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Yes, the restoration ones are fine; it’s the “normal” A style ones with “modern” spacing that have been known to be problematic. ... but how did you manage to swap the buttons - they’re welded on....

A rare beast indeed. (A music shop in Manchester that is!)

Are we talking here of the strap round your head or just over your right shoulder?

I’d say it’s definitely something to do with the tuning post and it might be worth taking a file to it in order to round off any rough edges. I’ve not broken a string in at least twenty years.

That was my first thought but the front does look a bit plain for one of theirs.

I think there’s one in Australia. Alan decidd to deliver it - personally!

Mine is totally unique; it’s a 5 string fretless bass.

Unusual guitar! It’s a “Northworthy” - the headstock inlay reveals the builder - Alan Marshall. Alan retired from building guitars a couple of years before Covid struck.

Are Thoman now sorting the VAT side out for under £135 invoices? Most companies I’ve come across since brexit are either leaving it to the purchaser - i.e. you get a bill from the shipment company...

You might even prefer medium gauge strings! Other than intonation, the other thing to keep an eye on is neck relief. You might not notice it immediately, it might take a couple of months.

Heavier...

It may look good for £45 but don’t forget to add shipping, VAT, carriers fees and hassle. There should be plenty of A style cases available - it’ll even fit in an F style.

Another quick word of advice - avoid selling it to someone in th USA. The paperwork involved simply isn’t worth the effort, especially if the mandolin includes materials of animal origin (e.g. even...

OK, tell us how you get them off again without using wire cutters?

Yes, definitely contact Stefan. There are few, if any, dealers in the UK who I’d trust to value an instrument like this.

Once you have an idea of value, you could do worse than advertise it in the...

Yes. The string tends to keep it’s own tension after you’ve poked it through the hole. It’s a lot easier to do than to explain - I’m thinking of taking up rocket science!

I’m due to see my dentist next Tuesday. I’ll ask her if she knows anything about mandolins.

For years people have poked the string end through the hole, leaving an indeterminable length of slack, and then wound the tuner knob to take up the slack and bring the string up to tune. Relatively...

Shims? The rims on these often get distorted over time.

Should have made it clear; the neck on the one in post #5 still doesn’t look original - I bet it’s off something else. They didn’t usually...

Mike Vanden has used coral and stone in his guitar and mandolin inlays for some years - https://vanden.co.uk

As I said, the body and neck don’t look contemporary to me.

Disassembly - easy enough - remove the strings and the eight screws into the wooden ring. It should lift off completely, without...

Difficult to say exactly what it is but I suspect that the body and neck aren’t contemporary. The body looks British whereas the neck doesn’t and the price of the one on evilBay is getting on for...

A worn case eh? A luthier friend of mine was apalled at the cost of importing a case from the US for a customer of his but he apparently insisted.

Whilst we’ve mentioned TAMCO, Trevor refused for...

It really doesn’t matter providing you’ve enough to allow the string to grip the post. The right number of even windings simply look better.

I’ll echo the RIP for TAMCO. The other problem importing into the UK is that you simply receive an emailed bill from the shipping company. You pay it and, eventually/hopefully whatever you’ve ordered...

No reason why not but as your playing develops you’ll find that a heavier more rounded corner pick will float across the strings more easily. I generally find that the shorter the scale length, the...

You can’t go far wrong with D’addario EJ74 (they’re mediums)