Re: Sound Posts
Originally Posted by
Slack_Key
... given the fender dent in the RM-35, should I try to fix it? It seems structurally stable and solid. My luthier has suggested either steaming it and allowing it to return to its normal curve ...
Somewhat similar situation with, yes, an RM-35s, probably 10-12 years ago. A local violin shop had one with an asymmetrically sunken top, due, I suspected, to the badly out-of-place bridge; it would have been untuneable even if not sunken. But rather than hassle with their supplier, they simply put a rock-bottom price on it. Being semi-sure that the braces were okay, I went for it.
Summertime is warm & humid in northern NJ, so I took a shot at re-humidifying. In short, I took off the strings & bridge, sealed it in a plastic garbage bag with a slightly damp sponge, and hung it in the (non-A/C) garage for 2-3 weeks. Pretty constant warm temperature, staying above 80 even on cool nights (w/ garage door closed), and well over 90 in heavy sun. It worked! The top lost 97% of its waviness, and some slight bridge sanding gave me something that looks, feels, and sounds pretty much like, ya know, a mandolin! It's currently my "lay around the house/backyard" instrument.
But thinking a bit further: Your isolated "depression" is most likely due to a defect in the wood -or- from bad storage in its prior life. My best guess is that flattening it -at least anything beyond what I did- will have zero effect on the sound & feel, and not much effect on the looks. It is, after all, an economy instrument from a 2nd-hand store. I'd be tempted to leave well-enough alone.
As to tone: Different instruments respond differently (some cheaper ones hardly at all), so others' experience probably won't apply to you. The good part is that strings are cheap, so feel free to experiment. For example, my '17 Gibson A-1, some of them fairly boomy, responded nicely to a lighter G course.
Bonus: In the end, you'll be pretty good at setting the bridge location / intonation. That alone is worth whatever the expense!
-Jazz guitar setup is similar to your mandolin, both being archtops w/ floating bridge. Go to the bottom for bridge placement:
http://www.frets.com/FretsPages/Musi...tstring02.html
Disclaimer: I'm simply a tinkering amateur. There are true professionals, some of the best around, that often chime in here.
Last edited by EdHanrahan; Mar-26-2022 at 4:23pm.
- Ed
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