Can people post their ideas of things to check on a new mandolin, and basic ways to correct common problems? I know to check all frets for buzzing, make sure the action is low enough to play easily, and that the octave sounds at the 12th fret.
Checking the action at the nut is a must. A lot of Pacific-Rim mandos come with the nut set up way too high. There’s a good howto on frets.com.
You should also check the neck relief. Fret a string at both the first and 14th frets (or wherever the neck joins the body) and see how much space there is at around the 7th fret. There should be a gap about the thickness of a business card. If it’s bigger or smaller, adjust the truss rod as necessary.
Hi Paul,
The “Builders/Repair” section of the forums at www.mandolincafe.com is a great place to get set-up advice.
If you can check all frets for buzzing, make sure the action is low enough to play easily, and check the 12th fret intonation, then you’re off to a good start.
When you say that about the action, do make sure you’re aware of action at the nut as well as the bridge, as Ro3b says. that can make a huge difference. On my Fullerton I actually took the old plastic nut off and made a new bone one. Makes it a very different experience to play.
Even with a cheap mando I’d be inclined to take it to a luthier or good guitar/mandolin shop for a pro set-up if it’s at all possible. If the pro knows what he’s doing it would be money well spent.
Sadly, mandolin is still a bit of a rarity in the UK, so finding a guitar shop over here which knows how to set one up isn’t easy. I’ve had to learn to DIY.
BTW, have I mentioned how much fun I’m having with my Fullerton? 
I love this mando.
IN response to my own question, I did some Googling and found this from the nice folks at Gibson:
http://www.gibson.com/Products/Places/Repair/Tech%20Tips/Mandolin%20Set%20Up/
buddhu, hey by the way I want to thank you for posting about the fullertons…I didn’t see it until last week so all that was left were the penningtons --which arrived yesterday. wow, what a mandolin for 99. though. Looks like i got a good one with no cracks etc!
Paul, I won’t mention the obvious ones, but here’s a couple that don’t get mentioned enough.
Tail piece alignment. Check the centerline of the instrument from nut to endpin. If the strings behind the bridge seem to be pushed to one side while the strings between the bridge and nut seem to line up with the edges of the fingerboard, the tailpiece is out of alignment. Normally that needs a tech, but being who you are you can simply remove the TP, fill the holes, re-drill, and mount the TP correctly. You’ll probably have to reposition the endpin as well. It’s really not as bad as it sounds.
Also check the tailpiece level. With the cover off, the top edge of the TP plate should be parallel to the edge of the soundboard. If not, the fix is the same as the alignment. Fill, drill, re-mount.
An incorrectly mounted tailpice is the root of a lot of complaints. A lot of players pay big bucks to replace their TP with an expensive model to improve the sound, but the real fix happened when the new TP was simply put on correctly.
Remember when positioning the bridge for intonation that the bridge will pull forward when you tighten the strings. If there’s too much play between bridge and saddle, you can fix that with a tiny shim in the hole of the saddle that accepts the threaded rod for the height adjusters. A thin shaving of ebony would be perfect, and I’ll bet you have some of that laying around under your lathe.
Assure that the tuners are installed in alignment with their holes in the headstock. If not, pull them off, fill the existing screw holes, and remount. A pretty common problem for mandos, even more expensive ones.
Lube the nut and saddle while you have the strings off, of course. And while all the strings and bridge are off, give it tap test to assure there are no loose joins in the bracing. They can be reglued before the strings go on.
Here’s a very sound bit of advice that will seem totally nuts to 90% of the readers here. Go out and get a garage sale mando or even one of those $50 Rogue mandolins. Tear it to pieces. Knock the nut off to see how it’s really glued on (you’ll be surprised), re-sand the bridge to fit the arch of the top, file the frets, pull the frets off and replace them, even drill holes through the soundboard and rims to practice that if you need to. Consider it a $50 tuition fee that will teach you more than any advice can. It’s money well spent. You’ll learn to save yourself a lot of dough on tech fees (those guys are just people too), and you’ll rid the world of one more $50 piece of junk mandolin. Once you’ve done all the scarry tasks on the junker, you’ll have confidence to do the real thing on your good mandolin. I’m not kidding. Seriously. I know people who won’t even change their own strings because they’re affraid of their instrument. With your skills, none of this should be a problem.
Have fun!
Good advice from everyone, thanks! That’s a great idea Tim about getting a cheap mandolin as a project in setting them up. Sometimes MF knocks the price of those rogues down to 29. I wanted to get a couple of their 39 hardshell mando cases so if I wait until the rogue’s are cheaper, if they do that again, I can also get the free shipping for all 3 items.
Miwokhill, those $39 cases at MF are a very good buy. And I’m glad someone saw that I wasn’t kidding about tearing down a cheap mandolin. The techs have three things the rest of us don’t have: tools, experience, and confidence. The tools may not be a good investment if you only need a one-time fix, but the experience and confidence can be gained with practice. Every tech has a mandolin in his closet (or at least somewhere in his past) that is torn to pieces from practicing. Musical instruments are built by human hands and can be fixed by them as well.