Howe Orme Mandolinetto Bridge

[Ginridge]

Hi all,

I was recently asked to restore a fairly damaged Howe-Orme mahogany mandolinetto for a friend of mine. While this is a very cool instrument, it had major issues including someone dumping a mystery white glue into the neck joint and under the fingerboard extension. I was able to carefully remove the old glue through water, vinegar and a dental pick, and was able to successfully repair the other damage and re-assemble the body. I now have to reproduce the original bridge which was long ago lost. These are arch topped instruments and the bridges I've been able to see online are quite complex. I will need to cut the bridge to match the arch among other details.

I don't expect that I will ever find a vintage replacement, but I am hoping that someone might have one of these and would be kind enough to share hi-rez pics I can use to model the replacement after.

Thanks in advance for any help you can share!

[MikeEdgerton]

If it was me I'd spend some time on Gregg Miner's Howe-Orme pages. You should find what yo're looking for.

[MikeEdgerton]

https://www.minermusic.com/images/in...orme-miner.jpg

[Richard500]

A 10” plastic contour gauge should get the first pass at the contour, which, as you wrote, is dramatic, but the bridges look pretty simple.

[Ginridge]

Thanks very much! I had been to Greg's site, and had pulled off a couple examples but missed the image you put up, Mike. That's a really good, clear shot in profile and it looks to be original. That tells me what I need to know. Richard, great idea to get the rough arch off the top then I figure to fine tune the fit by putting sandpaper on the top upside out and gently move the bridge over the top. Also I'm thinking about cutting the arch before I cut the final details of the top of the bridge... more flexibility if I have trouble getting the arch right...

[Jim Garber]

Unlike other uke-shaped mandolinettos the H-O’s are more like cylinderback Vegas except to the top is also cylindered (if that is a word). They made guitars the same way and I had a Vega guitar that was very similar. I believe these were steam-bent.

[Ginridge]

I've been pulled away from this job recently by other obligations, but am back on this project again. Here's the latest:

I decided to attempt to match the bottom arch profile on a bridge blank first, then rough out the bridge shape once that bottom was established. As discussed, I used a contour gauge to match the approx. arch, then cut it roughly to shape with a jeweler's saw.



One I had the shape roughed out, I began the slow process of matching the contour exactly to the top. I did this by placing a sheet of 120 sand paper with the paper side against the top, the very carefully moving the bridge blank back and forth until the contour matched. this was a long slow process! Once I got the shape very close (final sanding will take place at the very end of the entire process), I sketched out an approx. outline of the bridge based off of photos from Greg Miner's website and from pics and measurements sent by Lowell Levinger (thanks to both of you!), then cut out a paper template which I glued to the bridge blank.



Once again, I roughed out the shape with a jewelers saw, then cleaned up things on a belt sander and cut out the curves with a Dremel.



The bridge has not been tapered or thinned yet and has been cut quite high. It will be adjusted once the neck is re-set and the actual string height is re-established.

The next phase of this restoration will be to complete the neck re-set (a butt joint) and establish the final bridge height. At that point, I'll taper the bridge to thin the mass of the bridge and match original examples, do a final seating of the bridge, and cut my string slots. I've seen examples of these bridges that are all wood or have a bone cap (fancier models). For this project, I'll go with the all wood version.

[jzfjoni]

thanks for sharing information.