Hello! I've been spending some weeks gathering information, absorbing videos, mopping up every resource I can find about mandolins, restoration and general luthiering work. I bought a mandriola off of eBay after visiting in person (amazing collection) that needs some TLC, but I'm already in love and super excited to get to work and hear it sing. I bought it for £35, intending to learn how to restore in an instrument I've always wanted (always wanted a mandolin... I guess I never knew it was a mandriola I wanted after all ;p), as opposed to buying one. I figure giving an instrument it's voice back is pretty cool, rather than have it lay about unloved.
New to mandolins and repair, hence the troves of research. I was wondering if it would be ok to list out my plan so far, so it can be critiqued and pointed out for me to avoid doing something potentially very dumb and damaging / sacrilegious. My intended outcome is to repair the instrument so it is playable again, with a good finish that will help it last for years to come. I don't wish to completely reinvent it, or do something crazy with the finish just for aesthetics - from my point of view, the mandriola will look good as long as it works and plays (although I do have some aesthetic preferences).
I didn't want to just go for it since I am aware there are many amazing luthiers here and I don't want to be rude by demanding that much energy out of you, as the plan so far is quite long and detailed (and within that plan I also list things that are / appear to be issues and what is not an issue). I am currently reading through the Mandolin Cafe restoration challenge thread, and have gained a lot of my information from Mandolinluthier.com too, as well as other tutorials and guides online (such as the Rob Meldrum setup guide, though I am quite far from set-up at the moment). I'll include a few images (main issues are some cracks [none have much give], shrinkage to inlay around the sound hole [which may be causing/ contributing to the cracks] and damage to the finish), and if all is well will post my plan later. Thanks!
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