Tan Lines

After doing lots of reading about beginner mandolins, and in particular the sorry state in which they usually arrive at your door from e-bay sources, I realized that my instrument needed to find its way into the hands of a luthier for a good setup. So I took it to Murphy's Music in Irving to ask them if they thought it was set up OK to learn on. As soon as the luthier got it in his hands he was shocked at how high the action was. No wonder my fingers hurt.

So I left it with him and he lowered both the nut and the bridge. When I picked it up that evening, the luthier had already left for the day, but a few of the sales guys were hanging out and I gave it to one of them to play. He was surprised at what a "good playing mandolin" it was. He played the Music Store Concerto for Mandolin in G, Second Movement and it sounded great. Then he told me it was a better playing mandolin than some other much more expensive brands he'd had his hands on. It made me feel like I had spent that forty bucks well.

Once I got it home, I figured I'd go ahead and go all out. The tuners needed lubrication, the fretboard was as dry as a bone, and I couldn't get the intonation correct because the pickguard was covering the place where the bridge needed to sit.

So, off with the strings and out with the hair dryer. According to internet wisdom, low heat from a hair dryer softens the glue used to adhere a pickguard to the top of an instrument. It worked like a charm. The glue slowly softened and constant light pressure on the pickguard allowed it to peel away as the glue let go. The process left behind some sticky residue, so I broke out the lighter fluid to take care of that (also a trick learned on the internet.)

Next, the fretboard needed some attention. I gave it a good rubbing with lemon oil, which not only made the wood look much nicer, but smell good too. That was a thirsty piece of wood. It was also probably stained or somehow colored because a good bit of it came off on the rag I used to wipe the fretboard down. At least I hope that was some kind of coloring and not accumulated finger crud.

The final step: putting the strings back on and trying to seat the bridge properly. It took a good bit of trial and error but I think I got the bridge in just about the best place I can get it for the best intonation at the most frets. By the picture you can tell that intonation was way off before.

I'm still actually practicing every night too--not just mucking around with the instrument. I've been working on the song Cripple Creek, and even though I'm not up to tempo yet, I'll try to get a recording of it up in the next post.