Finally got my bowlback playable

[RayMan7]

Hey guys, so here is my old bowlback mandolin that I done some work to, it was rough when I got it about a year ago, was covered in this glue finish stuff, had cracks, and the neck was pretty bad, but finally the other day I got it back together and playable, and its definitely as cool as I thought when I first saw it on ebay, to me its one of the coolest bowlbacks I`ve seen so I`m stoked to play it. Heres some pics, let me know what ya guys think.

[RayMan7]

Couple more, I had to make a new tuning button and a whole new bridge because over the years the actions gotten high and I didnt want to sand 3/4 off the original bridge to lower it so I made a smaller one, I used an old brass fret for the strings to sit on

[RayMan7]

And well thought I would put a couple of it "in progress", doesnt look good but I thought hey you know from that it was and how it is now I did pretty good, and Im only 17, there any other younger guys doing this?

[KristinEliza]

Awesome work! Enjoy it!

[bmac]

You did well!

Now buy a few more and do the same (only better). Pretty soon you will become one of the few knowledgable bowlback repair guys around. I admire your perceverance.

[Tavy]

Congratulations - and welcome to the bowlback club!

[Jim Garber]

Nice work, RayMan7. Was that the original fretboard? I wonder if it would be good to thicken or angle up the fretboard in order to have a higher bridge. I would think the neck reset might have been problematic since the neck joint looks like it was about to disintegrate. Still, a very admirable job.

[RayMan7]

Thanks alot everyone My plan was to just get it playable for now and touch up the finish later on when I learn how to do it, but for now I`m really happy with the way it turned out. Jim yup that is the original fretboard, and your right a higher bridge would be better, when I was putting it together I wasnt expecting it to be so low, and even now the action is a bit high, so I`m thinking if I should put a spacer under the lower half of the fretboard, but I`m not sure if the board would come off in one piece again lol.
You bet bmac, funny you say that too because its something I want to do, find any that need a bit of work, and I love the old bowbacks, and I almost love fixing them as much as playing

[kkmm]

Great works, I truly admired your skills and patience.
I always wanted to try to play a bowlback but never had a chance to do so.
I have held a few in a music store in San Francisco, but the action is way too high to get my interest.