Mandolin Banjo (sorry for the evil!)

[slowlearner]

A mate of mine gave this to me today... (complete with cardboard case).









Poor old thing appears to be an ex-school instrument with a bakalite back. There are cracks in the bakalite, 2 broken tuners and some nasty, nasty fret repair, but I think I could fix most of it. Says, "pacific" on the back of the bridge cover.

Is it worth fixing?
Is CA superglue the right stuff to use on bakalite?
Can anyone hazard a year or make for this old horror?

P.s. I also got two hohner harmonicas with it, so I'm really stoked just to get them... even if they are a little grungy..

[Allen]

That's not evil. That's cool. I love Bakelite, and the design is nice and retro. I wouldn't be tossing that one out ever. I've never repaired Bakelite, so don't know anything about the process.

[graham mcdonald]

If the tailpiece was an original, you do have an Australian made banjo-mandolin. Pacific instruments were made from the mid 40s through to the early 50s in Melbourne though the maker Hec McLennan had been building since the late 20s under his own name. They weren't high end instruments, but for the lower end of the market. From the photos the neck angle doesn't look so good and that could be your biggest problem, depending on how the neck is attached to the bakelite pot. The skin doesn't look very tight either and that could be 'interesting' to sort out. I suspect bakelite isn't very repairable. It certainly won't be dissolved by anything I know of for a solvent bond. Superglue might work, but would depend on how the glue joint is being stressed. Epoxy and some carbon fiber tow on the inside might work, but I don't know how the epoxy would bond to the bakelite.

In any case, you have a little bit of Australian music history. Probably not worth huge amounts but interesting for what it is.

cheers

graham

[slowlearner]

Well, I'll pull it apart and see how I go. Worse comes to worse I can brace it some how.

Re the "evil" comment, a mate once told my brother about his banjo mandolin, "they ruined 2 good instruments making that".

[Nick]

Nice find Pete, I converted a wooden bodied over to a 'conventional' six string once for a customer, was a lot of fun
Bakelite is a pig of a stuff to try repairing, you could try it but I think the superglue won't glue it (there are some plastics that stuff doesn't get on with and bakelite is on that list too I believe). It will maybe hold it together but as soon as you stress the joint, it'll fall apart or open up again. I'd personally be going with Graham's suggestion of epoxy and a CF splint/re-enforcing, just make sure you give the surface a good coarse roughing up.

[slowlearner]

Hi all, this has been sitting in my study now for a few months... and really I can't see it getting any love. If anyone would like it, I'm happy to give to someone free of charge who'd like to fix it up. I've found out that aradite works on bakelite in case that's helpful. Anyhow, let me know. It's still quite salvagable. PM me or email.

Ta SL

[Stilts]

Hi Pete,

I wouldn't mind having a crack at it (once the current project finally gets finished ). PM sent

Cheers,
Miles

[slowlearner]

Now spoken for...