Mandolin Project

A friend loaned me this mandolin she found in a family member's closet with the sole condition being that I fix it up and put it to good use. Well arright. This is a very cool instrument and a very fun challenge. Here are some pictures of the mandolin and my restoration project. Note: super cool tweed custom case not shown.

Here is the mandolin with the bridge and tuning pegs removed. Replacement pegs shown. Two of the "original" (they're old, but probably not the original tuners) tuning machines did not work, so the main task here is to get them working in order for the instrument to be playable.

When I went to replace the tuning pegs, I realized that the holes in the headstock are slightly too small for modern pegs. Maybe they were metric or something. In order to fit the standard US pegs, I had to bore out the existing holes to widen them.

This is just a cool picture that shows how, at one time, someone had glued on a cheat sheet to the fretboard that showed the exact note of each fret on each string. Over time the paper has disintegrated. Very cool.

Current status: Still working on getting the new tuning machines to line up with the original holes. Takes some coaxing and finding just the right size screws to "suck up" the machines to the back of the headstock. Will post updates soon.