Kentucky mandolin repair notes

[Bob Gaddis]

My old friend has a Kentucky KM-675 that he bought used 15 or more years ago. He bought it cheap because the peghead had been broken below the nut and repaired badly. Over the years, the crack slowly opened and ultimately the repair failed. I may have written before about "re"-repairing it. Anyway, he dropped it and re-broke the peghead after I had repaired the earlier botched repair. It had been holding fine until the traumatic gravitational incident.

#1 problem is that the break is right through the truss rod adjusting pocket. there is just not that much wood there to work with. compounding that, And I had not fully realized it before, is that the neck is some kind of maple-looking wood(maybe real maple, maybe not)and the flat part of the peghead is some sort of coarse-grained mahogany scarfed onto the maple.

The break is clean without much grain tear-out and not much glue residue. The plan is for fresh hot hide glue. After I get it glued and solid, I will drill two small hole in whatever sound wood is left and insert some small carbon-fiber rods with epoxy. I'm also considering some small overlays on the outside and re-profiling the neck.

I've had a pretty good opinion about Kentucky mandolins, but this has given me pause. Poor design, poorly executed. I may end up replacing the entire neck with a new maple one, but it will be a labor of love, 'cause it sure won't be cost-effective.

[Tim Mace]

Sounds like more trouble than it's worth but you might just get a carved neck of the style closest to it at Stew Mac for $100+. Not being familiar w/the neck joint ...you may have to modify.

[Bob Gaddis]

The problem with these Asian instruments is the catalyzed polyester finish which makes it really difficult to remove the old neck and touch up the neck joint. If this wasn't a long-time friend who is in his late 70's and hasn't much money, I'd suggest he buy a new mandolin and make a lamp out of this one.

[Tim Mace]

I thought Kentucky was Uncle Slim product? Might as well make a birdhouse of it. BUY AMERICAN
that's not hollerin'....just GOODSOUND advice.For a reasonable offer I'll sell him one of my home mades!!!! Bolt ons that actually play well!First one on the left is gone!Here's a pic.

[Donald A. Fortune]

Nice work Tim -- do they play and sound as good as they look???
Peace,
Donald

[Tim Mace]

Don,I've been playin' and fine tuning them for months.Neck angles,bridges,nuts.......they ain't
perfect but that's 'cause I made 'em! They play well.Actually 2 of these are gone. I'm more attached to mandolas now for that manly midrage tone.

[Bob Gaddis]

Saga owns them, but they are still made in China. This one is Japanese, tough. Thanks for the offer,but he likes F-style mandolins

[Frank Ford]

Bob -

Sometimes cyanoacrylate is the best choice when you need some gap filling qualities and a good solid joint, particularly if there's any old glue or other contamination.

I think I'd go with a long overlay and skip any dowels or splines. There's precious little wood there.

[Bob Gaddis]

any suggestion as to the best way for overlays on such a small thin area? I have it glued back with hide glue. I'm thinking instead a shallow scallop with a sander, I'll rasp a flat on each side of the crack and epoxy in a flat-bottomed overlay and re-profile the contour. Sunburst the finish to hide it.

[Frank Ford]

This one was repaired with a full overlay that didn't extend down the neck very far. My preference would been to have run it down to the second fret. Additionally, it was done with Titebond and it failed utterly in a hot car.

When I do the backstrap overlay, I take material off the entire peghead back, and run the strap down as far as practical on the neck. Here's what can happen if you really skimp: