De Mureda Ressurrection

[dave17120]

Well, I am in two minds about this..... I have received a bowl-back bought on ebay for spares, and it is one the the filthiest, most damaged and abused that I have seen. I know economically it is not worth the effort of repairing, but underneath the grime I think there is a nice looking mandolin.... and I do like a challenge..... AND almost all the bits appear to be there.

Should I try it, and perhaps more pertinently, should post my progress here???

Here is a photo.... I did consider this as an entry in the 'bowl-backs of note' section, for all the wrong reasons.

Interested in your thoughts, Dave

[Jim Garber]

Go for it, Dave. If not you, then who? Besides it may otherwise end up in Taiwan.

Jim

[Keith Miller]

If anyone can do it you can ! put it down to charity
Keith

[brunello97]

You go, guy.

Out of personal interest in this, I have an old "Lanfranco" bowlback with what looks like the same butterfly (dragonfly?) pickguard. It has been on life-support for about a year now and it is finally starting to breath on its own. (I admit I'm a sucker for some of these butterfly inlays. And here I am slamming the Taiwanese tattoo-ers.....)

I'd love to follow you restoration process if you choose to share. The 'bowlback' construction thread has been fascinating to watch.

Besides, I thought there was no such thing as a dead mandolin!

Mick

[Bob A]

I didn't notice on first glance, but it appears to have been decapitated.

I don't think this kind of photo is appropriate on a site where the young and impressionable can see this level of violence.

That said, I suppose this century needs its own equivalent of the Resurrection men. The only things missing from the picture are spades and a dark lantern.

[dave17120]

Yes, I also find myself unaccountably seduced by these butterflies???

And I apologise about the violence, but there's more to come!

Well, suitably encouraged, the mandolin has been thro triage, and I have a few photos demonstrating the scale of the reconstruction.

Apart from the dirt, the biggest problem to me seems to be the strange concave shape to the table, and the large amount of hide glue lower left. Some photos...

[dave17120]

And the 'bridge' in place demonstrating the drop to the centre of the table....

[dave17120]

..........a table overview..............

[dave17120]

Quite what has happened I'm not sure yet, as all the braces seem to be still in place.
Meanwhile a few other highlights.....

damage to head stock.....

[dave17120]

Some neck embellishments......

[dave17120]

........and more...

[dave17120]

I'm going to start by taking the top off, as there are separations between it and the sides anyway, to see what has happened underneath.
A horror story of Gothic proportions seems about right Bob....
Dave

[Jim Garber]

You are a brave man, Dave! "No such thing as a dead mandolin!" indeed!

It looks like this thing was too near some heat at one time. Does it seem like something melted on the lower bass bout?

At what point do you say that the top is unsalvageable?

Man, I wish I lived closer to you (or in the same country) -- I have a box of mandolin carcasses i could send to you. (Just what you need, I know)!

Jim

[vkioulaphides]

Ah, Dave... a friendly word on resurrection from the mouth of a secular humanist... ehm... are you sure you want to resurrect THIS particular instrument? I mean, even the bravest and most dedicated medicos on the battlefield take into triage the wounded —however severely— not the dead.

Shifting gears to skepticism: would your talents not be better applied to something more... *ahem*... salvageable? You know, ars longa, vita brevis, and all that kind of fancy, Latin stuff: our time on earth is not infinite, and ought to be spent with some prior deliberation and value-judgment on how to spend it BEST.

If you want to save the soul of these instruments, perhaps you, with your considerable skills, can build a whole, brand-new Neapolitan— butterfly inlays and all. But the body of this particular (and unfortunate) creature is so far, far gone...

Mors est quies viatoris
finis est omnis laboris.

Death is the traveler's repose,
The end of all labors.

[brunello97]

Victor,

Perhaps this is turning too Gothic just at the doorstep of a beautiful autumn. (Yet Halloween is approaching.) I suppose a quick re-read of Mary Shelly's masterpiece might suggest a different approach to 'resurrecting' these body parts.

Not that I wish the Doctor's fate on Dave.

Or for added allusion we could reference, perhaps, the value of the time spent upon one Lazarus.....

My own interest includes the personal as the more photos of this mandolin I see, the more it looks like the cheaply-tagged-but-apparently-well-made Lanfranco now on the laBOHRatory table while my (somewhat short) assistant, Igor, is working on a replacement fretboard. I'd be interested to see if the two have further similarities.

I wonder if Dave has a Jacob's Ladder humming away there in his workshop.....

Mick

[vkioulaphides]

I will hope and trust that the proverbial tongue, firmly pressed against the equally proverbial cheek, is understood.

Yet I DO confess to my bias for new instruments... If anyone can bring THIS back to life, he can surely build a brand-new instrument. That is really my "core" point.

[Keith Erickson]

Or for added allusion we could reference, perhaps, the value of the time spent upon one Lazarus.....

Mick,

After seeing that headstock, I would have thought that this mandolin was destined to go the way of the dodo bird or the American Whig Party.

However after remembering the story of Lazarus, I think that anything is possible.

Dave, Maybe there was a reason for this mandolin to wind up in your hands.

[dave17120]

[QUOTE]Does it seem like something melted on the lower bass bout?

Yep, it seems like hide glue.... which is now off, to reveal that the top has split here along the edge of the purfling.... which is about what I expected. Extra support underneath would have been good, but glued on top!!

[QUOTE]At what point do you say that the top is unsalvageable?

Jim, interesting question... how do you judge? I'm going to try and rebuild, and then see what it looks like. (Sound??? who knows?)

Here is the top detached, with the glue carefully chipped away. It seems roughly intact, but rather 'wavy'.
Dave

[dave17120]

[QUOTE]are you sure you want to resurrect THIS particular instrument?

Victor, thanks for that.... I have been asking myself the same, and I know 'tempus fugit' and all that, but I am looking upon these labours of love (what else can it be?) as my apprenticeship. I am learning so much. My bowl back building project (I have been watching the 'Oldtymers' thread with great interest..) is progressing nicely, if slowly, as I work out the logistical problems thro these ressurrection jobs.

But back to the front, as it were... (battle front... mandolin front.... both...!!?)
Here is a view of the back, with disturbing amounts of glue sloshed about..... particularly along the 'break line', which is not so obvious from the front because of the dirt.

[dave17120]

Well I couldn't leave it like that, I had to know..... so I clened the glue off to see what it was hiding... and here is the answer!!

[dave17120]

The glue was in fact holding in the centre section of the table, behind the third tone bar, in front of the break line. What seems to have happened is that the break line has cracked and the top given way. Why is not so clear. The missing piece is from 'above' the break line, whilst looking at the where the 'bridge' was set up, was behind the break line. Possible the bridge was moved there after the top gave way, and just compounded the problem.... however did they think it was even vaguely in tune???

The question now is "what is the best way to repair the top along the break angle. Inserting the piece should be no problem, but I shall have to give the angle some thought. The lower bout seems to me to be the 'powerhouse' of a bowlback, and I don't want to clutter it up with re-enforcemnets if I can help it. Fortunately it is most intact here.
Any and all ideas gratefully accepted, Dave

[dave17120]

Finally a view inside the bowl once the top was removed........ the only thing missing was maggots!!

[vkioulaphides]

"...I am looking upon these labours of love (what else can it be?) as my apprenticeship."

Yes, in that case (which I presumed, anyhow), I am with you 100%. While the masters of the Renaissance certainly did not raise anyone from the dead, they also most certainly learned —and taught the rest of us— an enormous lot regarding anatomy, and the way the human body is put together and works. I rest my case.

Best of luck!

Victor

[Jim Garber]

It is an interesting question. At this point I would ask myself (had I had your luthier skills) whether it is instructive to yourself to reconstruct a "basket case" top or to install a new one perhaps reproducing or salvaging the scratchplate, inlays and binding.

If this were one of the big three Italian makers perhaps it might make sense to preserve the original top, even tho the main reasoning would be to preserve a historic instrument, rather than make it playable for a musician. Since it is a second string maker, it is a toss up.

Jim

[brunello97]

Dave,

Thanks for including us all in this process. The photos are great and show alot. What a suprise finding that hole and old patch.

A quick question: How did you get the top off? Did you use heat or steam of any kind. I'm asking as it appears the bowl and top have joint custody of some of the binding. If you salvage the top, would you replace the binding altogether?

Is it possible to make a lap joint around the perimeter of the hole (from perhaps the topside) so that your patch could then fit into (with corresponditing rabbet) and be supported by? You'd wind up with a face to glue to rather than end grain and might not need underside cleats or braces.. Some sharp chisels or perhaps a dremel-router would to the trick. Just a thought.

Mick