Search:

Undoubtedly some of them were installed with the nut already threaded on. There is no way it was screwed on there after the thing was assembled. Sometimes it's hard to really care about your factory...

A serious pet peeve of mine!
You decide a truss rod needs to be adjusted, should take a couple of minutes, tops. Instead you spend half a day trying to find a tool to fit the poorly though out and...

Is this... what day is this?

(No, not for another month...)

Both, I'd guess.

It would vary widely from one luthier to another, but it would add up...
Removing and replacing the old board would involve the removal of the old 'board without damage, and that required experience...

I have and it is a pita, but It's not really that bad, especially compared to leveling the frets!
Many old Martin guitars with fingerboard binding had bar frets trimmed to fit over the binding, so...

Is the bridge unstable and does it move on the top when playing the mandolin?

None.
Much harder to install, much harder to get good feeling frets, just more problematic in general.
We have the technology to make and install "T" frets so why would we want to use archaic bar...

If it is a nitrocellulose lacquer finish and if it is glued with CA the damage was done as soon as the CA hit the surface.
If, as Greg said, it is a poly finish you are in luck, but it is still not...

Some of the best years of my life!

Don't know how I forgot about Huss and Dalton, I worked with both of those guys back in our "factory" days. It wouldn't hurt to ask (just don't mention my name...

You might check with these guys. They might know someone who can help you out.
http://www.fairbuilt.com/
(I went to JMU in Harrisonburg. Just reading the place names in your post brought back a...

There's not much else that can be done to form a loop in a plain (unwound) steel string. Sometimes they don't slip, sometimes they do, but a hook that has a flat or flats to kink the string loop, or...

The end of the string is looped around and wound around the string. That winding can slip if enough tension is present.
When the loop goes around a round, smooth peg, there is very little resistance...

You're probably right, but Dr. Kasha might not have agreed with you.

You do indeed have round smooth string posts and you are likely to continue to have loops slipping. Replacing the tailpiece would be one remedy, reshaping the posts would be another.

...or any number of custom builders.
This is exactly the type or reason to go to a custom builder; to get the exact neck profile you want. The thing is though, you have to know the exact profile you...

Keep your layer of shellac sealer as thin as you can. I've never had problems with very thin shellac sealer coats under lacquer, but thicker shellac coats can cause problems with lacquer. I usually...

Yes, we need to know what type of tailpiece it is.
If the "pegs" on a tailpiece are round and smooth, the loops of unwound strings (A and E, particularly E) can sometimes slip. Not much to do about...

A light spray of shellac will not affect the dyes, but if the sprayed coat is the least bit too wet the dyes can move.

Yep, that would be ideal, and from the looks of strips that I have seen that's how they were cut. Nearly no waste and no flammable dust
When I worked "at the factory" we bought celluloid binding...

Braces serve more than one function. Braces (or tone bars) do function as beams to distribute string/bridge load, but that is a static function. They also have dynamic function where they stiffen the...

Probably not because there isn't really a whole lot of science out there pertaining to brace position, so it would be hard to site science supporting importance of brace placement to sound. The...

Scientific studies of guitars and mandolins indicate that brace positioning is not important. Total mass and stiffness are the most important considerations regardless of how a top is braced.
As for...

The Schaller grandtunes are good, I just don't like them because I think they're ugly and the gear ratio is so high (18 to 1?) that it takes forever to tighten the strings. As it turns out, the only...

Indeed there are varied philosophies.
Truth is, I don't know what the suggested grads are in the newer version of the Siminoff book, but the old version had grads that most of us think are too...