Search:

Best strings in my estimation are Dogal Calace RW92b Dolce. Last time I checked Strings by Mail had them in stock. Otherwise you can use GHS A-240 ultra lights. I think the gauges you mentioned are...

Measurements might be helpful here especially scale lengths. Brescian mandolini are tuned the same as standard neapolitan mandolins GDAE but usually with gut/nylon strings. They could have been meant...

It is a very unusual occurrence for a poster to pose a question, get three pages worth of interesting replies, but not post anything of his own story. How about it, Old Growth?

I agree wholheartedly with my esteemed colleagues assessment. I have seen guitars with this maker's labels but don't recall any mandolins.

Hmmmm... is there an echo in here?

Some bridges might change the tone of your mandolin but, assuming the bridges are all hardwood, the differences would be subtle. It might make a greater...

Here’s the eBay one:

201795

lt does look like it has a double top.

There have been precursors to this design primarily Chris Knutsen: https://www.harpguitars.net/knutsen/mandolins.htm. A d also the Larson Brothers Dyer harp in struments.

Many of these did not...

Is this the same song? He may be singing in a regional dialect? Do you have further info about the song?


https://youtu.be/axlV3I5nttg

For historical purposes:

201793

Not the highest workmanship if I can tell from the photos. Also hard to tell but it looks like purfling might be painted on or even drawn with a Sharpie. Then again, kind of cool in an insane way.

I agree with my colleagues above. If all else fails replace the fretboard with a reasonably thick one, refret, and shim up the bridge if necessary.

I have been getting more and more into playing that way on fiddle or mandolin. Part of it comes from playing in gatherings with multiple fiddles. I can usually Sue’s out tunes I never heard but more...

Hey Simon: Thanks for posting. Lots of interesting tunes to explore. Did you put that together yourself?

Some more info might help any of us to give you advice. First, what are you playing right now and what don’t you like about it? Second, what is your price range. Third, you might tell us your general...

My first line: My black A2 snakehead which I have had for more than 40 years; Brentrup A4C; Campanella A5; Embergher N.3; Washburn Style A. Those are the ones I grab for first depending on the genre...

I also found some iron on hardwood veneer that works very nicely to raise the action of a bridge and allows it to follow the slight curved contour of the top. This is one type and they have other...

Here's one place but I assume you would have to ship it to NY City: https://musican.org/instrument-donations/

An international org: https://globalmusicproject.org/MIDP.html

Another:...

Not that this makes any difference but these Leland instruments were listed in my 1912 Lyon & Healy catalog so are older than 1930s. I don’t think they made them that late.

I am hoping someone...

The main advantage of any fiddle is that you play it closer to your ears than other instruments. I always find it harder to play anything but a fiddle or my National RM-1 at a large jam. Usually I...

That guitar player might have just returned from Weiser or similar. I met a phenomenal contest style fiddle years ago but we could not really play together. In some ways OT is closer to bluegrass.

For us non-down-underers: The Caldersmith Papers: Writings on Guitar and Violin Acoustics https://a.co/d/2a9qVgm

This is an interesting thread that will require deeper reading on my part. The OP’s quote interests me. First Gibson did contribute to make F-5s though the design seemed to go downhill over the...

Good advice all around. I would add to find one or two folks to get together and play on a regular basis. Jams are fine but the tempos are usually too fast for beginners and not geared for them.

Jerry: Can you post some more photos of your grandmother’s mandolin. That one is interesting.

That Gibson is an A model Century mandolin which along with the L-Century guitars were built in the 1930s to commemorate the 1933 Chicago Century of Progress Exposition. The other one I can’t ID....