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Thread: new to mandolin,could use help with id

  1. #26
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    Default Re: new to mandolin,could use help with id

    Also,thank you all for all the help and brain power.

  2. #27
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: new to mandolin,could use help with id

    Still no way to ID the builder but it was most likely built in the 1920's early 30's at best, assuming the tuners are original.
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  3. #28
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    Default Re: new to mandolin,could use help with id

    Quote Originally Posted by athensduck View Post
    Ok,been a busy week,sorry. The seller say's he was told it is a 1921 vega or washburn.Has had professional repairs done to it..It is in a 1920s Gibson A jr case.He want's right at $600 for it.Though I am hopefully going to be trading for it.He is out of town and is supposed to meet me the day before my anniversary (it is for my girl).Thank you guys for all the help so far.
    I think he may be wrong about the case. The Vega connection is probably more likely than the Washburn.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
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  4. #29

    Default Re: new to mandolin,could use help with id

    I believe Vega mandolins have a serial number impressed in the headstock top edge. If this mandolin was made by Vega in 1921 then it would have a number somewhere around 40,000.

    With regard to the case. I have just run into an ad for the very same type of case- with identical lining and the seller wants $275 for it. This may be a bit high but it is in good condition- as appears to be the case with this mystery mandolin. Obviously, when considering the asking price of $600, the case is worth quite a bit. Here is some of the blurb with that other G & S mandolin case sale:

    1920's
    GIBSON
    ORIGINAL
    HARD SHELL CASE
    A-STYLE MANDOLIN
    for sale
    Great, useable condition. Diamond pocket cover. Original 1920’s Gibson A Style Mandolin Hard Case.
    Their best case at the time. Green lining.

    This case housed a 1924 “A” Style "Snake-Head" mandolin and no reason to believe it wasn’t originally and optionally purchased at the same time.
    Last edited by NickR; Aug-20-2018 at 3:45am.

  5. #30
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    Default Re: new to mandolin,could use help with id

    Ok..I got the mandolin..It does not have an impressed number..It used to have a makers label inside but it apparently was off when he got it. It is 24 1/2" long overall,9 1/2" wide,3 " deep,the fretboard is 10" from nut to the end of fretboard,and the nut width is 1 1/4"

  6. #31
    Martin Stillion mrmando's Avatar
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    Default Re: new to mandolin,could use help with id

    Some similarities to a Martin Style 15 carved mandolin. The Galiano/Ciani guess is probably best; if not that specific shop it's probably one of the other Italian builders from New York. Probably built in the 1930s. Martin-type body, Gibson-type headstock; fancy inlay and pickguard; it's kind of a mishmash/greatest-hits instrument built by an individual luthier.
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  7. #32
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    Default Re: new to mandolin,could use help with id

    I have a Galliano / Ciani very similar to the one Jim posted. (Or maybe it is that mandolin....) The body shape is quite like to the one in question, but the neck profile and joint is not all. Could be from someone free-lancing out of the Schmidt / Ciani posse.

    Mick
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    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: new to mandolin,could use help with id

    Quote Originally Posted by brunello97 View Post
    I have a Galliano / Ciani very similar to the one Jim posted. (Or maybe it is that mandolin....) The body shape is quite like to the one in question, but the neck profile and joint is not all. Could be from someone free-lancing out of the Schmidt / Ciani posse.

    Mick
    Mick: Can you post photos of yours. I grabbed the photos from the older thread I linked to above. Did you buy the mandolin from that poster?
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  9. #34
    Full Grown and Cussin' brunello97's Avatar
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    Default Re: new to mandolin,could use help with id

    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Garber View Post
    Mick: Can you post photos of yours. I grabbed the photos from the older thread I linked to above. Did you buy the mandolin from that poster?
    Yes, Jim, I think that is the one I bought. I recognize the case in the photo, too. I'll dig it out and get some photos up.

    Mick
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  10. #35

    Default Re: new to mandolin,could use help with id

    Quote Originally Posted by NickR View Post
    In the early to mid-1930s or thereabouts OS adopted the "open book" headstock shape on guitars and mandolins but I would be very surprised if it was made by Oscar Schmidt. It really is an enigma and ideally more photos might help uncover more clues- it is a real to mystery instrument. think Galiano instruments were made by a few makers and OS was one of them. Let's hope this is identified before our heads explode thinking of possible makers!
    Greetings to my fellow Mandolinians. I’m new to this site. In fact this is my first post. But when I saw the photo, I just had to reply. I have what looks to me to be the same mandolin, in the same case. So before anybody’s head explodes. I will tell you that inside the sound hole of my mandolin, it has a label that says “A. Galliano” and under that it has a symbol and says “Raphael Ciani”. Mandolini Echitarre Garentite.
    Like I said, this is my first post, so I haven’t figured out how to post a photo yet.
    From the info that I have gathered, A. Galliano was a distributor of sorts and the mandolin was made by Raphael Ciani.
    Raphael Ciani was the uncle of John D’Angelico, the guitar maker extraordinaire. The story I heard is that John worked under the tutelage of Raphael in his shop when he was a youth and I’m gonna believe (true or not) that my mandolin passed through his hands.
    Your mandolin, Don, although almost identical to mine, has a few differences. Your headstock is inlaid, and mine is plain. You have no serial number on the back of yours, and mine does. (Believe it or not it’s 007). My fretboard has abalone dots, 3 across with the middle dot larger than the other 2. My back and sides seem to be unfinished, with a lacquer finish on the spruce top. The pick guard is the same as is the bridge and the tuners in the same shaped headstock. I also have a Gibson A style and this mandolin had very similar tone.

    That’s all I know at this time. If anyone knows the value of these mandolins, please let me know in a post.
    Thanks
    Glenn

  11. #36
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: new to mandolin,could use help with id

    Welcome, Glenn. Just a few comments since I am on my phone.

    i think D’Angelico was fairly young when working for his uncle and probably swept the floors and was sent out on espresso runs. I suppose he may have handled some minor luthier tasks.

    You say back and sides are unfinished? That is very strange. Maybe someone stripped the finish off?

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