Hi I picked up this beautiful old Mandolin recently,it has no maker or brand markings.Wondering if anyone has any idea what it is.
Cheers in advance.
Hi I picked up this beautiful old Mandolin recently,it has no maker or brand markings.Wondering if anyone has any idea what it is.
Cheers in advance.
Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.
There are a number of issues to be addressed before this instrument could be made playable; cracks repaired, nut and bridge constructed, general cleanup.
The question arises whether it would be worth the cost and effort involved. I can't answer that, nor can I tell whether the instrument would require work on the neck/body joint to withstand the force of stringing and tuning to pitch.
It started life at the low end of construction quality and price; once made playable, the juice would probably not be worth the squeeze.
I agree with my esteemed colleague, Bob A. It looks to me that there was probably a celluloid scratchplate on the top and that someone inlaid that wood in its place.
Jim
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Playing lately:
1924 Gibson A4 - 2018 Campanella A-5 - 2007 Brentrup A4C - 1915 Frank Merwin Ashley violin - Huss & Dalton DS - 1923 Gibson A2 black snakehead - '83 Flatiron A5-2 - 1939 Gibson L-00 - 1936 Epiphone Deluxe - 1928 Gibson L-5 - ca. 1890s Fairbanks Senator Banjo - ca. 1923 Vega Style M tenor banjo - ca. 1920 Weymann Style 25 Mandolin-Banjo - National RM-1
Impossible for me to guess the provenance of this but some of its characteristics seem distinctly hybrid.
The bowl and headstock look American, but the ultra thin fretboard seems in the Italian style as does the tailpiece.
Do we see that kind of amorphous scratchplate shape from US builders?
German-O-Eur-O-Czech?
Mick
Ever tried, ever failed? No matter. Try again, fail again. Fail better.--Samuel Beckett
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I thought Eastern European.
Jim
My Stream on Soundcloud
19th Century Tunes
Playing lately:
1924 Gibson A4 - 2018 Campanella A-5 - 2007 Brentrup A4C - 1915 Frank Merwin Ashley violin - Huss & Dalton DS - 1923 Gibson A2 black snakehead - '83 Flatiron A5-2 - 1939 Gibson L-00 - 1936 Epiphone Deluxe - 1928 Gibson L-5 - ca. 1890s Fairbanks Senator Banjo - ca. 1923 Vega Style M tenor banjo - ca. 1920 Weymann Style 25 Mandolin-Banjo - National RM-1
1. You need a bridge.
2. You need a nut.
3. You don't necessarily need, but probably would like to have, a tailpiece cover.
Looks like the tailpiece has four rather than eight pins, so two strings per pin. Can't tell from the pics what the angle of the neck is meeting the body, so what the action (string height) might be like, you'll have to string it up -- with extra-light strings -- and see. Might be OK, might be too high. There's not much adjustment possible with the average bowl-back (no truss rod, non-adjustable bridge), so you're pretty much stuck with what you find, unless you're prepared to spend more than the instrument's worth getting it recalibrated.
It was an entry-level mandolin when it was made, probably 100-125 years ago; the lack of ornamentation (binding, inlay) and the relatively few maple ribs in the bowl show that. It's been through the wars since -- its top sanded, a non-original pickguard probably installed. The four-pin tailpiece and the general silhouette do hint at non-Italian European manufacture, but we'll likely never know. If you're lucky and the action's playable, after you find and install the missing parts, you could have a decent instrument, but there's a significant distance between that and what you've got now.
Allen Hopkins
Gibsn: '54 F5 3pt F2 A-N Custm K1 m'cello
Natl Triolian Dobro mando
Victoria b-back Merrill alumnm b-back
H-O mandolinetto
Stradolin Vega banjolin
Sobell'dola Washburn b-back'dola
Eastmn: 615'dola 805 m'cello
Flatiron 3K OM
I cannot see the tuners properly but they look German which would concur with the view that this mandolin is most likely European in origin.
in the last picture -- does the instrument also lack frets, at least up near the head? because if so, those need replaced, too, i'd think.
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1920 Lyon & Healy bowlback
1923 Gibson A-1 snakehead
1952 Strad-o-lin
1983 Giannini ABSM1 bandolim
2009 Giannini GBSM3 bandolim
2011 Eastman MD305
I might hazard a guess that those frets were pulled because they were hitting the strings and the neck is most likely bowed.
"It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
--M. Stillion
"Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
--J. Garber
I see frets up near the nut. Maybe I am imagining things?
Jim
My Stream on Soundcloud
19th Century Tunes
Playing lately:
1924 Gibson A4 - 2018 Campanella A-5 - 2007 Brentrup A4C - 1915 Frank Merwin Ashley violin - Huss & Dalton DS - 1923 Gibson A2 black snakehead - '83 Flatiron A5-2 - 1939 Gibson L-00 - 1936 Epiphone Deluxe - 1928 Gibson L-5 - ca. 1890s Fairbanks Senator Banjo - ca. 1923 Vega Style M tenor banjo - ca. 1920 Weymann Style 25 Mandolin-Banjo - National RM-1
I think all of the frets are there. It seems there may be some shadows cast from the lighting in the first picture that make it look like the frets are missing. Hard to say for sure, but that’s what I see.
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