Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Fix It!


The one thing a lot of guys have forgotten in this post WW2 throw away world is how to fix stuff like grandpa did. We just give a sigh, heave it and buy another widget when the first one breaks. The new one almost certain to have been made of cheaper quality in China. The fine art of fixing things is going to soon reappear on our horizon cause when we run out of cash and have to decide on buying food or a new toaster what are we going to do?

In a past post I used the old cliche 'you can't make a silk purse out of a pigs ear.' Well I should have said “most of the time.” . . . cause let me tell you what I just did.

The other day one of my kids shows up with a broken mandolin. The back had split and broken off the front. The front had large nasty cracks in it. The whole thing was water swollen and covered in musty filth and bird shit. He had found it in pieces in a cardboard box in the back of a garage.

“Can you fix this?” He asked me.

I saw that it was very old and handmade. Since I love very old and handmade musical instruments I said ”sure” and took it home where it ended up in my loft behind all the other junk I have saved for a “one of these days I'm gonna fix it” experience.

Anyway I got it out the other day and decided to repair it. After very close scrutiny (and cleaning) I noticed that the fretboard was ebony (that's a good thing) and the top, bottom and sides all had been tooled using gouges/chisel/ scrapers. I also noticed the tuner mortises had not been done with a router, but rather had been gouged out very carefully with chisels and a lot of patience. I was impressed by the quality of craftsmanship.

I was determined to rebuild this thing and get it playing once again. My main goal being to do as little damage to the patina of the wood as possible as it was a beautiful deep coco brown, almost black with age. To sand the thing up and destroy such beauty would in itself be a travesty.

I gave it a dry bath. I re glued the back, the large splits and carefully filled the others. I lowered the action a bit. I worked on the tuners. I waxed the hell out it with a very expensive paste wax, put on a new set of strings and WOW! I have me one fine looking antique mandolin that plays and holds tune quite well.

This little story is just an example to show you yourself what can be accomplished if you put your mind to it. All it takes is a little knowledge and practice. It can even be fun. You can also help pay down your credit cards with the money you've saved. Plus it just plain feels good to know you have the ability to fix stuff.

The days of running to Walmart for a new toaster may soon be over for a lot of you common folks. So before you head to the car take the old one apart and try to figure out what's wrong with it. Usually it's no more than a broken electric connection. You will save yourself a whopping amount of cash per year if you just teach yourself to fix up the stuff you already have.

Some things have been created to last just for so long on purpose, plastic parts are made knowingly to break in a year or so. This is all a part of the throw away society we have been sucked into, BUT before you throw anything away see if you can fix it. If nothing else it's good practice.

Computers to toasters I can usually fix, but sometimes you have to face the fact that your 'thing' is dead. Save your money for these times.

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