic there, the A string is about 4-5 Hz sharp when fretted compared to...

I measured height if string above first fret some time ago. I don’t remember the number now, but it was what was referenced as proper when I researched it.

Does playing the first fret on the A and E strings, like when playing something in B flat, always require extra pressure, or is the noticeable force required when I do on mine something that could be...

Back is just about perfect and the top has some crazing, but none of the finish has come loose. What about a super light coat or two of tung oil? I put that on after getting the neck reproduced, and...

I forgot to answer this. Peghead is also chipping, but not enough for me to remove more of the finish.

It’s both flexible and crispy, kind of. It looks like yellowed old plastic sheeting, like the stuff they used to use years ago for lamination. I’m sure it’s nitrocullulose, it’s a 90 Gibson A5-L and...

Wondering the same - and also alternatively about a couple of coats of tung oil?

They said that their warranty didn’t cover finishes.

It reminds me of the beat up old guitars on 48th Street in New York I saw as a kid and wondered how they ever got that way. And here this one is, and I made it that way myself. A lesson in aging....

No, I called Gibson a while back and even though I’m the original owner they said they would not cover it. As for replacing lacquer, yes I would leave that to a pro, as I have no finishing experience...

Hi, All -

I hope you’re all doing as well as one could hope.

My old Gibson A-5 has deteriorated nitro finish. At the upper bout, you can see in the image the area from which it is completely...

Thank you, Adrian - just what I was hoping to learn - much appreciated.

Hi, All,

I’ve got a mando on which the slots for the G string were cut very far apart. To salvage it, I’d need to sand the top of the saddle down enough to get past those slots and file new ones....