Re: Dead Sounding Strings - Do I have a bridge issue?
Originally Posted by
MandolinSnow
... don't want to take it to a proper luthier because these "fixes" have already totalled approximately 50% of the mandolin's value and I'm not inclined to spend more.
Yeah but... The main reason that cheap mandolins are, ya know, cheap is because nobody has put the last hour or two of fine handcraft into it. If they had, the same body would have a higher model number and would sell for a whole lot more.
Between Frets.com & Lutherie.net (different from Lutherie.com) there's a wealth of information that, with a few jewelers files, would let you re-shape that clunker bridge into a truly functional one, probably in less than an hour assuming that the base is already fit to the instrument. (Note that archtop bridge logic is the same regardless of 6 or 8 strings.)
I'd start by shaving a bit off the top and cutting new slots. While shaving might weaken it too much, the effort would certainly add to the education that you've already accumulated!
- Ed
"Then one day we weren't as young as before
Our mistakes weren't quite so easy to undo
But by all those roads, my friend, we've travelled down
I'm a better man for just the knowin' of you."
- Ian Tyson
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