MIMF

Nice! The illusion is full strength with the material choices and orientation. Makes me want to see little people going up those stairs.

By cracky! I've done it again...dead last, next time for sure... Thanks for doing these giveaways!

+1 on Barry's comment to remove the finger board. That will give you better access to the break from both sides and more control over aligning the parts.

Nice work Barry. I had to go back and look at the original images you posted of the damage, I can't see any sign of repairs to the back or the binding. The work to the top is just barely visible in the image. The owner should be quite pleased I would think. Did your planning with the magnets pan out...

Thanks Chris,

You should check this out too. I posted a few images of my project over at the Mandolin Cafe and John Hamlett, a skilled builder and repairer, responded with this link of a very similar process of an F2 repair.

https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/thre ... -F2-repair

Thanks guys. I'm a bit of a sucker for a hard luck case and not afraid of challenges. This one took right around 14 hours, start to final set up but turned out really well. It set up easily and plays quite well, sounds great too! My friend that owns it took up banjo building and I'll likely barter f...

Playful and very, very nice Alan. Are you planning on making a bow to match?

I stained the bare wood and sprayed it with lacquer. The decision to reinforce with the carbon fiber rod, is the main component that will make this repair enduing. There was quite a bit of wood missing and as can be seen in my images, there was precious little wood to bond too that wasn't end grain....

The overlay is glued on with hot hide glue, shaped and tuner holes drilled though.

The carbon fiber rod is glued in with West System epoxy. Epoxy is the best adhesive for carbon fiber and bonds well with it. Next step is to make an Ebony face plate to cover the reinforcement work and also add additional strength to the repair. I ordered a stock face plate from LMI and thinned it w...

Pieces have been added, I do some sanding and then get set up to reinforce the head stock with carbon fiber rod. The router jig board is a piece of 1/2" MDF, laminated both sides with plastic laminate. Double stick tape holds quite well to the laminate, keeping my setup simple. 9 add wood to he...

The parts lined up well enough and stayed in place well enough to only require a very simple clamping strategy. The West System epoxy has been thickened with Colloidal Silica and tinted Brown. 5 Clamped front.jpg 6 clamped back.jpg 7 glued headstock face.jpg 8 glued headstock rear.jpg Where wood was...

A friend of mine contacted me a little over a year ago about how to fix a bad break head stock that had already been re-glued at least twice before he bought it. It's a 1921 Gibson A mandolin, with a truss rod. He got a great deal on it but was unsure of how to proceed with a headless mandolin in on...

Me too please!

Agreed Jim, that a long accurate rule could be handy for laying out non-standard scale length finger boards but not essential. I make custom fingerboards infrequently, two last year, and use a dial caliper to lay out the marks. I mark fret to fret dimensions and then verify them in groups that my 6&...

Not sure how long a ruler you need/ want but I use a 6" machinist rule frequently and like the flexible variety. My first one, which I still use, is a General brand. General is a cheaper brand commonly sold in hardware stores. I saw a Starrett on Craigslist and bought it thinking I would improv...

Thanks for the clarification Clay. Super glue does work well for toughening distressed wood. I use it fairly routinely for toughening fret slots when doing a re-fret. Helps a lot with softer Rosewood boards and Ebony boards that flake and chip easily during fret removal.

You might try giving spit a try. I have raised dents out of unfinished wood fairly successfully with saliva. I have no proof but suspect that the enzymes present in saliva help to soften the harder fibers. Just repeat applications until there isn't anymore change. Any kind of filler will show. "...

Looks great Ryan.

So for the TJ System, using 3 magnets in a row, they would have to be configured: +,-,+ on one clamping side and -,+,- on the counter clamp. This would allow for the cauls to be aligned and attract one way but also allow for one of the cauls to be rotated 180 degrees and still attract. In the images...