Mandolin Rescue

Before

Repairing and refinishing musical instruments is not my expertise.  In fact, playing them aren't my expertise either.  But, if you have been following my blog for very long, you know that my teenage son is the musician in the family. He is the proud owner of an electric guitar, a beautiful acoustic guitar and a Koa Ukulele as well as an electric keyboard.  There is never a day in our house when there isn't music flowing from his room.  He has gotten pretty accomplished for his age and we no longer wince at the sound of him practicing.  Ahh......

A little over a week ago, we were passing a neighbors yard sale and he screamed out, "WAIT!  I see a banjo at that yard sale!"  Trying not to run into a tree, I composed myself and turned the car around to take a look.  After all, anyone screaming out in such a frantic tone would turn anyone around!   There was a banjo, three inexpensive brand acoustic guitars and a little unloved mandolin.  What an eye. Wonder where he has learned this skill. (wink)

The seller allowed us to take the mandolin and the banjo to a local music store before purchasing them because they were both damaged.  As it turned out, the banjo was going to cost more to fix than what it was worth.  The store wouldn't fix the mandolin, but every single employee in the place wanted to play it.  Sweet, warm sound.  Ahh.....  I realized that we had something with this mandolin.  I also thought to myself that I could fix this mandolin.  After all, I can restore furniture..... Why not a mandolin?!  Crazy? Me? Yes.

Most severe damage.

When we returned, he offered the seller 20 bucks for the mandolin.  The neighbor didn't want to sell it that cheap, but knows of my son's passions and made the deal right there.  Sucker. (sly smile)  Don't get my wrong, the mandolin was damaged.  The neck had come slightly apart from the body of the instrument and this was going to take some work to get the finish back to pristine.  I wasn't able to get a good image of the areas of the instrument that had issues with the finish, but suffice it to say, it needed work in those areas as well.

As soon as he removed the old strings, I got to work with a general cleaning.  I then got my Gorilla Glue and a few straps out to repair the joint.  Wetting the gap was challenging.  I just did my best, then strapped it tightly closed and let it sit overnight. 

I did check back several times in the first hour to wipe the ooze from the glue off the guitar.  I didn't want that challenge once the glue had fully set.



Success!

The next day after removing the strap and realizing that the repair had worked, I gleefully set out with some Min Wax Walnut Stain and wiped a coating over the surface of the instrument.  It nicely filled in areas that had seen wear. 

After a few minutes, I buffed the surface of the mandolin removing the excess.  I then coated the frets with a light wiping of Min Wax Wipe On Poly. Wow! Did that do the trick.  Really freshened up the surface. 

After the surface was fully dry, I followed up with a bathing of Feed and Wax and buffed the surface thoroughly. 

Today, he sat down and added a fresh set of strings.  What a sweet little instrument.  I wanted you to hear it, so my daughter taped a little moment for me to share on my blog. You might need to turn up your volume to hear it.  Hope you enjoy.....

Makes me feel so good that we were able to rescue this little mandolin.  He was able to add yet another instrument to his collection.  But this one.....it comes with a story and it involves his mom.....and I think that's pretty special. (smile)

-The End-
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