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Well, John got there before me, and with illustrations of the kind of chisels I was trying to describe. Thanks John.

My "go to" chisels and gouges tend to be ones that have an octagonal base, and a tang that goes into the handle. Most of them say "cast steel" and most of them seem to be English. These tools seem...

Well, the above comment had been sent to Frets.Net 2 or 3 years ago, and there were 3 images included. I am rather IT challenged, and couldn't upload 2 of the pictures. I hope that what I managed...

I hope I'm not re-inventing the wheel with this. I have been trying to glue cleats to the inside of a long side crack. I wanted to use HHG, but there was no way that that I could get the Teeter...

Two more brief suggestions. Use extra light strings on this kind of mandolin, and thread the strings under the arm rest/tailpiece.

I have 2 Washburn / L&H parlor guitars from the early 1920s. They both needed neck resets, but when I went to raise the fingerboard extension, the wood was very punky and simply crumbled. The...

Years and years ago I had an Edwin Cubley (of banjo fame) parlor guitar that had oak sides and back. The body was very well done, but the neck had a terrible bow, and it wasn't playable.

For what it is worth, I have a Gibson A-2 that I bought from a woman in Kalamazoo many years ago. She told me that her husband bought it in 1922 and died a year later. It is fitted with a...

Again, thanks Tavy,
I will avoid the vinegar. The neck block is one piece, and it is split diagonally front to back, with one narrow section at the top, nearest the tail, and the other narrow...

Thank you Tavy.
I used the bladder from a blood pressure cuff, inflated inside the mandolin, to gently separate the overlapping ribs. This also showed me that there is a split / break in the neck...

This Acme Professional bowlback was given to me yesterday by my wife's cousin. It has very heavy strings on it, and the neck is separating from the ribs. There are some cracks in the bowl, but I...

Richard, Thanks for your reply. After my "I'm giving up!" post, I didn't check back until now. I contacted my old buddy, Marc Silber, in Berkeley. He had me put the tuners on a copy machine, and...

OK, so the tuners arrived, and they are very high quality. The spacing of the posts was a little off, but that was manageable. On the other hand, the plates were way too long, as were the posts. I...

I thought I had posted this already, but don't see it. I wanted to thank everyone for all the information and advice.
My father was an expert on antique furniture, and he always stressed how...

Again, thanks Richard. Some of the teeth of the cogs were already misshapen, but now with the silver solder added to the picture, the worm gear is not turning well for any of the three. Earlier on,...

Well, I silver soldered the 3 cogs, and 2 of the 3 split again when pressed onto the posts. I checked Frank Ford's article "Nobody Wants A Cracked Cog" and the tuner he was repairing was from a 100...

Richard, thanks again for your very wise approach. I will let you know how it goes.
Ed, I only had the one set of tuners off the mandolin, and there was only the one gear off the post, so I'm sure...

Thank you Richard. I had somehow mistaken the cracks for witness lines that had been used when cutting the gears. Three out of the four gears on that plate have them. I'll have to mull this over a...

This is an "American Conservatory" mandolin that hasn't been out of the case for many years. I took the tuners off to clean and lubricate them, but now when trying to string it up, the round gear is...

Thanks for all the input.
This mandolin has been hanging in my shop for over 20 years. I have worked on it intermittently during that time. I guess I'll just keep checking Ebay, and hope for the...

Tavy,
Any luck finding a source for the tailpiece?
Thanks, George

Jim, thank you so much. I was going to try and make a cover out of sheet brass, but your third example looks like what I need. I couldn't find anything on-line. Do you know if it is available?...

This Bruno mandolin has part of the tailpiece that has "Pat, Oct 26, 86" on it. I have found pictures of another tailpiece with the same patent date, but it is a one piece example. ...

My 1904 F-3 has fairly large chamber in the scroll, as well as a hollow all the way up the neck, under the finger board. When I asked my father, a surgeon and violinist. about it, he said that even...

Back in the 1960s when I first became interested in mandolins, I happened to live in Kalamazoo. I had the opportunity to see many early mandolins. It was not uncommon for them to have a piece of...