The body has sunk on my mandolin between the sound holes. I took the old strings off and cleaned it and started to restring it and the bridge was pushing down. I didn't notice it until the strings started snapping
Music - Johnson - Ma100 Lynchburg Mandolin
Answers & Comments
Sounds like the bridge was either in the wrong place or the string tension excessive.
Sometimes there are low, medium, and high tension grades of strings.
Find out what your mandolin requires.
If the strings are snapping, you are tuning them wrong. They should NOT break with 10% over the final tuning. It sounds like you may be using the wrong strings.
De-string it to see if the wood will recover. If it doesn't take the instrument to a Luthier for repair.