Introduction and a Question

[Pat Wisniewski]

Hi,
I am (very) new here. My name is Pat and I hail from the northwest corner of Delaware. I am most days an ornamental woodturner, yet occasionally my shop has seen a guitar or other instrument needing repair.

Three years ago the headstock on my wife’s classical guitar, which she has had and played for 57 years, cracked at a tuning peg. Back then I recalled that a fellow who had as a young man attended the day camp which our family ran outside Ann Arbor, MI later worked as an instrument repair person at Elderly Instruments in Lansing, MI. He kindly talked me through the repair and it has held up well.

My wife also was recently gifted a 1917 Martin Bowl-back mandolin. The issue with it: it went through not one, but two! floods. The soundboard has come loose along one side, and the strips of wood comprising the bowl back have become separated, with the very thin (maybe holly?) strips between the wider strips missing in places. Also, there are cracks in the spruce front along each side of the neck.

My question is two-fold:

1. Is this likely repairable to playing condition?

2. Is anyone on the forum from this area (Southeastern PA, Southern NJ, Northeastern MD, or Delaware)?

Here are photos, and a few of my turnings:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/xc3yaqt ... cavb0&dl=0

[Barry Daniels]

Just about anything is fixable given sufficient time and skill. It will take a lot of both to bring it back into playable condition. The main problem will be gluing the bowl back together. This might require removal of the top and construction of a bowl mold.

Welcome to the forum.

[Pat Wisniewski]

Barry,
Thanks for the welcome. One of my wife’s former student’s father is a luthier. I have a message in to him to see if he’ll look at it with me.
Might be a while. As I have a couple busy months. Might be a mid-winter project.