Official Luthiers Forum!

Fillipo I have 2 bowl backs ,the spruce top near the bridge had a narrow 2in crack .I filled it by making a crack knife , no laughs please basically a knife with a tapered profile like a v to widen the crack.I then made a spruce splint similiar to this V and inlaid the crack using hhg when the splint was dry.planed it flush to top and finish with tea stain/shellac to match top

I repaired a bowlback mando for the Boot Hill Museum in Dodge City way back in the late 70's.
As I remember, it was a real pain in the butt.
All the strips kept trying to come apart once I removed the neck.
Last time I saw it, it was still sitting on the baby grand... I hope it stays there.

_________________
"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

There's a number of builder-repair guys in VA, but as far as who might want the job, I've no suggestions. Except in rare cases a neck reset(on a bowlback) is more expensive than the mandolin itself, and when done won't have increased the value that much. However, if it came over with greatgrandpa, it might be worth fixing if somebody wants to play it.

For an overview, Dave Hynds has lots of photo essays, here's a link to a triage page for neck resets: neck triage. Links at the top of page take you to the actual repair page.

benny

Howdy Filippo,
I mostly hang out over at Mandolin Cafe. I'm a rookie mandolin builder, but I've read most of the threads in the builder-repair forum for the last, say, seven years, so I know who's who, but I don't know any of them personally. When the subject of bowlback repair comes up, I can't recall any of the well-known "validated" American luthiers suggesting they were willing and able to deal with a bowlback. They didn't say no either.

Anyway, Jake at Antebellum has posted a few bowl repairs with brief photo essays(longer ones on his website) and received congratulations for his work. Here's one thread from MandoCafe with a link to Jake's website. And he's in Vermont, right next to Virginia.(alphabetically, anyway).

Better known luthiers in Virginia such as Dave Cohen or John Hamlett would probably entertain an inquiry, at least.

benny

I get bowlbacks in for repair from time to time, they are probably more common over here than on your side, as far as mandolin go. Anyways, I second everything Benny wrote, from everything I've read or heard those people should all be able to do a top notch job.

_________________
Rian Gitar og Mandolin