# General Mandolin Topics > Vintage Instruments >  Vintage string packages

## Jim Garber

Here and what follows are a few from my collection. 

First, Gibson Mastertone.

Jim

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## Jim Garber

Keystone State... (Weymann?)

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## Jim Garber

Bay State

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## Jim Garber

This Brazilian bandolim package was sent to me the other day.

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DavidKOS

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## Jim Garber

The very common Black Diamond strings in two variations.

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## Jim Garber

Many of my string packages are for ukulele. I used to go into older music stores and ask if they had uke strings. Ukes went in and out of fashion so I figured that if a store had old stock it was likely in uke strings. Generally I was right.

I will post some of the more interesting ones, if anyone is interested.

Jim

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## Jim Garber

Well, at least I am entertained...

Jim

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## Jim Garber

I like the cartoon on this one.

Jim

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## Jim Garber

Another one from that Michigan Company. I wonder what "mylatone metal" was.

Jim

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## Jim Garber

From the Tonk Brothers, a large Chicago distributor.

Jim

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## Jason Kessler

Love the graphics. Thanks.

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## MandoSquirrel

Very entertaining; love the cartoon, reminds me of my favorite actress, Betty Boop. Nice to have a light break from all the heated discussions & debates over quibbly nit picks. (though I can pick nits purty good myself.)

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## johnl

Epiphone from the 1930's (I think). Scientifically processed and musically correct!

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DavidKOS

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## Jim Garber

That is a good one, johnl!! Pre-Gibson Epiphones are among my favorite instruments, tho I have no mandolins... yet!

Anyone else have left over case candy from buying an old instrument. I may have a few more in my stash... will post later.

Jim

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## f5loar

I've got a few odd ones. I can't seem to scan to fit like you have done. If I send you the scan of mine can you size them up and post them for me?

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## Jim Garber

> I've got a few odd ones. I can't seem to scan to fit like you have done. If I send you the scan of mine can you size them up and post them for me?


Sure, no problem.

Jim

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## f5loar

send me your email to isenhour@vnet.net

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## JeffD

This stuff is SO COOL!

I remember as a kid going through my father's ukelele case, and banjo case, and fingering all the sting envelopes, and other goodies - harmonica type tuner, old picks - a felt pick for the uke. Because it was my Dad's it was all sacred stuff - evidence that he had a life before he had a son.

Awesome.

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## OregonMike

OK, who is the t-shirt connection on the board who is willing to turn some of these into T-shirts?

These would be awesome shirt graphics!

I would buy a couple and you wouldn't catch me dead in a modern advertising T-shirt!

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## danb

This is a Gibson one, circa 1900-1925

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## Dave Gumbart

Just recently acquired my first vintage mando (1920 Gibson A, Sheraton brown), and with it came some old strings. Not sure of the timeframe for them, but here's the outer packaging...

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## Dave Gumbart

And the paper wrapped around the strings themselves - take warning "unprincipled Dealers"!

Dave

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## AlanN

> Just recently acquired my first vintage mando (1920 Gibson A, Sheraton brown), and with it came some old strings. #Not sure of the timeframe for them, but here's the outer packaging...


Very cool.

I know exactly where that plant was, off Rtes. 1 and 130. For years you could see the faint outline of the painted name on the brick, even when the building had been converted into something else.

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## Jim Garber

Here are a nice series of packages from F5Loar/Tom's collection. Good overall history of Gibson graphic design by the decade. 

Here is the 1910 edition.

Jim

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## Jim Garber

1920s

hey... isn't there a typo? Gauge is mispelled. This one might be worth a mint 

It looks like the one that DanB posted is also mispelled.

Jim

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## Jim Garber

1930s

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## Jim Garber

1940s

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## Jim Garber

1960s

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## Jason Kessler

OregonMike is on to something: these would make for a GREAT t-shirt line.

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## Jim Garber

Test sample, I suppose some sort of promotion for Gibson strings.

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## Jim Garber

Bobby Osborne set, 1960s -- nice psychedelic color.

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## Jim Garber

> OregonMike is on to something: these would make for a GREAT t-shirt line.


Well, I am a graphic designer by profession and I have done a fair amount of tees. My only concern would be getting a legal letter from Gibson. I might contact them and see if they would give permission.

OTOH some of the others might not be of as much interest to those us in the mandolin tee-shirt buying public.

Hmmmmm...

Jim

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## Jim Garber

A few more from my collection. Understated uke package from Martin, but in a gold celluloid envelope.

Jim

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## Jim Garber

From the Gretsch Company prob located back then in Brooklyn, NY.

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## Jim Garber

A fairly common string at the time.

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## Jim Garber

A rather striking Silver Orchestra package with silver ink.

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## Jim Garber

Lion Brand

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## Jim Garber

Wondertone... nuff said

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## michaell

That reminds me-I think it's time for a change of strings...

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## f5loar

I think Dan's "The Gibson" is before mine since it has the type string typed on instead of printed on. It also looks to be of a different type paper. His is early 1900's. Dan you got catalog photos of the string packs to go by? 
Also notice my 1920's The Gibson E string says it's Copper instead of steel. Thanks Jim for getting those up for me. I can't scan and post as good as I pick.

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## f5loar

Also note Bobby Osborne's signature custom strings. He may be the first bluegrass picker to have his own set sold to the public. Monroe was still feuding with Gibson in the 60's so no signture sets for him back then. Anybody got some other artist else with an earlier signature set?

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## OregonMike

> My only concern would be getting a legal letter from Gibson. I might contact them and see if they would give permission.
> 
> OTOH some of the others might not be of as much interest to those us in the mandolin tee-shirt buying public.


[QUOTE]

I don't know Jim - I agree that getting a license from Gibson would be a problem an maybe not worth it but some of the others have just as much mojo (Black Diamond, The Aero Brand and Epiphone).

I would think they are in the public domain if they are out of business? Obviously no one is going to get rich off vintage string t-shirts but we might get some clean laundry out of it!

PS: I don't feel as dumb now for the times I've bought a few thousand dollars of vintage mando and the first thing I do when I open the case is look for vintage string packages.

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## Jim Garber

> I don't know Jim - I agree that getting a license from Gibson would be a problem an maybe not worth it but some of the others have just as much mojo (Black Diamond, The Aero Brand and Epiphone).


It depends on what they want from it. There are lots of Fender and Gibson items out there and I am not sure if the companies actually do it themselves or commission others.

The Black Diamond name is still being used for strings (I suppose someone bought use of it) and Epiphone is Gibson as of about 1957. That leaves Aero and a few others. 

Jim

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## Joe Robinson

I'm more of a box man myself...
Joe

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## Joe Robinson

Bell Brand

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## Joe Robinson

This time in the round

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## Joe Robinson

Mapes

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## Joe Robinson

Vegaphone

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## Jim Garber

Thanks for posting those, Joe!

Jim

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## David Newton

Not mandolin, but GDAE.

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## johnl

Very cool! Do you know the brand (or the timeframe they're from)?

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## Martin Jonas

These are all interesting. For some reason, there seems to have been much less variety of strings in the UK: most of the old instruments I've bought off Ebay UK have had some string packages in them, and it has always been the same brand, with the same package design: Cathedral Strings. Considering that most of these instruments were over 100 years old, and that there must have been a wide range of dates of "last played", that's quite remarkable in its own right and suggests that not only was there a virtual monopoly but also no change in design over a period of decades.

I feel a bit foolish now seeing Jim's collection, but I don't think I've kept any of the packages. Oh well, no doubt I will come across another one...

Martin

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## David Newton

Wow Jim, somebody has been collecting! I should send you mine, so you can corner the market.

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## Graham McDonald

Here are a couple more.

the first....

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## Graham McDonald

and another

I do have a small selection of packets on the website, and some more to be scanned in. I thought I was the only person interested, but one of the first couple of issues of the Fretboard Journal had a delightful photo essay of some really interesting ones. Older music shops usually have a box of stray strings under a bench somewhere, which they don't ever want to throw out, but don't know what else to do with, and it is usually worthwhile asking if they want to get rid of them

cheers

graham

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## Jim Garber

> I do have a small selection of packets on the website, and some more to be scanned in.


Here is Graham's string packet page. I must have missed that the last time I visited.

Nice collection. My favorite is the omnipresent Cathedral (as noted by Martin above). Looks like they cornered the market for tennis strings as well.


Jim

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## testore

Here are two rosin boxes from Vuillaume's shop @ 1860, and a box of violin E strings from a Sicilian music store @1900.I used one for a baroque violin that I fixed years ago and it was great. The box says they're silk but I'm not sure.

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## David Newton

You said it was OK to expand this to other "case candy" Jim? You know that means picks, right?

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## Jim Garber

> You said it was OK to expand this to other "case candy" Jim? You know that means picks, right?


I sort of like that it stays with the packaging for strings and accessories, but, if you must...
However, I had started this thread some time ago. 

Jim

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## mrkrishna

Garber, thanks for going to the trouble of posting (and collecting) these sets. Nicest suprise I've had all day....Kerry k

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## Jim Garber

Thanks, Kerry, but there are a few others who should be credited as posting here as well.

Jim

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## jim simpson

Here's my Gretsch Electromatic guitar strings label - it is a round plastic container that's great for holding those small items. Wouldn't a poster with all of the string packages look great?

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## Fliss

Here's a Black Diamond, I don't know how old this would be?

Fliss

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## Fliss

This is the front of the wrapper from the Black Diamond strings

Fliss

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## Fliss

And here's the back of the wrapper

Fliss

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## Fliss

I like this one - again, no idea of the period but it's decorative!

Fliss

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## Charles Johnson

Still other variations on "The Gibson" packages

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## Charles Johnson

Rotosound is an English brand - these look to be 60's era

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## Charles Johnson

Not mandolin but still cool. 1950s(?)Fender

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## Charles Johnson

More variations on the Black Diamond strings:

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## Charles Johnson

Not sure if these are old or not:

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## f5loar

Those BlackDiamond set shown above have a zip code on them so they are after 1964. I'm pretty sure some of the other Black Diamonds shown are 50's/60's and this set looks more mid to late 70's maybe even early 80's.

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## bradeinhorn

cool thread - whoever buys the gibson a-5 from 1964 gets a few pack envelopes like these - vintage monels and black diamonds.

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## danb

Here're my old black diamonds:

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## danb

Bell..

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## danb

Double-post from the Loar strings thread

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## danb

last

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## Charles Johnson



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## bluesmandolinman

from the case of my last purchase

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## bgmando

I've got a few old strings, remnants from the 70s and some 50s Black Diamonds and La Bella that I got from an old hardware store.

  But this thread has got me thinking that I might start buying a set here and there and sticking them away in a box together so a grandkid or garage sale buyer might find them treasures down the line.

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## Jim Garber

> from the case of my last purchase


That is from the Progressive Musical Instrument Corporation in New York (P'Mico).

Jim

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## Martin Jonas

Some vintage strings on Ebay. No bids so far -- your chance to see how your old instrument _really_ sounded.

Nice tin.

Martin

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## Jim Garber

Maybe it is time to resurrect this thread. Here are some more.

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## Jim Garber

Bruno box... I can't quite recall if this is mine or something sent to me. I love the Bruno logo with the lighthouse in the beacon of which it says "Bruno means security." You would think it was an alarm company rather than a musical instrument company.

Also, please forgive me if I posted these here before.

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## Jim Garber

I like the graphics on this one.

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## Jim Garber

"They are simply marvelous"

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## Jim Garber

A couple more from Bruno.

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## Jim Garber

An unusual Keystone State (Weymann) in red vellum paper with gold lettering.

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## Jim Garber

I love the name of this string...

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## Jim Garber

The last... for tonight, at least... a trio of B&D banjo packages. I love the center one with the setting (or rising) sun banjo.

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## bluesmandolinman

singing bird

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## bluesmandolinman

this is interesting because it says Mandolin but the rest of the text is in German so it should be Mandolin*e*

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## Jake Wildwood

The weirdest part of all of these string packages are the steel-string packs for uke! Yow! Poor little uker...

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## Gerard Dick

You guys got me going. My father passed on 3 years ago and my mom last year. while going through the house and deciding what to do with all the stuff I found a box of mandolin strings. a complete set of Gibson mona steel brand new. the box is damaged. The lid part is torn off, but there inside are 8 little envelopes with the strings inside. They weren't cheap either. My dad paid $5.30 for them way back when he had a good paying factory job for about $2.25 an hour. There is no rust or tarnish on them and I am torn between putting them on my Weber Yellowstone or saving them as a novelty and a remembrance of my dad.  
Gerard

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## beenpickin

More Mapes. Strings still sealed in cellophane and it appears the package included a pick.

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## Doug Hoople

Cool stuff! 

Any information on the loop ends of these? How many had loop ends? how many didn't? What era did pre-wound loop ends become common?

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## Jake Wildwood

Here's a selection of Gretsch strings I got along with a mandolin lately... two boxes, one of a "whole set" GDAE, and one of 12 G spares.

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## Jake Wildwood

One side of the ad that came in a packet...

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## Jake Wildwood

The other side... oh, really...?

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## Jake Wildwood

G... D... A... E...

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## Jake Wildwood

Top of the boxes...

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## Jake Wildwood

Comparison of a Martin 034 G string and the much thinner Gretsch G string...

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## Jake Wildwood

Open top.

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## epicentre

Durn:

I had a bunch of those old Black Diamond strings, all rusted, etc. and threw out the envelopes with the strings. 

They were not in top condition, but not bad.

Did I heave a bunch of money?

 D'OH!!!

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## MikeEdgerton

> Did I heave a bunch of money?


A small fortune.

A very small fortune 

Truthfully, probably not.

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## hoffmannia2k7

I love this stuff!

I only have some Gibson Mona-Tone packages - the strings are on my mando and they STILL work!

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## MandoNicity

*bump*  just found this thread and it's fascinating!!!!

JR

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## Jack Roberts

Here's what I have. Except for the last package, they all have strings in them.

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## jim simpson

Today I attended a local auction that included inventory from a long closed music store. I used to window shop there as a kid. I was outbid on every instrument I tried to get but I did manage to get the motherload of strings. Brands include Black Diamond, Epiphone, Milton Wolf, Gibson, Capitol Brand, Squier Trued, Martin, Mapes, Bell Brand, and Red Dragon. There was even a new set of Fender bass flatwound strings.

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## Jim Garber

Congratulations, Jim, on the mother-of-all case candy scores! Maybe you can see what has not been posted here and scan some of the more graphically or historically interesting.

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## jim simpson

Great idea Jim, here are four I selected. I believe the Bell Brand was posted already but I just wanted to include it in the group. Seems like they might make good music room art if enlarged.

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## JeffD

I like that red dragon.

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## JeffD

> Today I attended a local auction that included inventory from a long closed music store. I used to window shop there as a kid. I was outbid on every instrument I tried to get but I did manage to get the motherload of strings. Brands include Black Diamond, Epiphone, Milton Wolf, Gibson, Capitol Brand, Squier Trued, Martin, Mapes, Bell Brand, and Red Dragon. There was even a new set of Fender bass flatwound strings.


Woo hoo. Now that is great.

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## Spruce



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## Jim Garber

Spruce... those are very cool. Did they come with a Bigsby guitar? How old are they?

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## Spruce

> Spruce... those are very cool. Did they come with a Bigsby guitar?


Yep....





> How old are they?


It was a triple neck steel....
I dunno...50's??

This guy showed up at a steel gathering with that thing, and I couldn't believe the string packs were still in there....
Could be Bigsby's writing on 'em for all I know...

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## i-vibe

so many string labels.....so few sent my way. )-;

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## Tavy

Just came across this old thread, here's a few from the UK:

Black diamond and Cathedral have come up before:



This one I think is new, not a mandolin string officially, but appeared to be used as such:



John.

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## Willie Poole

I went into a unknown music store in suburban Md. and asked if they had any mandolin strings and the clerk said I think we have one set left, he counted the envelopes and said yep there is all eight strings here and you can have them for $2.95 so I paid him and left.... a few days later when I went to change strings I found that there wasn`t one set of strings but that each envelope held a complete set of strings so I got eight sets for $2.95.....They were made in Japan and after putting one set on my mandolin I trashed the other seven sets, they were the worst sounding strings I have ever heard....I didn`t keep any labels or envelopes and I am sorry to have gotten off of the op`s subject.....wish I had of kept a package so I could warn everyone about those rotten strings....

     Willie

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## Jim Garber

Steve Senerchia / Music Man has a bunch of string envelopes for sale. I think I have just about all of them already -- for those who want to fill your collection.

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## zombywoof

Whoa a back from the dead thread.

Not a string package but here ya go

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## BradKlein

I've come upon a box of Gretsch strings, very like those Jake posted earlier.  Can anyone estimate the date?  If they're as old as I think, 90 cents would have been fairly expensive.  Of course, they came in a nice box, and they're "Built to Delight Critical Musicians"!

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## Jared Heddinger

I know theyre probably rusted and old beyond belief, but has anyone ever actually tried using those old sets? Id love to heard what things actually sounded like back then. (Or maybe even now).

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## pfox14

Wow, what an amazing collection Jim. Do you have a complete set of MonaSteel strings for guitar with the strings still in them? I have always wanted to know what "guage" strings Gibson used for their guitars back in the 30s. Any chance you could measure them and let me know? Thanks

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## Jim Garber

I don't have everything -- some of the packages are empty and I collected for the graphics. I can look but maybe one of the other collectors like Tom might. I will certainly measure them if I have them and if I can figure out my micrometer.

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## BradKlein

Happy to have revived interest in this fun thread.  Paul, maybe you've run into price information for guitar and/or mando strings from the 20s, 30s, 40s, that would be an approximate way of dating the box of Gretsch Eagle's that I posted? I've found images of packages and ads like the one below, but no way to line up item to approximate date.

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## pfox14

Awesome, thanks. I would guess that they will measure out to .012 for the E string.

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## pfox14

Here are some additional Kalamazoo Brand strings ephemera from 1934:

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## pfox14



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## pfox14

Here are a few more I found

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## Tavy

Time to revive this old thread with some (new to me anyway) packages,

National Musical string company:



And this ones almost a work of art - the Philharmonic mandolin:

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## Narayan Kersak

Not sure I understand this whole vintage string thing.  It was my sense that when strings got old you got rid of them!

What's the deal?  I know I saw someone on ebay selling over 300 packs of vintages strings.  Help me understand who wants to buy them and why.

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## Jim Garber

Narayan: not to buy them to use on an instrument, but more for the art on the packages. That is what this thread is about. There also could be some interest historically in what our string gauges and compositions our predecessors played with.

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## Narayan Kersak

I see!  Thank you.

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## Christian

Here's a Gibson mandolin string package that was given to me in the late seventies by Vernon McIntyre. I haven't seen it posted here, if I'm not wrong. From the way it looks, I'm guessing it might be from the 20's or 30's, maybe someone has a clue??

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## Jim Garber

Christian: those are interesting. I am not sure what those are. I have seen other string pkgs from the 20s (see earlier in this thread) but none marked Columbia. I never heard the brand Columbia associated with Gibson -- I seem to recall Lyon & Healy -- so maybe this was made for another company with Gibson brand still on it. Perhaps for export?

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## danb

Here's the box that goes with 'em!

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## George Roberts

I'm a tad late to this thread, and when I went through my stash of old strings, these were the only ones I found that hadn't already been shown.  They were very light weight strings when I used them in the 60s.  The back of the package says "Made In Germany (U.S. Zone)".
Jim, your Bay State string package was the clue I needed to finally identify my "University of Michigan" guitar.  The Lyre logo on the package was so similar to an imprint on the front of the headstock that I started looking for Bay State Guitars.  There is a site called "Bay State Registry" and they were able to confirm the identity.  Thank you.
George

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## niels

2014 and this thread resurfaces  :Smile: 

These strings came with my Silvertone: Mapes and Black Diamond.
Could anyone shed a light on the age of these? Thanks.

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## Jim Garber

The Mapes is pre-1963 since they do not use Zip Codes in their address. Prob they are older than that.

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niels

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## Eddie Sheehy

I've got 2 sets of old Gibson Mona-Steel Mandocello strings No. 207 and a set of Gibson Sonomatic Electric 6 Bass strings No. 027

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## pfox14

Here is a little montage of Gibson strings as they appeared in various catalogs.

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## danb

> Here is a little montage of Gibson strings as they appeared in various catalogs.


Note the typo in "Gauge" on the earliest ones  :Smile: 

I have a few that are paper with the printing like the 1909, then several that are more typical "parchment" like envelopes.

I have quite a few As & Es.. does anyone have Gs & Ds to swap? Might be fun to string up #9100 with a fully original set

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## pfox14

> Here's a Gibson mandolin string package that was given to me in the late seventies by Vernon McIntyre. I haven't seen it posted here, if I'm not wrong. From the way it looks, I'm guessing it might be from the 20's or 30's, maybe someone has a clue??


According to an avid collector friend of mine, the Gibson-Columbia strings were made by The Gibson String Co. that was in Plainfield, NJ. Nothing to do with Gibson guitars.

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## Timbofood

Does anyone know who actually produced the packages?  The gibson ones may have been made using material from KVP Sutherland which had locations around Kalamazoo, and in Parchment.  KVP stood for Kalamazoo Vegetable Parchment and one of the factory buildings was not far from the Parsons street offices.  I worked with a man who had worked for KVP but, never thought to ask that kind of question until after he had died.  I must remember to ask those questions, as they come up!
Should have read to the end of the thread... D'oh!

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## pfox14

> Does anyone know who actually produced the packages?  The gibson ones may have been made using material from KVP Sutherland which had locations around Kalamazoo, and in Parchment.  KVP stood for Kalamazoo Vegetable Parchment and one of the factory buildings was not far from the Parsons street offices.  I worked with a man who had worked for KVP but, never thought to ask that kind of question until after he had died.  I must remember to ask those questions, as they come up!
> Should have read to the end of the thread... D'oh!


There's nothing in Joe Spann's book about who made the string packages, but KVP sounds like a very good guess.

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Timbofood

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## Tavy

Must be time to resurface this old thread... found with a DeMeglio mandolin... "Invincible" strings: I could use some of those today  :Wink:

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Jim Garber

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