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Thread: Grandpa's S.S. Stewart - Help request

  1. #1

    Default Grandpa's S.S. Stewart - Help request

    I am hoping you can help me. My Grandpa had the mandolin in the attached photos. It cannot be played as it has been determined to be beyond repair.
    However, the family has restrung it (not tensioned), cleaned it up, and it is now in a custom display case for generations to come. We understand it probably has no monetary value, but it does have sentimental value.

    I am looking for information on this mandolin and to find one as close to it as possible to purchase.
    This is all I know: SS Stewart sticker, B&J sticker, 1920s (or so we think), A-Style? F-holes? Forgive me - I am just learning!

    Perhaps you can help either locate one in good-excellent condition, or suggest a make/model that is close as possible to the style, and better quality is ok too.

    We want to get it for our son who is much like my Grandpa in many ways, an avid musician, and turning 20 with a desire to begin playing mandolin. Thanks so much!
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  2. #2
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    Default Re: Grandpa's S.S. Stewart - Help request

    I am not familiar with this particular mandolin, but anything can be repaired. It may be more expensive than the instrument is worth, but it can be repaired. If it is that sentimental it may be possible that the cost is more than the mandolin is worth, but not so high as your sentiment. Your son could actually play your grandfathers mandolin.
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  3. #3
    Lurkist dhergert's Avatar
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    Default Re: Grandpa's S.S. Stewart - Help request

    It's hard to talk about S.S. Stewart without talking about banjos, Samuel Swain Stewart was probably the main power behind what many today call the "classic banjo" period from a few years post-Civil War until the early 1930s in some countries.

    S.S. Stewart's company started in 1878, and he passed away in 1898, his sons and George Bauer, formerly a guitar and mandolin manufacturer, kept his company going together until about 1901 after which Bauer still produced banjos and added mandolins and guitars under the S.S. Stewart name to the line until about 1911. After that the company and S.S. Stewart label passed through a number of hands with instruments being outsourced for them by a number of companies, including Slingerland, Martin and Gibson.

    A few features on your mandolin look Gibson-like, including the sunburst finish and the binding, but they could also have been made by a number of other companies.

    There is not a lot of information available on specific S.S. Stewart models from 1911 through later years, but, you can identify a lot by specific hardware... In particular the screw heads on your mandolin's pickguard are standard heads (and the tuner and tailpiece screws are probably the same), which would point to pre-1936 production years. The tailpiece appears to be an early scalloped mandolin tailpiece used by a number of manufacturers in the 19teens and early 1920s.

    As such, without any other information or pictures, I'd guess this as being a post-1911 pre-1936 instrument. There might be a label or other markings inside the instrument that could say more, visible with a flashlight and a keen eye. Pics of any of those possible markings would be particularly interesting.
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  4. #4
    Registered User nmiller's Avatar
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    Default Re: Grandpa's S.S. Stewart - Help request

    This mandolin was built by Harmony. It's an uncommon body shape for them which dates the mandolin to the early-mid '30s. It also has an early-style Stewart logo on the front of the headstock that I've never seen on a mandolin with f-holes before.
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  6. #5
    Mando accumulator allenhopkins's Avatar
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    Default Re: Grandpa's S.S. Stewart - Help request

    The "B & J" decal on the back is from Buegeleisen & Jacobson, major NYCity music distributors starting in 1897 and active through most of the 20th century. The "B & J" name survives in Canada. They apparently acquired the "S S Stewart" trademark in 1914, and applied it to a variety of instruments from different sources.

    I own a "B & J Victoria" bowl-back mandolin that appears to have been made by Lyon & Healy.

    I concur with pops1's post; if you haven't done so already, I'd at least get the instrument appraised for repair. If it's Harmony-built, it's likely not a finely-crafted mandolin, but there's a lot of value in family history, IMHO. I'd guess, from the white plastic pickguard and the lettering style of the "B & J" decal, that the mandolin tends toward the later 1920's to the mid '30's, as others have suggested.
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