I'm posting these for advice. How would you go about fixing this. I'm trying to formulate a plan of attack again.
I'm posting these for advice. How would you go about fixing this. I'm trying to formulate a plan of attack again.
More (talk about uneven stain I see the future on this one too). It has been stripped,painted and I stripped it again. It has alot of brown left in the grain of the top and back but the original color was some sort of dark brown anyway, walnut maybe? I quit on this one about 3 years ago. I think I'll start again.
From this pic you can see some crack repair.Do I need to take the neck out, put it in a mold to get the sides put back together in the end block? Then go back and add the top, neck , then the back, in that order. If so, I need an outside form. I could never see how to clamp all that end block back together at once.
Here I go, sticking my nose in where I have no first-hand experience (having never done this rib repair)... but since when has that stopped me?
I don't see anything in your pictures that would cause me to remove the neck. From your pics it looks like things are pretty clean, but first I would make sure that all the old glue and any dirt is gone from the gluing surfaces. Secondly I would push the sides together by hand to determine whether they are going to snug in under the top properly. After that I would refer to this FRETS.COM page on using "bench clamps" to push things back into place during the glue up. Frank's even got pics using this clamping system to repair sides on F and A style mandos. While I was testing the clamp up (never spread glue until you're sure how the clamps are going to fit) I would probably set the back in place to make sure the shape will be about right. I don't know if I would try gluing the tail block in before gluing the sides or after... I would figure that out while I was test fitting parts and clamps... but my experience with other projects makes me think it would be an intuitive exercise at that point.
I'm sure there are plenty of approaches to skinning this cat and that you'll get some "I've done this before" posts that have some great suggestions, but hopefully this is of some help (at least the FRETS reference).
Paul Doubek
"... beauty is not found in the excessive but what is lean and spare and subtle" - Terry Tempest Williams
I was thinking about the end block being glued in first during construction. Also making the Screw board clamp thing looks well, like I could make or buy a mold to fit the outside easier.
The advice to make sure everything fits DRY first is right on. You may have to try several approaches to get it back together in a tidy condition. Absolutely make sure all glue surfaces are clean. You might even be better off replacing the kerfed lining. It looks as though the mandolin was soaked apart.
I hope you enjoy puzzles, and treat this puzzle as an important project. That way you will end up with a well restored instrument. Remember, "first, do no harm". This has the potential to be a great educational exercise.
Great observation skills. This mandolin was in an outside bldg. that leaked on the case and got the mandolin wet. When I got the mando the top had pulled up maybe 1/2 inch or more, pulling the sides part way before they let go. The sides were pulling away from the neck block but I glued them back with hide glue. The back had started to separate down the center seam and also was warped some. The mando was painted milk choclate brown been refreted poorly. I thought it wold be a long puzzle to solve and it has been. I've stripped all the old paint off and tried not to sand it much to preserve the graduations. There is one little patch of the original finish were the tailpc covered it. After getting to this point I stopped. I wondered if I should just go ahead and take it completly apart and reassemble it. Like building a new one or if there was a way to short cut all that process.
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