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| Gene Monteith... |
 Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2003 7:35 am |
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About ten years ago I bought a Goya (Martin) A-style mandolin at a local
string shop. Though not a top-of-the-line instrument, the quality seemed
pretty good for my own purposes, and it's brought me many hours of
enjoyment. Now I have a problem. The stress from the strings has caused the
top to sink to the point where the instrument is now unplayable. I no longer
live in the community where I bought it, and taking it back to the store
probably wouldn't be an option, anyway. Is there anything that can be done,
short of having a new top made? And, if having a new top made is the only
option, what kind of cost would I be looking at? I paid about $300 for the
mandolin. Any advice is welcome. |
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| Jim Polaski... |
| Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2003 12:11 am |
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In article <_Leeb.42382$uJ2.3268 at (no spam) fe3.columbus.rr.com>,
"Gene Monteith" <gmonteit at (no spam) columbus.rr.com> wrote:
Quote: About ten years ago I bought a Goya (Martin) A-style mandolin at a local
string shop. Though not a top-of-the-line instrument, the quality seemed
pretty good for my own purposes, and it's brought me many hours of
enjoyment. Now I have a problem. The stress from the strings has caused the
top to sink to the point where the instrument is now unplayable. I no longer
live in the community where I bought it, and taking it back to the store
probably wouldn't be an option, anyway. Is there anything that can be done,
short of having a new top made? And, if having a new top made is the only
option, what kind of cost would I be looking at? I paid about $300 for the
mandolin. Any advice is welcome.
Given what you paid for that mando it may not be worth fixing. I'm
guessing that the supports/tone bars inside on the top have seperated
from the top and the string pressure has caused it to go in. Only a
guess though.
Fixing would require taking the top off and determing if it could be
repaired. I think the determining factor is two things. Sentimental and
practical. The practical is what is that mando worth today repaired?
Depending on the repair costs, it may or may not or it might be worth it
to you.
OTOH, go look around these places:
http://www.elderly.com
htto://www.mandolinbrothers.com
They have lots of new and vintage instruments. Elderly is in lansing,
michigan and Mandolin Brothers is in NY. You should get some idea of
what's out there. IF a repairman changes $25-50/hr, depending on what's
required, you can see that repairing your mando may not be an
inexpensive proposition.
You could look up a repairman in Barrien Sprints, Michigan whose name is
Jan Burda and give him a call. If you Google Barrien Springs, Michigan
and look there I think he could be found. Call and ask him what it might
cost. Great repairman, Martin guitars and he has built mando's...and he
builds guitars too.
--
Regards,
JP
"The measure of a man is what he will do while expecting that he will get nothing in return!"
Macintosh for productivity. Linux for servers. Palm/Visor for mobility. Windows to feed the Black Hole in your IT budget |
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| Gene Monteith... |
| Posted: Sun Oct 05, 2003 5:27 pm |
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| Thanks for the info. I'll check it out. |
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| RJSwanson... |
| Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2003 12:56 am |
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I had the same problem a long time ago. My solution was to detune and
release the tension, then cut a dowl rod to jam inside like a sound post in
a violin or viola. Then wedge it inside at the spot below the bridge.
It kept if from collapsing, although it did deaden the sound. Not a
perfect solution, but it kept it playable.
Sven
"Gene Monteith" <gmonteit at (no spam) columbus.rr.com> wrote in message
news:_Leeb.42382$uJ2.3268 at (no spam) fe3.columbus.rr.com...
Quote: About ten years ago I bought a Goya (Martin) A-style mandolin at a local
string shop. Though not a top-of-the-line instrument, the quality seemed
pretty good for my own purposes, and it's brought me many hours of
enjoyment. Now I have a problem. The stress from the strings has caused
the
top to sink to the point where the instrument is now unplayable. I no
longer
live in the community where I bought it, and taking it back to the store
probably wouldn't be an option, anyway. Is there anything that can be
done,
short of having a new top made? And, if having a new top made is the only
option, what kind of cost would I be looking at? I paid about $300 for the
mandolin. Any advice is welcome.
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| Jon8239... |
| Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2004 5:19 pm |
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Hi,
The proper repair for this is to remove the front, take a cast of the
outside arch, reshape the cast to a negative of the proper arch, remove the
tone bars, press the front to the reshaped cast, probably fit a (bell) patch
to the central part of the instrument, fit and shape new tone bars, and
replace the front.
Obviously quite a bit of work, so only worth it for sentimental reasons. Any
good violin restorer should be able to do this work - ask friends who play
fiddle for their opinions on local restorers, having to have work undone and
redone properly a second time is a lot more expensive than getting it right
first time.
Jon
"RJSwanson" <rjswanson at (no spam) comcast.net> wrote in message
news:6e6dndOIC8H_mUmiRVn-jw at (no spam) comcast.com...
Quote: I had the same problem a long time ago. My solution was to detune and
release the tension, then cut a dowl rod to jam inside like a sound post
in
a violin or viola. Then wedge it inside at the spot below the bridge.
It kept if from collapsing, although it did deaden the sound. Not a
perfect solution, but it kept it playable.
Sven
"Gene Monteith" <gmonteit at (no spam) columbus.rr.com> wrote in message
news:_Leeb.42382$uJ2.3268 at (no spam) fe3.columbus.rr.com...
About ten years ago I bought a Goya (Martin) A-style mandolin at a local
string shop. Though not a top-of-the-line instrument, the quality seemed
pretty good for my own purposes, and it's brought me many hours of
enjoyment. Now I have a problem. The stress from the strings has caused
the
top to sink to the point where the instrument is now unplayable. I no
longer
live in the community where I bought it, and taking it back to the store
probably wouldn't be an option, anyway. Is there anything that can be
done,
short of having a new top made? And, if having a new top made is the
only
option, what kind of cost would I be looking at? I paid about $300 for
the
mandolin. Any advice is welcome.
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| Mitch Dickson... |
| Posted: Sat Oct 30, 2004 10:57 am |
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mitch at (no spam) volstate.net
"Gene Monteith" <gmonteit at (no spam) columbus.rr.com> wrote in message
news:_Leeb.42382$uJ2.3268 at (no spam) fe3.columbus.rr.com...
Quote: About ten years ago I bought a Goya (Martin) A-style mandolin at a local
string shop. Though not a top-of-the-line instrument, the quality seemed
pretty good for my own purposes, and it's brought me many hours of
enjoyment. Now I have a problem. The stress from the strings has caused
the
top to sink to the point where the instrument is now unplayable. I no
longer
live in the community where I bought it, and taking it back to the store
probably wouldn't be an option, anyway. Is there anything that can be
done,
short of having a new top made? And, if having a new top made is the only
option, what kind of cost would I be looking at? I paid about $300 for the
mandolin. Any advice is welcome.
The instrument is not worth repair so what I would do is take a soundpost
measure and cut two posts and place them under the treble and bass side of
the bridge feet and "jack it up to where I could get a modified bridge in
under it raising the strings to a playable distance and using ultra light
guage strings, made by buying single strings for guitar at a music
tore( for instance .009 guage for the E and .012 for the A, etc) and using
it like that. Get an old fiddle player to help you cut and insert the
posts, as he will have the soundpost tools and know how to use them. Who
knows, might even improve the tone!!!
C YA
Mitch
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| Jim Lapeyre... |
| Posted: Mon Nov 01, 2004 8:40 pm |
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Quote: ...so what I would do is take a soundpost
measure and cut two posts and place them under the treble and bass side of
the bridge feet and "jack it up to where I could get a modified bridge in
under it raising the strings to a playable distance and using ultra light
guage strings, made by buying single strings for guitar at a music
tore( for instance .009 guage for the E and .012 for the A, etc) and using
it like that. Get an old fiddle player to help you cut and insert the
posts, as he will have the soundpost tools and know how to use them. Who
knows, might even improve the tone!!!
See, now, this kinda thing makes me absolutely certain I'll always be an
amateur! Glad you're out there, Mitch... I would've thought of
something like this in about maybe seventy years or so...
Amiably,
Jimbeaux |
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