Asian mandolin updates

[Bob Gaddis]

I got my friend's Kentucky mandolin neck glued back together with hide glue and the joint is really tight and smooth. I am going to overlay the entire cracked area with carbon-fiber tape and epoxy, sand smooth and sunburst. I think it will be ok, If not, nothing lost but a little time and some carbon fiber tape. I debated overlaying wood, but the amount of wood in the cracked area is minimal.

I bought a Savannah solid-wood mandolin last year. I was told it was a prototype for The Loar, as it has some details the regular production Savannah doesn't have. Anyway Greg Rich told me it wasn't a prototype, but a mandolin that was used to teach the workers how to carve the plates, etc. It sounded good when I bought it and I got a good deal on it. I took it out to pick it last week and the action was way high. The neck had pulled up a little and truss rod adjustment did nothing useful. So I removed the fingerboard and checked out the dovetail. There is more gap than there is wood, so I'm going to re-set the neck, adding maple shims when I get the angle right. I'll have to make a new FB support. I'll probably use my heat gun to strip the finish and go back with nitro lacquer. Can't hurt.