Northfield Mandolins can be traced back to all of our time spent at Elderly Instruments. That’s particularly true for several of us. We learned a lot there; we participated and we watched a lot happen around us—it’s where we earned our “sea legs.” Some of the most important time spent was being involved with and watching the repair shop. Admiring magicians restoring countless, amazing vintage mandolins, guitars, banjos, ukes…even harp guitars and zithers! Anything and everything with strings and frets. That kind of immersion cannot happen just anywhere. We’ve been incredibly fortunate to have that experience and we have put all the knowledge and understanding to good use.

Kjell Croce, our resident repair expert, spent 20+ years in Elderly’s repair shop. When Kjell became involved with our Michigan shop, and the construction of our new instruments, he pointed to a few pieces of gear that would be worth developing. Including an old set of clamps that he had been very fond of and were no longer being made. Now you’re beginning to see…

The four large clamps were the first ones we crafted. They are the perfect balance of weight and size, very adaptable—they should have never stopped making them!

When I was at Elderly we only had a couple of those older sets. We would snag them whenever we could. It was a running joke, someone went looking for them, and found out they were already being used—“Dang!”

The kind of clamps that were good enough for all of us to fight over…

About 18 months following the development of our four large clamps, we had an entire set developed; four large and four smaller ones—perfect for working on F-holed instruments, as well as ukuleles—(check out the Croce Ukes, also found in our store). We used these to build many dozens of instruments and tweaked the clamps’ design a couple of times. Now it’s time to offer them up to you, your shops, and your magicians.

Sold in 3 ways:

- single large clamps (A, B, C, D, I)

- set of large clamps (includes clamps A-D)

- set of small clamps (includes clamps E-H)

Details and descriptions are below:

⁃ Clamps arms are 1/4” thick and 1/2” tall. All are 2” wide (51mm).

⁃ Clamp A is 210 mm long = 8 1/2” (14.8 oz)

⁃ Clamp B is 163mm = 6 1/2” (12 oz)

⁃ Clamp C is 135mm = 5” (9.6 oz)

⁃ Clamp D is 90mm = 4” (7.8 oz)

- Clamp I is 65mm = 2 1/2” (5.5 oz)

⁃ Clamps A-D, & I: can all be used for gluing loose braces, cracks and installing cleats in acoustic guitars, arch top guitars, mandolins and ukuleles, depending on length needed.

⁃ Clamp C is good length for gluing bridges and bridge plates on acoustic guitars and ukuleles.

⁃ Clamp D is good length for gluing bridges on ukuleles and gluing fingerboard extension on neck sets of acoustic guitars.

⁃ Clamps E-H are all 35mm (1/2”) wide. Sold as a set.

⁃ Clamp E is 92mm deep = 3 3/4” (1.9oz)

⁃ Clamp F is 67mm = 2 3/4” (1.6 oz)

⁃ Clamp G is 40mm = 1 5/8” (1.4 oz)

⁃ Clamp H is 27mm = 1 1/8” (1 oz)

⁃ Clamps E-H are very lightweight yet, still good, strong clamps that will work for instruments with F-holes or small sound holes such as violins, mandolins, and ukuleles.

⁃ Clamps can be used to glue loose braces, glue cracks, and install cleats.