Espana mandolin
This Espana mandolin was made in Finland, go figure! Not an expensive instrument and it could easily have become a “parts” instrument, but it presented an interesting challenge.
Many watermelon backed mandolins and even flat backs with inlayed pick guards from the 30’s and 40’s get “crushed” by the tension of the strings on a weak structure – the neck and tail are pulled towards each other causing the type of damage seen on the Espana. I had some thoughts on how to approach this and wanted to experiment. You can see the results – my plan worked! (My next test of this method is on a lute that looks as though someone sat on it – stay tuned.)
Many watermelon backed mandolins and even flat backs with inlayed pick guards from the 30’s and 40’s get “crushed” by the tension of the strings on a weak structure – the neck and tail are pulled towards each other causing the type of damage seen on the Espana. I had some thoughts on how to approach this and wanted to experiment. You can see the results – my plan worked! (My next test of this method is on a lute that looks as though someone sat on it – stay tuned.)
Before
After
