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Thread: Mandolin Label Placement

  1. #1

    Default Mandolin Label Placement

    OK, so we are making some headway on our first batch of A-Style mandolins. These are F-hole instruments. I'm about at the point of putting the label on that goes inside the instruments. There is only one label (unlike Loars, etc.). I am trying to figure out if there is some protocol I should follow as to placement of the label. Should it go under the bass or treble f-hole? Which way is right-side-up? It may not matter at all, but I thought I'd see if there is a "preferred" way to do this. I did a Google search, and all that showed up was round or oval hole instruments, or Loar mandolins, which have two labels, one under each f-hole.

    Thanks in advance!

  2. #2
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    Default Re: Mandolin Label Placement

    Well Violins always have the label on the bass side.

  3. #3

    Default Re: Mandolin Label Placement

    Bass F-hole. It will give the mandolin more lows.
    Robert Fear
    http://www.folkmusician.com

    "Education is when you read the fine print; experience is what you get when you don't.
    " - Pete Seeger

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  5. #4

    Default Re: Mandolin Label Placement

    OK. Which way is right-side-up? Is it so the player can read it when he/she looks at it when holding it up from the playing position, or so that it can be seen right-side-up from the listeners perspective?

  6. #5

    Default Re: Mandolin Label Placement

    Player's perspective
    Robert Fear
    http://www.folkmusician.com

    "Education is when you read the fine print; experience is what you get when you don't.
    " - Pete Seeger

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  8. #6

    Default Re: Mandolin Label Placement

    I copied some other mandos I have and located it under the base side f hole so that if the player held it as if playing, turned it face up and looked into the base side f hole he could read it Although while playing the label lettering is upside down.

    funny how something like this can become a real problem when you are about to glue the lable inside.

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  10. #7
    Middle-Aged Old-Timer Tobin's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandolin Label Placement

    I agree with Robert. Bass side f-hole, with the label readable by the player if he were to lean over and peek in there while holding it.

    This is a photo of my Ellis label from that exact perspective, as an example.
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  12. #8

    Default Re: Mandolin Label Placement

    All-Rightie-Then! Looks like I'll put these labels (the three instruments, anyway) under the bass f-hole, readable from the nosey (right handed) player's perspective. I actually let the very first of these mandolins go before the current ones. I can't even remember how I put the label in that one!

  13. #9

    Default Re: Mandolin Label Placement

    This is a cool example of builders and forum members working together! As a funny comparison/ anecdote. I have a F made by Holoubek a small luthier in the Czech Republic. I think he ran out of labels when he made mine and thus signed the middle inside of the back. Ha!

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  15. #10
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    Default Re: Mandolin Label Placement

    Just to muddy the waters, you can put the label in so it can be seen and read via a telephoto lens, like for a close up shot with a TV camera when the mandolin is being played on stage.

    I tend to agree with Robert, and put it so the player can see it most easily.

  16. #11
    Registered User sunburst's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandolin Label Placement

    You're all wrong!

    I put the label in so that the player, if he/she lifts and rotates the mandolin up from the playing position, can look into the upper f-hole and read the label. That means the label it inside the treble side f-hole and the telephoto lens will see it as upside down.

    So it seems there is no protocol, and we can label them anywhere and any way we choose! Ahhh... freedom! (We have to add points and scrolls, but at least we don't have to label them any certain way!)

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  18. #12
    Resonate globally Pete Jenner's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandolin Label Placement

    You could supply a loose self adhesive label and let the purchaser decide.
    The more I learn, the less I know.

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  19. #13

    Default Re: Mandolin Label Placement

    Thanks for all of the input. It is very much appreciated. I had to rush these labels, as I wanted to put them in before I glued the backs on, and I had 2 or 3 instruments at that point of their construction. As mentioned above, I went with placing them below the bass-side f-hole, players perspective. I'll try to get a picture of one "installed" soon, but here's how the labels themselves came out...

    Click image for larger version. 

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    Last edited by Steevarino; Nov-12-2014 at 7:47pm. Reason: typo

  20. #14
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    Default Re: Mandolin Label Placement

    Steve,

    I think they're beautiful! But now what happens when the errant pen, stuck down there through the f hole to inscribe the date and authentic signature goes astray? There is no end to the worries of a builder.

  21. #15
    Registered User Kowboy's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandolin Label Placement

    While we're on the subject of labels here; Got a question. The two labels on my sons F5L have become unattached and it would be nice to put them back on. Are there any suggestions for a type of glue and how best to protect the finish while doing this. Thanks in advance for your answers.
    Kenny B. Playing on a Stelling S-5Q #144
    Lakota Leathers strap
    Blue Chip CT55 pick & SR-50
    D'Addario J75 Strings
    Virtuoso Premium Polish / Yes I clean & polish my mandolin

  22. #16
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandolin Label Placement

    I'm wondering if anyone would notice which f hole the label is in? I'm resisting going upstairs to look at my F5G. I've never had to think about this.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

  23. #17
    Registered User Bill Snyder's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandolin Label Placement

    Where does the serial number go on your label?
    Bill Snyder

  24. #18

    Default Re: Mandolin Label Placement

    Yeah Bill, as I mentiones on an earlier post, that was my mistake. I forgot to put a place for the serial number when I sketched out the idea for this label design. For these labels, what I am doing is putting the serial number right after the model on the "Model" line. Seems to work OK. There's also space for it above the lower curved line, but I have two guys helping me build these things right now, and I like to share the spotlight, so we are all scribbling our names in that area.

    Funny, do you know when I noticed that mistake? It was after I filled out the first label and took a picture of it to share here! I looked at the picture on my phone, and thought, "Uh-Oh!" Oh well . . .

    To answer an earlier question: To re-stick old labels that have fallen out, I have used contact cement. You have to test it first though, to make sure it doesn't leak through and cause any ink on the label to bleed. Another way I have done it is with good-old double-stick tape, which is probably a safer way to go.

    Here's a question from me, do most of you builders put the label in before you glue the back on, or after the instrument is made?

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  26. #19
    Registered User sunburst's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandolin Label Placement

    I glue them to the back right before gluing the back to the rim, thus closing the box, and the date reflects that. The date on the label (month and year) is when the box was closed and sometimes that can end up being a couple of months earlier than the instrument is completed. I figure it doesn't matter. I've also had instruments end up completed out of order according to serial number when something help up progress on one long enough for the next one to "pass" it. I figure that doesn't matter either. (Funny how the older I get the more stuff there is that doesn't really matter...)
    My current mandolin labels are offset printed and I fill out the info (date, signature, etc.) with archival ink. They can be wet with water or solvents with little to no damage. (I started using the archival ink when an early mandolin came back to the shop for frets and set up work and the hand written part of the label had been damaged (bled) by a small spill of water or beverage or something.)

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  28. #20
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    Default Re: Mandolin Label Placement

    by a small spill of water or beverage or something.

    Tears or beers likely.

    Steve, put the labels in when you string the instruments up, right through the sound holes. It ain't that hard.

  29. #21

    Default Re: Mandolin Label Placement

    It's kind of funny how we all deal with these crazy little details in different ways. Up until these A-style mandolins, everything I have built has had holes big enough so that the labels were easy to put in when the instrument is done. I am already running into some of the issues John mentiond (builds getting out of sequence, older dates than the completion dates, etc.) Guess I'm not that worried about it either, but Michael's method makes all of those problems go away. On my next (as yet unlabeled) build I will go ahead and put the label in, through the f-hole, after the instrument is done.

    Hey John, where does one go about getting some "archival ink"? I've already seen some of my older instruments where you can hardly read what I wrote on them!

  30. #22
    Registered User mtucker's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandolin Label Placement

    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Click image for larger version. 

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  31. #23
    Registered User Rob Grant's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandolin Label Placement

    FWIW: I don't even bother with a label (cockroaches and silverfish love 'em, especially if you use a tasty glue like hide!<g>). I usually just date and sign the inside of the headblock before final assembly with a fine indelible marking pen. Some may also argue that the old graphite pencil is a better option. With an oval hole it's easy to see, but it takes a good dental mirror to usually observe the headblock on an f hole. I consider this method to be a hell of a lot more permanent then any added label.
    Rob Grant
    FarOutNorthQueensland,Oz
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  32. #24

    Default Re: Mandolin Label Placement

    What are cockroaches and silverfish? They must be something common only in Australia, because we don't have any in the good old US of A.

  33. #25
    Registered User sunburst's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandolin Label Placement

    Quote Originally Posted by Steevarino View Post
    Hey John, where does one go about getting some "archival ink"?
    I like it when the questions are easy to answer! I think I got this at an art store (Michael's perhaps?) or a college book store. It's a common drafting pen.
    Click image for larger version. 

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