Conference napalm::guitar

    Dana,
    
    I'm not sure where you're located, but if you're in the New England area
    you might want to contact David Colburn at the Vintage Fret Shop in
    Ashland, N.H.  He deals in old mandolins and banjos, and has quite a
    collection.  He also does appraisals and repairs on old freted
    instruments.   Vintage Fret Shop number is 603-968-3346, their official
    hours are noon to 6pm Wednesday thru Saturday; however, I've caught
    them there at other times as well.
    
    Al Kerr
                                                    

RE: .0

>         I'm not real familiar with mandolins, but was under the impression
>   that they were usually 8 strings (4 sets of doubles). Anybody ever see 
>   one like this? I'm real interested in the fancy inlay symbol.

As I understand it, variations on mandolin stringing were common during the
heyday of its popularity (about 1900-1930.)  Triple stringing was a common
variation.  I know someone who has a twelve-string hand-me-down mandolin in 
poor shape.  He hasn't done anything to repair it.

Most potato-bug mandolins I've seen being resold have been priced low -- 
$100-$200.  I've never seen a new one.  I've heard that they haven't been 
made in the U.S. since the 20s, so yours is probably closer to 70 years old.  
Before you invest in repairing it, you might want to get an honest appraisal.  
Potato-bugs are not widely played, so there is a limited resale market.  Due 
to their age, parts are not readily available.  I tried to replace the tuners 
on mine, but I would have had to rework the heads.  I've since learned to live 
with the original tuners quirks.

	Good luck,
	Rich

    I wonder if the O S symbol is for Oscar Schmidt, perhaps. That outfit
    made a variety of stringed instruments, including autoharps (of which I
    have one). Just a SWAG...

    
       Hey, thanks for the replies/suggestions!
             I ended up bringing it to a place in Jaffery N.H., Fiddler's
    Choice. Basically it wasn't worth having a pro do the repairs, too
    many things to repair, not really hard just too many.  I decided
    to do it myself. This is the extent of the damage (it's been idle
    for about 15 years, unstrung): The face had a crack running up the
    grain from the heel to the pick guard, also the whole face was lifted
    from the body, in one piece, the bridge was half missing, the nut
    was worn to the point that it was even with the fret board, the
    tail piece only had one hook left to attach the string(s), the frets
    need to be re-conditioned (not necessarily replaced), the tuners
    were a little rusty on the surface (cleaned up easily).
           Well, that's the bad news.   The good news is that the body
    is nearly perfect and the neck is straight as an arrow!
           At this time I have repaired the crack with epoxy glue and
    a little piece of fiberglass cloth from the inside. I couldn't put
    enough pressure on it to close the crack completely and maintain
    the necessary curvature of the face but it'll work. I have a piece
    of ebony to reconstruct the bridge, that will be all hand carved.
    A new bone nut piece I'll also hand make. The tail piece I'll have
    to re-form from the broken hooks, that might put a bend in an
    undesirable part of the strings but it'll work ok. After that a
    little fret work with a file and stone to make them all even.
    Finally a re-finish on the exterior and I'll be stringing it up!
            Oh, I decided since I'm modifying this thing a bit, I'll
    electrify it with a tiny piezo transducer inside, just for laughs!
         
           STEREO::BROWN
           
              Oscar Schmidt !! That's probably the maker.....Thanks!
    Do you have any idea how long they've been in business?
    
            Thanks again for all the help, I'll report back when it's
    finished.
    
                                   Dana

    
         I thought I'd report on my repair of this (maybe) unusual
    mandolin.   The sound seems to ring like it should, with 3 strings
    per set it is quite loud. The hardest part of repairing this was
    making the nut, I had to buy a set of jewelers saws to cut the slots
    but after two attempts I made one that looks like it could be the
    original. I'm very happy with the outcome of my efforts.
        When this little baby is plugged into an amp, (I added a piezo
    pickup inside, under the bridge...thanks to whoever it was that
    supplied the "add a cheap pickup with RADIO SHACK parts" note) 
    the whole neighborhood can hear how good it sounds!
         My only problems have been in fretting the high notes....there
    just isn't room for my fat fingers...and holding the darn thing...
    being a round back it slips and slides all over (time for a strap).
         Thanks to all that supplied info and if you ever need to make
    a nut for a mando or similar instrument....well I can help.
    
                                 Dana

re: .5

>        When this little baby is plugged into an amp, (I added a piezo
>    pickup inside, under the bridge...thanks to whoever it was that
>    supplied the "add a cheap pickup with RADIO SHACK parts" note) 
>    the whole neighborhood can hear how good it sounds!

Could you point me to that note, or else describe what you did?  I'd
be interested in doing that to my own mandolin.

-Hal

    
    
      Waaaa!  I want my old mandolin back!!!    
    
      Let me know when you're gonna sell Ed.
      I do miss it.
    
    
     -Rick.
    
    

    re: .6
    
         Hi Hal,
    
             This is the note that I followed, however the piezo "buzzer"
    I bought from Rad Shak (I'll get the part # tomorrow) had three
    wires coming from the metal plates. I simply twisted the two hot
    leads together. The unit I used must have a higher output than the
    one the originator used, it works quite well. My method of attachment
    was from the inside of the instrument, directly under the bridge,
    and I used epoxy resin (just a small dab). I think part of the success
    of this was due to the fact that it was NOT mounted completly flat,
    what I mean is the dab of resin is covering perhaps 80% of the metal
    plate leaving the remaining 20% free to vibrate even more than the
    sound board does. 
              I'll be experimenting more with these in the future.
    
                            Good luck...Dana
                            
                   
                   
                   
    
               <<< CAFEIN::USER$DISK:[NOTES$LIBRARY]HOME_STUDIO.NOTE;4 >>>
                          -< Home Recording Studios >-
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Note 27.3                     Acoustic Instruments.                      3 of 15
BSS::STPALY::MOLLER "Fix it before it breaks"        54 lines  23-JAN-1992 11:56
                    -< Cheap & effective pickups - Piezos >-
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	Radio Shack sells piezo transducers. You might want to find a
	few small ones (1 inch or less in diameter) and take them out of
	thier enclosures and use them as pick-ups for some of the acoustic
	instruments; you can mail order these as just the transducer part, 
	but, you have to buy a lot of them. I've added some under the 
	bridge of my acoustic guitar (a real cheap one that some one gave me)
	and use this in conjunction with a microphone, and the tele bridge
	pickup that I mounted in the sound hole. This guitar records 
	incredibly well, but on it's own, it's nothing special. The advantage
	is that you can mix the microphone with the piezo output & get
	the crispness from the piezo, and the abiance from the microphone.

	Radio shack lists them as piezo buzzers - which is one use of
	a piezo transducer. 

	To wire one of these up, you should get the type with 2 wires,
	and you'll see that there is a copper or brass plate (with a
	wire soldered to it) and a small circle that's either white, or
	gray in the center, also with a wire soldered to it. Be real 
	careful not to break either of these wires off, because they are
	very hard to reconnect (I think that special solder is required
	for the center piezo part) without ruining the transducer.
	The wire that goes to the outside metal plate is the ground, the
	wire to the center circle (piezo element) is the hot lead.
	If you are a careful solderer, connect the ground lead of a 
	shielded cable to the copper/brass plate, then connect the piezo
	elements wire (cut the wire about 1 inch long) to the sheilded
	cables center tap. If you don't feel good about soldering
	directly to the copper/brass plate, connect the shield part of
	the sheilded cable to the wire (cut it to be about an inch long)
	that's already soldered there.

	These should cost around $5.00 each when you are done.

	You'll find that the voltage output of the piezo is not very high,
	and you'll need to set it's record level fairly high - this is
	why I suggest shielded cable where possible. The sound tends to
	be very thin compared to a microphone, but the mid range and
	high frequencies are exceptional. In conjunction with a microphone
	you can add these to any acoustic instrument by sliding it under
	the bridge (You see variations available for Violins/Cellos in
	some music magazines), or attaching it to the instrument top with
	double stick tape - Be careful about this - no need to ruin a finish
	on a fine instrument. You can stick it on inside of the instrument 
	also. If you want to permanently attach it, do it on the inside.

	The piezo adds very little mass, so it shouldn't color the sound of
	the instrument noticably. Attach it as near the bridge as possible,
	or between it and the top (you'll get higher volume levels if you
	do). I find that towards the treble strings works best (on a guitar,
	this would be immediately behind the bridge between the 2nd & 3rd
	strings (G & B strings) - you may want to experiment.

							Jens