Anymore, I keep a mindset of "treat the patient in front of you", and a lot of times I'm fixing things where the cost of repair borders on, or sometimes exceeds the value of the subject... and you still have to do a good job, because it means something to somebody. So it's a pleasure when I get to work on a nice one like that Tu-Ba-Phone. I got a call from the customer last night (I'd already wiped-out... zzzz 💤) but they were thrilled with it. Plus I got paid to do it. Double-win.
This Neapolitan mandolin was 'part two' of the last banjo I worked on, the pony-scale tenor that had been converted to a five-string, and had a birdseye maple rim. The mandolin was badly dried out, the brass frets had sprouted, the fingerboard had a few little splits forming, the rosewood staves that form the bowlback were separated in a few places, the inlaid pickguard had popped loose, and the top was split open. All of that was within the scope of what I quoted to fix, the goal here was to make this instrument capable of being restrung, and 'look presentable'. What I did not commit to was making it playable. This mandolin had been strung to modern pitch with modern strings, which it was never designed for, and it simply folded in the middle. The string action is ridiculously high. But it sounds really pretty strung to a low, open chord.
One repair done here; the split in the top. It would not close any more with humidity and clamping, so it had to be filled with a spruce spline. I haven't done one of these in a while, but it was fun! Nothing too complicated about it, just a thin wedge of quartersawn spruce, cut and trimmed to fit exactly into that crack, glued in, then carved down using a very sharp chisel, followed by a razor blade scraping to flush with the top. After the finish is touched up, you can see the repair, but this is a solid fix. It's mostly hidden behind the tailpiece cover anyway, but the structural integrity is what's key here... that pull-and-pressure is trying to gap the top open, it needed something to bind it back together. Check the pic, see if you can see it.
All the obtuse angles and rounded elliptical surfaces of these things make you come up with some inventive clamping solutions. I like projects that make me think. This one sure did that. And I think it turned out nice. Check out this original leather case! I'll watch it for a day or two, and run it back to the store Monday.
