Pocket mandolin, not attic but garbage can found

[WillieJ]

Almost 20 years ago I found this instrument in a garbage can at the fleamarket, beaten to pieces:



I thought it was kind of a "backpacker mandolin". Having the parts sorted, I gave them to friend of mine luthier Karsten Schnoor (www.karstenschnoor.com/) to glue the wooden puzzle together. He suspected it to be built maybe by a prisoner of war with lutherie knowledge during or after WWII.

Here are some more pictures of this slighty deranged instrument:



I would be glad if anybody here could tell something about an instrument like this!

[poul hansen]

I have thought of making a travel mandolin myself, by sawing off the sides of a cheap mandolin, and closing them with thin plywood.

[Cando]

I Wonder if it is / was a real Embergher

[WillieJ]

Because of the neck shape?

[Cando]

Because of the head stock, headstock inlay, neck shape, like almost everything.

Also the fact that someone was so attached to it that he made a playable (?) instrument out of it again when it was already that broken.

But then again there are also some German Embergher copies, so who knows.

[WillieJ]

I can see now what you mean:



Thank you for that hint!

[WillieJ]

I have thought of making a travel mandolin myself, by sawing off the sides of a cheap mandolin, and closing them with thin plywood.

[Cary Fagan]

I love seeing these odd one of a kind mandolins. If only they could talk.

On the subject of travel mandolins, I built a small and simplified flatback that has gone with me to China and other places. Fits into a concert ukulele bag. It's a good sort of first build to try.

[WillieJ]

Unpretentious but beautiful!

[Jeff Mando]

I Wonder if it is / was a real Embergher

Yup, looks like a bowlback that was chopped down.

The famous English bluesman John Mayall ruined many pre-CBS strats by lopping off the body wings and adding large holes in the body.......I don't know if this was to make the guitars lighter/smaller or some kind of a hippie artistic expression?, but he did several that way. It did make him stand out on stage, if for nothing but the oddity of it!

[WillieJ]

I didn't know that, but immediately found this picture:



There are pics on which the Fender headstock can be seen, but I'm not sure if it's allowed to post them because of copyright trouble.

[Jim Garber]

I Wonder if it is / was a real Embergher

Absolutely! That was a #2 neck added onto an home-made body. Of course, it probably lost its label as well.

I can't imagine that this was a complete or even a restorable mandolin when this conversion occurred. Who in their right mind would do that?

[WillieJ]

Yeah, that's why luthier Karsten Schnoor had assumed an emergency situation.

[MikeEdgerton]

I have thought of making a travel mandolin myself, by sawing off the sides of a cheap mandolin, and closing them with thin plywood.

There's actually a thread here on the cafe someplace where someone did just that. It was a few years back and I can't seem to find it right now. If I recal it wokred well for the person that did it.

[brunello97]

The Frank-o-bergher conversion is particularly interesting, as the neck block would have been located inside the original bowl staves.
The "designer" then fashioned the bottom of the new neck block to mate up with the old one. Talk about a radical neck reset!

I think it is kind of ingenuous in a way. Given how many broken or unplayable bowls there are out there....almost unlimited source of parts.

Mick

[MikeEdgerton]

The Frank-o-bergher conversion is particularly interesting, as the neck block would have been located inside the original bowl staves.
The "designer" then fashioned the bottom of the new neck block to mate up with the old one. Talk about a radical neck reset!

I think it is kind of ingenuous in a way. Given how many broken or unplayable bowls there are out there....almost unlimited source of parts.

Mick

This could be a win/win situation for those that insist on making candy bowls out of old bowlbacks. Recycling at its finest!

[vic-victor]

Sure looks like Embergher No. 2 model re-worked the barn way. Likely because the original bowl was broken beyond repair. Can't see the small details at the photos, but it looks like the Embergher stamp is there at the flip side of a headstock.

[WillieJ]

There it is:



Thank you Cando, Jim, Vic for pointing in the right direction!

[brunello97]

A "Beyond Bowl" Embergher.....

Mick