Re: Sinking Soundboards Revisited
Let'e pull this post back around! Here we go!
Had the same problem on my 1921 Gibson, only on the bass side. Shortly after I got it I took it to my favorite luthier, Matt Harmon, at Mass Street Music in Lawrence, KS. He looked inside and saw that the bracing was loose, so he took it for a while and re-glued them. That stabilized it.
I later showed it to Dave Harvey from Gibson. He commented that during that era, they just planed the tops a little too thin and having them drop was not unusual. His advice was as long as it was stable and playable, leave well enough alone and play it. He suggested a different bridge, but I decided to keep the aluminum bridge that was original to it. I later took it back to Matt Harmon and he refretted it, and it's one of my favorite mandolins. It has a good, deep tone and, with new frets, plays easily.
I'm glad the sound post worked for you. It's one of those "If it works, great!" situations. You can at least play and enjoy it for a while. The alternative is for it to be a wall decoration, and that's a sad fate for a survivor of that many years.
Phil Vinyard
Gibson Jam Master F Standard #12 May 13, 2009
Gibson Model A #67336 ca. 1921
Harwood Bowlback ca. 1900
Trinity College TM-325 Octave Mandolin
Freshwater Mandocello
Krutz 200 Upright Bass
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