an experience in Lutherie.

[admin]

Well fellas, I guess ya could say I've gone and done it. I recently purchased a cheap mandolin through an online store, and, as I knew it could occur; I got screwed. By not being able to handle it prior to buying, I was unable to inspect it. Had I, I would not have bought it.

Well, long story short, out of the box, it was messed up. The neck is a three piece design, and where the main piece of the neck meets the heel of the neck, it had separated. Cheap instrument, cheap glue, go figure.

And, frankly the idea of working on an musical instrument had me a little nervous. What if I damaged it? Then it occured to me, I'd already checked on potential return options. The only reasonable one was to send it back to the company, and they'd repair it and send it back. Stupid policy. Oh, and there's the little mention of me paying to have it fixed... Screw that! I figured a couple things out at that point. 1. that company will not be getting anymore of my money, 2, it would cost me more to ship it to Kansas City and have it repaired than a new one would cost.

And then... LOML decided to ask me a very good question.

"What the hell are all those tools in your shop for? Decoration???"

Huh? Was my reply.

"It looks like wood, you have a whole shop full of wood tools. Fix it. Can't be too hard to do."

And then I got to thinking. It's wood. I do know a little about working with wood. Thus, I should be able to handle it. So, I took a small paintbrush, and using some wood glue, I just put some down in the gap between the heel block and the neck piece. Gave it time to dry, then tuned the instrument. 4 sets of 2 strings each, all tuned up, sounded wonderful, just wonderful. I fretted an A chord, strummed it and...

The glue joint I made let go, and about one sixteenth of a second later, the entire neck jumped off the thing, nearly removing my finger in the process. (had my hand in the wrong place. I was reaching to hold the neck to the body while I detuned it, slammed my index finger and folded it backwards... Ouchie!)

So, this situation is no better. Until I realized that actually it was a LOT better. Now, I can glue it back into place properly, instead of trying to glue into a tiny slot.

Off to the shop I went. First job was to get the adhesive used in the factory off it so I could work with bare wood. Gluing on top of their glue is a waste, since their glue has already proven that it's not up to the task. So, a quick shave with the chisel and that was done. Then a quick roughup with the rasp to give the glue a good something to hold to seemed in order. Nothing special (although I did discover that there's no maple in it as the ad said, it's plain pine on the heel block...) No surprise.

Applied a respectable amount of glue, not enough and I won't get a good bond. Too much and there's too much glue to allow a good bond. Then I used a few protection blocks and C clamps to hold it together until it dries. I clamped it together at 2AM, I'll be expecting it to be almost ready to declamp around 10AM or so at the earliest.

Now, I do NOT like the way the heel block is sitting at current, just doesn't line up ideally with the neck like I want. Depending on the look of it tomorrow, I'll have to decide what I'll do. It seems the best options I have are to try and remove the heel block and remake another that fits better and hits the neck like I want. Not a great option, as I have no clue how the heel block is fit into the body, nor do I know how to remove it without destroying the instrument. So, that's pretty much out of the question. That's 'advanced' I'm more in the 'beginner' section of the 'for dummies' bookstore.

The second option is much less aesthetically pleasing, but it's probably the best option. Place a couple nails (I have good looking brass ones) very strategically through the heel into the neck. It's not going to be 'pretty' but it should work ok. It's a matter of the neck bowing one way, the heel block bowing another, and there ya go. A nail (or series of strategically placed nails) will likely fix it with enough strength to be permanent, at the cost of it being all wood and glue. Cheap mandolin, cheap solution.

I'll do my best to post pics as the instrument nears completion (read; fixed). There's a couple issues with the finish getting fouled by my ignorance, but I've got an idea on that front. At best, I'll end up with a lousy looking mandolin that plays. At worse, I'll end up with a bridge, tuners, pick guard, and fret board from this one to put on a later instrument.

Oh, and when the finances dictate, I will be buying a 'kit' mandolin. It'll not only help me get started down the road to making my own instruments, it'll let me see how the pieces go together, and an opportunity to get an idea what the pieces I'd need to make will look like before they are all together.

Pics will be forthcoming when they are due. I hate the hassle of getting pics off my camera and getting them on the computer (it's just a stupid method of doing it, but it's the fastest way) but for once, I think it's justified for this project.

And just like that, I've taken my first step into the world of lutherie. I've been looking for where I belong, maybe musical instruments is the one. Who knows, lol.

Well fellas, down the road I go!

[sawduster]

While it sounds to me like you are enjoying this venture into lutherie, it seems to me that if this was a "new" mandolin and was broken when you got it, barring damage by the shipping company which should be evident on the packaging, the seller has violated the "contract" and would be required by law to replace/repair it totally at their expense. Any return of it to them should be at their expense, as well as the shipping to you.

But, since you're having fun fixing it, then . . . ;D

[Joe Lyddon]

Sounds like you're headed in the right direction! ;D ;D

Good Luck...

At least you know HOW it should be... Now, just Do it!

[TDHofstetter]

I'm thinkin'... the combination of damage AND misrepresentation (no maple) is cause for a lotta' noise headed toward that vendor until they replace it outright with one that conforms to their claims (undamaged, maple). But... this DOES gain you an opportunity, a foray into a field where - I suspect - you may be spending a fair amount of your time in the future. Can't say how, but I seem to see some adventures out there ahead of you...

STILL I'd bark at that vendor. Ain't RIGHT, and they NEED to afford you some sort of compensation 'cause you didn't get what you paid for.

[Joe Lyddon]

Yes, at least call the Store, tell them how you feel about it, hint to fraud, etc., and maybe they will make you happy...

Did you use a Credit Card to buy it?
If so, there might be some extra protection there... call'em and ask... you might be surprised...

[admin]

I'll get on the blower monday and see what the store wants to do. Even though this has given me an opportunity to try out lutherie, I still paid for a functional mando, which this wasn't until I FIXED it. ;D (Yes, past tense there, Fixed!) They'll hear from me for sure. I have completely whizzed all over the warranty, but still, it's the principle. LEaving a buyer with no options except to pay more, it sucks. They sell a lot of lower cost instruments, and having to pay to ship it, then pay to ship it back, then pay to fix it, that's an easy way of assuring they don't get many back to mess with! I'm dumb, but even I won't spend $120 to fix a $50 item.

Keep in mind, photography is what I do when I need to show something, I'm not, repeat NOT, Mr. Laxton!

Here's a shot of the face. It looks to me to be a tobacco sunburst finish. This is basically just to show it off, I Love the look of this thing. You can't really tell, but this sucker shines like wild. I had to really work to get a pic without this huge glare on it. (Ambient lighting's not really good enough to turn the flash off, and since I photograph infrequently, I'll not waste the time to make a 'station for it until I get a better cam. Mine has a glitch and it makes the pictaking experience more like dental work.)



Here's my 'repair'. It ended up getting a nail in it as I simply did not trust the glue to hold by itself. It's stronger than wood! Pity, I know how flimsy this wood was!The finish on the heel got a little clunked because I'm an IDIOT, but it'll come out fine.





The flat black substance is an acrylic paint that was in an 'art kit' layin' around here. The work needed done in a place where it was black, so I didn't have to mix color or any of that. Applied with a fine pointed brush. As you might notice, the neck shifted sideways during the clamping process, so there's a 1/32" lip there. Fooey. On my next one, that'll be thought out a little better. I didn't think the dovetail would allow lateral movement, I was wrong.

From here, my path is pretty straight forward. I'll sock on a couple more coats of flat black to make sure it's good and thick, then I'll use micromesh to smooth it up. Might end up repainting it a couple times, as I'm not sure how robust the acrylic will be to withstanding a bit o' polishing. If it needs another coating of acrylic, or even a more suitable paint, I'll do it. Nothing really keeping me from tuning and tweaking on the repair. It's all good practice anyways. Better to work on and screw up a cheap mandolin than some $750 instrument!

After the finishing bit is done, I am thinking of doing a nicely applied spray finish of clearcoat. Probably work out some way to fog in on so as not to get the line between finished and unfinished areas. I'll figure out a way to make it look good, as it looks a bit like a dogs left foot with this glistening sunburst finish, with flat black on the heel.

Now, the question has been raised; why paint it before I knew it would hold? The paint was fairly decent quality ($11 for a teeny little tube), so it could be seen as wasteful to put it on there so soon before I knew if it'd hold. But, the wood in there is light in color. With the way it was, ya could still see a bit of the whitish wood in there from when I fouled the finish, and I'd not be able to tell if the crack was widening until it'd opened way wide. Now, if that crack opens up at all, it'll be plainly obvious as it'll be two black sections with a whitish gap. I'm not as think as you dumb I am!

Now, for the $500 question; does it WORK? The answer is a resounding 'yup!' It has held it's tune with only expected variance since this morning around 9AM. The strings are new, and they're stretching nicely. My main interest is in the repair, unless I see that gap open, I'm going to leave it be. Mostly, I've been sitting here waiting for what sounds like a .357 Magnum going off, as that's the sound it made when it went blooey the first time. My suspicion is, as it is now, it won't just open the crack slowly, if it goes, it'll GO.

Body laying over there>>>>>
neck laying over there<<<<<

But thus far, I'm willing to call it a success, it seems to my inexperienced hands, to be fixed. I'll put some pains into putting something fancy on the finish once I'm sure it'll always be one piece. I got caught with my britches down today; no lutherie supplies, not even fine finishing materials, so I was completely off guard. I'll hafta remedy that!

Confidence runs high since it seems my very first lutherie repair was a gold star (ok, since the neck shifted as I clamped it, I'll mark it as a silver star, but the shoddy dovetail done by the folks at Rogue are to blame for making it so it could shift!)

Where to from here? Well, this repair job has me sorta amped up. Yeah, it wasn't that difficult, nor did I do it like some high-dolla lutheir would have done it, but it's in one piece, it sounds excellent, and it looks fair. I'll be buying a mandolin kit (or a western steelstring) and will finally dig into the build process. I have limited space, so I'm almost sure it'll be a mandolin. With two full size guitars, a mandolin, a big ol' Amp, and several notebooks full of data, I'm not really sure where I'd put another fullsize guitar. Small house; big hobby!

This won't be the last time I tinker with musical instruments. If I become capable just at repairing them, I'll save money in the long run as I won't have to hire out to have my stuff fixed.

Thanks for watchin' fellas!

TJ.

[TDHofstetter]

Cool!

That IS a pretty one, ain't it?

Ya don't suppose they shipped that via United, do ya? I hear United breaks guitars...

I'm not sure about the acrylic, but I'm confident that a brushed lacquer would build nicely to a thickness that'd sand out to a beautiful gloss approaching that of the overall finish.

You LIKE that double-tone "phased" sound ya pull out of it, don't you? I always did like the sound of double-stringed instruments.

[Joe Lyddon]

TJ, you're doing good!

What kind of glue did you use on the Fix?
Epoxy?

Looking fwd to hearing what it sounds like
(after you've had a little practice on it... ;D ;D ).

[admin]

Joe,

I used ordinary wood glue. I had some Monkey Glue (Gorilla) that I figured would do a good job for me and this allowed me to get rid of the stuff before it dried out. It did an OK job. I also slathered it on ALL the mating surfaces. On the neck joint the way it was, there were two little blops of glue about the size of a dime. Now, I've got enough on it to hold. I had squeeze out on all sides, ordinarily a good sign that it's glued nicely.

Throughout today since I put the strings back on, it's gone down 1 half step in tuning. My acoustic guitar lost 1 full step on the low E, so I attribute it to the weather conditions. (Rainy, humid, etc). I'll not test the theory, but I've got the suspicion I could perform an El Kabong with the mandolin and the neck joint would be the hardest point to fracture. It'd probably bust along the edges by my guess.

Today was a good day. I put a second coat of black paint on there and then gave it a light coating of aerosol clearcoat (Yup, rattlecan) and then about three hours later I put on a second spray, this time feathering the edges away so as to hide the 'seam' between the old finish and new finish. A quick polish up with 12000 Micro-Mesh topped it off. Now, there IS a visible point where ya can see the black paint under the clear. The paint I used is the blackest I could find, and it's STILL lighter than the black finish on the mando. I dunno how a person makes a finish so deep and rich, but it looks like you could get your hands wet with used motor oil handling it. Very rich.

As for the sound, I'm still rounding the first section of the curves of learning. I've got a fairly good understanding of how to play the tremolo lick (pre-requisite for playing slower paced Bluegrass music) as well as several two finger chords and a good DUUD strum pattern that sounds pretty good. It's coming along nicely. I wish I'd known that the finish was so much darker than the black paint I had.

BTW, in my top picture, you can see the little trick I learned since I start working on chords with my acoustic. I'd had trouble flinging my little greasy picks, so I took one the thickness I like and then put blue painters tape on it to give me something to hang on to. I've done it to several of my picks, homemade and store bought. Works a LOT better than I'd expected. ;D

Thanks for showing interest guys.

TJ.

[Beamer]

I had WONDERED what that blue was ... i thought you made yerself a two-tone pick or something

Nice stuff. I dunno if i'd ever get into mando playin, but you look like yer enjoyin' it quite a bit. Good to see

[admin]

It's... different than the electric and acoustic. I love the sound of it, but it seems I can't find the middle ground; my guitars have a fretboard that's too wide, this one has one that's too narrow, LOL.

And, the basic scale, it's all the way up the the fifth fret because it's only four sets of two strings. So playing the scale is a bit more involved. Takes a little more mental strain than playing the scale on the 6 string. Although, I do like the tone and how it comes along. The most simple triplet sounds pretty ritzy. I've found with the guitar, I hafta work twice as hard to make it sound half as good. Not so with the mando.

TJ.