# General Mandolin Topics > Vintage Instruments >  My Melody King Mandolin

## Hylandra

I am new to posting....so if I posted in the wrong Place...im sorry....lol....... :Smile: 

This Mandolin is Melody King, I Need to find out some information on it and the value,it has a few scratches but no cracks, it does not have the original case...I aquired it about 10 years ago.....I have looked for years for information on this particular Mandolin and I cannot find anything, so any information would be appreciated.......also I am considering selling this mandolin


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## Hylandra

opps duplicated my pictures...lol

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## MikeEdgerton

It was made by Kay in Chicago, probably circa 1940-1950. Might have been a little earlier. You can probably find similar mandolins if you search eBay's closed auctions using the keywords Kay and mandolin. That will get you a value. Make sure you look at the amounts in green as those are actually what the items sold for. Kay made for the trade as well as under their own brand name.

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## Hylandra

Thank you Mike  :Smile:

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## bmac

Some folks on this site may have an interest in your Kay mandolin. I certainly find its shape interesting.

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## Jim Garber

I love the shape of those Kay's however I believe this one, tho looking in good shape, is a bottom of the line budget model. It looks like the "binding" is painted on -- is that correct. Still it is a cool looking one and the oval holes are less common than the f-holes FWIW.

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Hylandra

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## MikeEdgerton

It also looks like a flat top and back but that might be an optical illusion.

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## Hylandra

The Mandolin is flat on the front and back., and it has a white painted trim all around the Mandolin about 1/4 inch its on the top and sides..........sorry for posting so many pics......lol  :Smile:

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## Hylandra

The man I aquired it from found it in his grandfathers attic,after he passed away, hanging from a rope tied to the neck in the center of the attic...but he remembered him playing it when he was a child...he thought it was odd that his grandfather had a rope tied to it to suspend it in the air

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## MikeEdgerton

I think it's a little odd myself.

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## ColdBeerGoCubs

> The man I aquired it from found it in his grandfathers attic,after he passed away, hanging from a rope tied to the neck in the center of the attic...but he remembered him playing it when he was a child...he thought it was odd that his grandfather had a rope tied to it to suspend it in the air



That's deep.

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## F-2 Dave

Farmers used to (maybe some still do) tie things up in the barn loft that they didn't want mice to get into. Maybe it was something like that. Or perhaps the mandolin did something really, really bad.

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Hylandra

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## Hylandra

Thats good to know...So I guess that must be why he had it hanging from the ceiling....lol @ just because'...thats a good one

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## bmac

I can't think of a better way for attic dead storage of an instrument... As long as the roof doesn't leak. It would never have old suitcases or unused furniture piled on top of it.

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## Hylandra

lol...whats Gunga ....Gunga....Gu..Lunga mean....hahahaa...thats a new one on me....lol

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## morghath

That a very good way to teach a bad mandolin a lesson it will never forget

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## Gregory Tidwell

Watch Caddyshack and all will be made known.

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## Hylandra

Are you all saying my Mandolin is a bad Mandolin???....All I wanted was to know about this Mandolin...I didn't come here for people to make jokes and fun of me, when all i wanted was to know about the Mandolin.....if this is what this sites about then I have no business even being here.............I'm taking my Mandolin pictures off....even if its not worth $50 dollars....its not nice to make fun of it.... to me its worth more than all of your fancy Mandolins combined...

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## Jim Garber

Hylandra: I don't think anyone was making fun of you or your mandolin. People on this site rarely do such things. I have been on here for years and what I like best is the civility. I think the joke was that your mandolin was hanging in the attic. People do like Kays for their mojo. If you like and play your Melody King, that is truly all that is important. Enjoy it and don't take silliness so seriously.

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## jaycat

I thought she meant the old guy was found hanging from a rope.

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## CES

They were joking about the mandolin hanging from a rope in the attic, not about the mandolin itself.  And they weren't making fun of your mandolin by saying that it was a budget model, just giving you the factual information you requested.  There's nothing wrong with budget instruments, and I have several myself...they can be quite cool and fun to play.  But, they're not expensive, top tier instruments, either.  I played a budget mandolin exclusively for a long time...

Your mando is cool...if you want to sell it, do so.  If not, play it, play it, play it!  But I wouldn't recommend storing it in an attic ever again...just gets too hot up there in the summertime!

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## CES

double post, sorry...

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## bmac

In fact no one was intentionally putting you, or your instrument down... Many of us envy you, myself included. Plenty of fulks focus on lower end instruments and sometimes one runs accross funny stories or historical information which gets a chuckle. but it is seldom, if ever, meant to put someone down as far as I can tell. This is a surprisingly civil group.

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## Jim Garber

I have a feeling that Hylandra is long gone, having taken it all as an insult. Too bad...

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## Pete Summers

Wow. Thin skin.

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## Hylandra

Yes I guess I do have thin skin here lately .....when he said gunga gunga...or whatever that was he said....and then the other said thats a way to teach a bad mandolin a lesson.....it hurt my feelings....I had been all day clearing out my sons belongings..he died...and he used to play the Mandolin and he liked it...and i felt like someone was making fun of it .....and I guess it was were I was emotional all day having to throw things of his away...and I may have taken it wrong in what everyone said...so i'm sorry if I took it wrong....I was just having a really bad day. when i read the posts and may have taken it as an insult to the Mandolin.....God Bless...Hylandra

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## allenhopkins

Sorry beyond words about your son.  There's a Jewish saying, which I guess, loosely translated, is "Every angel cries when a parent buries a child."

Honestly, the idea of a mandolin hanging by its neck in an attic just struck some of us as ludicrous.  Who knows why the person stored it that way -- probably had no case, didn't want it to get broken, thought "It'll be safer up here."  Had we known your overall circumstances I think we'd have throttled back on the jokes.

Good luck.

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## Bill Snyder

Every post he makes ends in Gunga......Gunga.....Gu-Lunga, that is his signature line and it has nothing to do with your instrument.
The comment about teaching a "bad mandolin a lesson it will never forget" did not appear to me to be a comment on the quality of the mandolin but rather a joke about it having misbehaved and being punished.
I am sorry for your loss. As a parent I can not fathom the grief that must come with the loss of a child. All I can do is offer up a prayer for your comfort.

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## Mandolin Mick

Hylandra, 

So sorry to hear about your son and you have a nice mandolin. 

Sometimes guys here like to make each other laugh, but our posts come off the wrong way and we end up offending people. I've done it myself. That's the problem with e-mails, etc., because you can't see the writer's face or hear the inflections of the voice.

The guys here are actually great and will give you whatever info you need on your mandolin. 

Hope you have a better day tomorrow!  :Mandosmiley:

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## Jim Garber

I am glad we didn't drive you away permanently, Hylandra. So sorry about your travails. We are glad you are back tho.

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## morghath

Hylanda,
           That mandolin is worth more than money can buy sorry about the joke nothing meant by it. God bless ya.

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## Rodney Riley

> Hylanda,
>            That mandolin is worth more than money can buy... God bless ya.


I'm with morghath on this one too. If it was an instrument my son loved and played. (Like his "Dime Bag Darrell" guitar) And we lost him. It would be in my possession until I am reunited with him. You are added to our prayers...

I remember at my Grandparents coal shed, there was a lot of stuff hung up with used binder twine. (WW1 uniform and gas mask, a smoked ham, bundle of onions, man, it's been over 50 years since I was in that shed) A nail and twine was cheaper than building shelves for stuff. And as mentioned before, think it kept things up where the varmits couldn't get to 'em. :Smile:

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