I have been working on fretted instruments as an amateur since 1969, and every one of your videos gives me at least one new handy hint. Old dogs can learn new tricks👍
Not a mandolin player indeed ! You didn't get such a bad sound out of that 96-97 year old Gibson mandolin ! Moreover, it's such a privilege to watch a craftsman / artisan of his craft ..... chapeau to you sir !
I have been watching your videos for about 12 months and they are all very relaxing to watch , I’m just a normal bloke from Manchester England ( nearly 60 years of age ) who has treated himself to a Taylor and is really enjoying it , but it’s good to learn about other guitars as well , so keep up the good work
On modding relic mandolins, Mike Marshall had the fingerboard of his Loar removed, and a new one made with a scooped high end where nobody really plays. The original is kept should the next caretaker wish to return it to its original form factor. That scooped area is the sweet spot for picking, and it eliminates a lot of pick noise.
Tried the Greenfield guitar making video ? ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-sAeXskZHC2o.html it s just soothing to me, maybe it'll be for you too, not affiliated or anything, just hope it produces the effect on you :)
I have watched many refret/radiusing videos and this is one of the best! Very clear and to the point. There are some simple tips in here that I wish I had known before now. This site deserves more subs! Many thanks and keep them coming.
Same in the car world. So many people pick up limited run high performance vehicles and never drive them. Garage Queens are what we call those cars. Instruments are meant to be played, just like cars are meant to be driven.
Thank you so much. I am building up to refretting a Squier Telecaster with larger frets. I have purchased the fret removal pliers and fret cutters from Stewmac and fret wire. The tip on trimming the fret wire as you have shown is my big take away. Thanks so much. Didn't think of trimming against the slot as apposed to with the fret slot. Love your channel.
Donald Fisher. I recently replaced several frets on my old Flatiron in built here in Belgrade, MT while at the old defunct factory back around '94. I used Stew Mac fret wire which should hold up better than the cheaper stuff they used at the time. I leveled the frets with a DMT super fine diamond "stone" ( plastic base) and took a bit of time re-crowning these frets. It plays like a brand new mando from the factory. If it lasts 27 more years like the last time, I won't care, cuz I'll be taking a dirt nap. Cheers, my friend. Bob
Beautiful! Calm, matter of fact presentation chock full of great tips and technique you will only get from an experienced craftsman with years of experience. This project could have been the source of considerable drama and anxiety for a luthier who doesn’t have the time in to head off potential problems before they rear their ugly little heads. Journeyman poetry.
Says he is not a mandolin player, a few seconds later I find myself putting on me oil skin and heading off into the gray sea to fish for me family. Nice work and nice playing.
I started repairing instruments later in life. Took a tech course at a Community College. I learn a LOT from you. Thanks. A guy brought me an A1 mando from the teens where the finish had started to lift off the top in a single sheet. Never saw anything like it. Looked like a giant toenail coming loose from a toe. I turned it away because I felt it was above my skill level. Would love to see how you would have fixed it.
Another beautifully done job you are definitely one of the best Luthiers I’ve ever watched ! I’m soon to retire from a 30+ year profession and thinking I’d like to hobby in Luthier . Thanks for showing us some correct techniques 👍
Beautiful set-up and very mucjh attention to the details makes it even better ! This adjustable bridge is new to me but it looks very handy and quite smart. Great Job and nice sounding mandoline
that looks awesome and i totally agree about ebony being dirty Had to refret and re-radius a les paul with an ebony board looked like i had been working on my car that crap gets everywhere even in my ears :P
I'm glad I've found your channel, especially being myself a longtime self taught luthier (and english speaker). Been learning a lot from it, but I gotta tell you I'm a mandolin player and I could never understand the need for a radiused board. Anyway, great job as usual. We gotta do what the customer asks us to. Cheers and thanks from south Brazil, master.
As you well know there are two types of instrument owners. The museum maker and the player. While I own a 1916 Gibson A with "The Gibson" on the head stock given to my grandfather (a paddle wheel boat musician on the Missouri river) by Mr. Gibson. If the owner wants to play it instead buying a glass cage for it who are people to judge? You have got a great channel. Thanks!
Russ Corbett. see my comment to Donald Fisher. Love them good old worn out mandos brought back to life. (PS, I want to build a banjolin if I can rake together the drachmas for a hoop and head, etc). Cheers. Bob
Interesting video. The work on the fingerboard will certainly make that little mandolin much easier to play. I was half expecting bar frets which I guess would have made the job a lot more difficult. The bridge adjustment arrangement is new to me but quite a neat idea. Great work! The old mandolin sounds really nice to me.
Those old Gibson mandolins are very sturdy. I have an A-1 a few years older than that one, and my buddy has an A-Jr. They made a ton of them, and there’s a lot around. I can’t think of a guitar that would last that long. They are meant to be played, so the improvements you made are quite in order. Nice work!
Did I turn away for second to attend to my Dogs, where you doing a compression re-fret on this dear little mandolin...it looks great...I’m sure the owner will be over the moon happy!
I think its great that you took a 100 year old instrument and made it playable and usable for someone today. You probably shouldnt tell the originality police about what has happened to Stratavarii in the past couple hundred years...
Great job as always! I could easily watch your masterful crafting for a longer time. For example in this video you could have shown every step a bit longer. You know, smoother pacing, that's all! Greetings from Finland!
Nice work bro! That Mandolin is awesome!! What a beautiful instrument! I've worked on 1 in the 7 years of having my guitar shop, It was new and the kid just wanted a setup. I would love to get my hands on a old Gibson like that though! I have a few pics of the 1 I worked on on my shop page. I'm currently in the process of refretting a customers 1964 Kawai S-160, Houndog Taylor model... Super cool guitar! I never even heard of them until this one and what a cool sound coming out of those vintage pups! With all that metal over the top it has a really cool slide guitar tone, and the rad. on the fret board is .016!! Pretty flat for a 6 string, but perfect for a slide! I wish the fretboard was in as good condition as that mandolin! I don't think it was ever oiled! (rosewood to, not maple) It is so dry it's full of tiny surface cracks... And the frets, Lol, I don't think there original because every fret is cut to different lengths! Not just getting longer as they go up the fingerboard but it's like they were never measured, I couldn't even play a note on the 1st fret high E string, because there was no fret left! Lol. Some were so short on the treble side like that and some were so short on the bass side that my fingers just rolled off the fret when trying to hold down a note. It was the opposite of fret sprout!! Unbelievable...Lol. I hate when people do things that they don't know how to do, So I talked to the customer and had to tell him he had a choice, a nice wall hanger, or a player. And of course he said go for it! So because the fingerboard it so dry and cracked I had no clue what to expect, I ordered a new sharper style fret puller with .010 and .020 guides that slide under from StewMac just because my old Stewmac pullers are the kind you used and I wanted to get there sharper more careful pullers just for this job (It would have been easier just to slap a new fret board on, or even a new bolt on neck!) But the customer want's to keep it as original as possible. And just to make it more of a pain in my ass the neck is bound... Some of my friends think I have the coolest job ever, always telling me they wished they built and fixed guitars all day... Well it's not always pony's and rainbows! Lol. Anyways like I said before excellent re-fret job bro! I have a few pics of the Kawai, the frets actually came out very nice, now I'm waiting for some stainless fret wire from Stew Mac (He want's stainless and I ran out, Just have some nickle left) So as soon as that shows up I can press them in and get this thing out of my shop before I find something else wrong with it! Lol. He brought it in just to have me clean up the scratchy pots, And since then I swapped pups, the neck and bridge were backwards, I had to find a correct vintage bridge for it, looked like a homemade bridge on it and the string spacing didn't even go over the pickup pole pieces, Then the fret issue! I asked Ryan how the hell he even played the thing with short frets and he said he didn't... He just bought it for 200$ off Reverb. Here is a link to my shop page where you can see some pictures of this classic axe, Thx. again for the video bud ...... Mike. facebook.com/Ipswich-River-Guitars-106563420706171/?modal=admin_todo_tour
Hey Ted,,amongst your arsenal of techniques ,can you sometime in a future video explain to us Jedi apprentices how you straighten Fret wire that comes in a roll with a tight radius ?. Superb Fret job and tips,,I've ruined many Fret markers,,never occurred to remove them and how you go about it,,thanks again,George.
My newest guitar, the gold one in my avatar, came with the fret ends rounded off and polished. Wow! I had no idea how much difference that makes in feel as well as looks. I was really surprised that they came as finished as they did, TBH. The company did say that every one is set up by a professional luthier before being shipped. It showed in every aspect of the $250 guitar. I was quite impressed with it, to say the least.
