Getting some work done on a Gibson mandolin in Illinois

**steve t** · May-16-2023, 10:36am

Looking for advice. I have a new to me Gibson A5 from the late 90's, and I'd like to find a good luthier to work on it. I'm considering scooping out the fretboard extension (the clicking is driving me crazy and I'm never going to play up that high), speed-necking it, and the bridge needs some fine tuning. Maybe also some fretwork.

I'm pretty sure I can send it to Bruce Weber in Montana and he'll do a great job, but I'm wondering if there's a good local option so I don't have to ship it. I'm in Champaign. Any recommendations of someone good?

**geechee** · May-16-2023, 11:54am

Might want to check with Tyler White over in Bloomington IN. Can’t say enough good things about him and his work. http://www.whitemandolins.com

**steve t** · May-16-2023, 12:10pm

Wow. Those are some beautiful instruments. Thanks for the tip.

**Don Grieser** · May-17-2023, 9:24pm

Dale Ludewig is in Illinois. http://www.ludewigmandolins.com/

**Fretbear** · May-18-2023, 1:18am

Originally Posted by geechee

Might want to check with Tyler White over in Bloomington IN. Can’t say enough good things about him and his work. http://www.whitemandolins.com

Compare the delicate dimensions of Tyler's F-holes to what you typically see.

The earliest Loars had smaller sized F-Holes than the later ones.

Some of the Loar Mandolas (which had bigger bodies) had smaller F-holes that looked more like these.

I have always felt that the standard sized ones were excessive.

**HoGo** · May-18-2023, 1:29am

Originally Posted by Fretbear

Compare the delicate dimensions of Tyler's F-holes to what you typically see.

The earliest Loars had smaller sized F-Holes than the later ones.

Some of the Loar Mandolas (which had bigger bodies) had smaller F-holes that looked more like these.

I have always felt that the standard sized ones were excessive.

Size of f holes affects resonance of body air cavity (Dave correct me if I worded it wrong). Generally smaller apertures will shift the resonance towards bass notes.
The (relatively) smaller apertures of mandolas can help with the lowest notes as the body itself is not sized proportionally to tuning (when compared to mandolin).
Early Loars had quite a few deviations from what later Loars show, but that has probably more with re-tooling and new fixtures after initial "prototype" batches were finished.

**Rodney Riley** · May-18-2023, 6:49am

Look up Steve Perry’s profile. I haven’t been spending much time here at the cafe, so not sure his status now. Remember that he had move to the Chicago area. He did the mando voodoo. Reprofiling the bracing on mandolins.

Sorry, did some checking. I see he moved to Virginia in 2021. (<Removed by Moderator>).