The Kentucky MIJ Mandolins

[mike carne]

I have a 1980's KM-850 Bought on Ebay.Fantastic wood & workmanship-almost mint-which brings me to the problem.I think it has hardly been played & has been kept in it's case unplayed for months or years.So the neck has a kink at the 12th fret-straight from nut to 12-I'VE TIGHTENED THE TRUSS ROD,but it's still the same.Perfectly playable,but the fingerboard extension means pick clicking.I know I could get the frets filed down or even removed,but my main concern is that the mandolin just doesn't produce the tone or volume it should.Ideas please!

[Tim Mace]

I've been beefing up my mando's each make....wider sides...only flat tops..Always have made wider fingerboards for the same reasons.Just completed what I'm classifying as a mandola
about 2.5 deep/14in wide at the bout.A somewhat unique shape too.All mahog.ah hell here's a pic.............

[Tim Mace]

sent wrong pic 1st time.........oops 2nd try

[Ned Knepp]

If you haven't see it already there is a web site you might be interested in reading. This guy has done quite a bit of work on mandolin bridge design. I haven't tried any of these ideas yet but my brother made the bridge for one of the mandolins he built using some of these ideas and it worked pretty well.

http://www.murphymethod.com/redbridge.html

I think that every solid bridge I've seen on a mando seemed to work better than an adjustable bridge.

Ned

[Bob Gaddis]

If the truss rod is too tight it can affect the sound quality. In your efforts to straighten the neck, an over-tight TR could be part of the problem. Other than that, imported F-style mandolins are a crap-shoot. Sometimes you get a great one, sometimes not. I have fixed several F-style that have the hump by removing frets, leveling the fingerboard and re-fretting.

If the top and back of your mandolin aren't tuned correctly to the correct phase, you can get "dead" sound. Likewise, a poorly-graduated top and back, an inferior neck block/dovetail or bad glue joints, or improperly tuned tone bars and wrongly-sized f-holes can create inferior sound.

Most of these mandolins are created more with the look-alike function more than the sound-alike function of vintage F-5's. If you're fond of the mandolin, it may be worth adjusting.

I've never known why the things have fingerboard extensions. Does anybody actually play there?

[Tim Mace]

I'm pretty sure Loar/Gibson was involved in the development to include the fingerboard extension which is neccesary
to accomodate the neck angle being set at 7 degrees.Personally I don't like all the bells and whistles involved
in putting the body together like an armour plated tank w/cornerblocks, scrolls,tone bars and stuff although the great ones are hard to beat for tone others lack a quality sound. I better shut up .........

[Bob Gaddis]

What about the F-12 and F-7 which have no fingerboard extension?

[mike carne]

I think weight is a big factor.The Eccleshall is as light as a fiddle and is definately my cannon.Same applies to guitars-if my Bluegrass buddies admire a guitar & pick it up ,they always remark"It's really light."

Thanks all for your input-I may bother another Luthier buddy,Andy Viccars,for a fret job and solid bridge!

[mike carne]

Yeah ,Ive got an F12