Kentucky KM-675 broken neck

[Bob Gaddis]

I have a elderly friend who has an older KM-675. Good sounding little mandolin, but it had a broken neck when he bought it. It had been "repaired", but the joint was visible and palpable. The crack is below the 1st and 2nd fret on the backside of the neck. It follows the grain. I repaired it again for him several years ago and it held fine until he dropped it recently and the peghead broke off. I repaired it again but there was not enough wood on each side of the truss rod pocket to have enough gluing surface for a solid repair. It has separated again, as I suspected it might. My next approach might be to facet the back of the neck and add some maple splice plates overlapping the site of the original separation. Then I'd re-profile the neck and hide the evidence with a dark sunburst. The problem is there is so very little surface to work with. I've also considered drilling and interposing a couple of carbon fiber rods through the separation. Not a good idea, I don't think.

The right way would be to completely re-neck the mandolin. The problem with that is getting the polyester finish off at the neck joint and being able to refinish it without it looking crappy. And it may be difficult to extract the neck without damaging the neck block.

I don't charge him for any work I do, since he has little money and has been a friend for 30-some years. I still want to do it right and I hate to see him trash the mandolin, since it's better than his old Alvarez.

ANy suggestions would be appreciated.

[LARRY KLOSE]

Can't help much but Frank Ford has a number of neck repair articles on http://www.frets.com that might provide insight.

Larry

[Tim Mace]

A new neck can be purchased at StewMac.Might be a good candidate for a bolt on if the joints don't match up.uness you can make your own..........Siminoff has necks too or maybe KentuckyPartsWarehouse if one exists or find a Kentucky w/a bad bod. Surely they exist..

[Bob Gaddis]

Making or buying a neck is not the problem. The problem is how to remove the old one with the crappy catalyzed polyester finish.They tend to resist normal attempts of cutting the joint loose. The finish tends to chip off in chunks. I had a Taka mandolin that I attacked the joint years ago because the neck angle was too shallow. Ended up tearing the dovetaill all to pieces. The mandolin and neck are still in the barn awaiting a solution. I think I'll take my Dremel and a cut-off blade and attack the joint after removing the fingerbaord. I don't know if a heat gun will soften that finish to where I can cut the joint with a violin knife. If it was mine, I'd remove the finish and refinish it with nitro.

[Tim Mace]

Acetone won't melt this stuff or a stripper solution?... just asking not suggesting.

[Bob Gaddis]

With nitro, i could paint on some lacquer thinner on the joint and soften it so it could be scored. This stuff is pretty much impervious to common solvents. I'm going to try to overlay the crack first. If that won't work, then Ill regroup and re "strategerize."

[Antonio Cotichini]

It's interesting, why don't you send a couple of pictures of the broken part and of the neck-to-body joint?

[Bob Gaddis]

As soon as I get the mandolin from my friend,I'll post some pix.