A friend is repairing an old Gibson mandolin and brought me two of the pick guard clamps to repair. The one just needed a new brass catch tab. I machined several of the brass catch tabs and just finished reassembling it and staking a new rivet in place to hold it together. Now comes the bigger problem. The other clamp had been broken at the 'gooseneck' and the previous owner soldered it together - not very well, as seen in the photos below. Well.... the photo refuses to go below, so they're above. Are replacement clamps available somewhere? I've read elsewhere that these clamps are nickel plated brass or nickel silver, so TIG welding probably isn't an option. Has anyone else dealt with this problem or have any ideas for a solution?
As an aside, there's a nice writeup on these clamps and their adjustment at Paul Hostetter's site:
http://www.lutherie.net/Gibson.mandolin.pickguard.clamp.html
Again, is there any experience in dealing with this problem? If not, is there someplace else that it would be worth placing the query?
