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Thread: Strad-O-Lin, United and Homenick Bros

  1. #26
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Strad-O-Lin, United and Homenick Bros

    Quote Originally Posted by Jeff Mando View Post
    What kind of definitive proof would be required?
    Perhaps something showing a large number of in process instruments in a identifiable photo taken while the instruments in question were being manufactured, not someone trying to remember where a factory was that they bought in the late 50's years after production ceased. Too many things can happen. In that same time period Favilla moved out of NY to Long Island. Who bought their factory? I haven't got a clue. Why would Sorkin sell the brand name to anyone if they were still in business? They bought the rest of the brand names and started putting them on anything they wanted to. Did they buy the brand name? I'm sure. Did it come from Homenick? I question that, I would think it came with the rest of the Sorkin brand names. Were mandolins manufactured in that building? Possibly but that doesn't mean they were manufactured by Homenick, it means Homenick may have owned a building. This brings up more questions than it answers. It's not cut a dried unfortunately. I would love to know the answer of who built the Strad-O-Lins but this doesn't show me anything. There were obvioulsy multiple manufacturers but I am assuming that the original Strad-O-Lins if opened up have that same circular clamp marking on the tail block and the other two identifiable but unknown makers won't have the same mark.

    By the way, if you were a premier manufacturer of a product would you have let this out of your factory?
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    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
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  3. #27

    Default Re: Strad-O-Lin, United and Homenick Bros

    Yes, as mentioned above, Fender is also problematic. James Burton said that Jimmy Bryant played a prototype Broadcaster that Leo Fender had given him. This was back in 1950, so that means that this year is most likely the true date for the fully worked up version and the beginning of serious production. Leo Fender always asked musicians for input and he continued doing this even with G & L- getting feedback from musicians such as John Jorgenson.

  4. #28

    Default Re: Strad-O-Lin, United and Homenick Bros

    It doesn't seem to have been discussed anywhere on here before, Acoustic Music have posted the 1936 Gretsch catalog (the 1933 has been discussed here) and it is the first and only catalog I am aware of that makes a clear distinction between carved top and pressed top Strads:

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    1936 is also the first year I have seen for Strads with a date stamp and The Fretted Instrument Manufacturing Corporation were incorporated in November 1935. Bernard Forcillo discussed United's production of pressed top instruments in his interview. Acoustic Music have also posted the 1935 Metropolitian catalog and they only have two models offered that does not include the Junior but seem to correpsond to the model 600 and model 800:

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    These are different retailers so may not have carried the whole line.

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  6. #29
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Strad-O-Lin, United and Homenick Bros

    There are a few ads in the Vintage Advertisement Social Group that mention being graduated in the style of a violin but I don't recall any saying hand carved so that is cool.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
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  7. #30

    Default Re: Strad-O-Lin, United and Homenick Bros

    I've reread the 1935 Metro catalog and there is a $9 Strad mandolin on the preceding page that seems to correspond to the Junior, so the pressed top instruments pre-exist the Fretted Instrument Co's incorporation (unless the catalog is from after November which seems unlikely). Someone also once mentioned having a 1935 date stamped Strad on here a few years ago. This is quite an interesting catalog:

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    I found it without much context here. The file name is B&J 1940s.

  8. #31

    Default Re: Strad-O-Lin, United and Homenick Bros

    I have found three articles in Svoboda (the main Ukrainian language newspaper from New York) that reference Paul Homenick as a mandolin maker. I've had them transcribed and professionally translated:

    October 9th 1931:
    "The Homenick brothers, those who played "The Ukrainian Wedding", opened a large factory for the production of new mandolins called “Stradolins”. These stradolins sound like mandolins, but clearer and more pleasant, more like a violin (probably because the Homenick brothers have been making violins for 25 years). Surma already has stradolins for sale, 35 dollars each."

    2 June 2, 1935:
    "A mandolin school was founded in the Bronx at the initiative of the Ukrainian Orthodox Community. There the young regional (from Western Ukraine?) student Dvorakivsky who conducted such a school and choir in the city of Ternopil will teach music and singing. More than a dozen students enrolled at the school at once. Everyone bought mandolins-stradolins made by Homenick from Surma. Someday they will also be the artists for the radio program."

    Sept. 16, 1938:
    "The first prize for the most popular kolomyika is $25, the second is $15, and the third is $10. The remaining $50 will be divided equally between all the other musicians.

    The judges invited to the contest are: Prof. M. Hayvoronskyi; Prof. R. Prydatkevych; Mr. P. Homenick, mandolin manufacturer, known for recording the largest number of kolomyikas for gramophone records; and teacher of national dances Mykhailo Herman. The rest of the judges will be chosen from the audience."

    On the other end of the time scale, I have found that Sorkin began advertising Strad-o-Lin and "Homenick Adjusted Violins" as an exclusive in the 1958 edition of the Purchasers Guide. They did not mention either in the year before.

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    Michael Homenick has told me:

    "In regard to the shop, as my brother and I recall it was on the second floor of a building on the lower east side and took up the whole floor. There was at least one electric motor that was connected by a myriad of belts to all the machines, saws, lathe’s, drill presses, etc.. It was loud and full of sawdust. I recall seeing many violins and mandolins in various states of being product during those visits but no guitars or drums. This would have most likely been during the 1950’s. I am pretty sure there was no retail shop there. I was only there when the shop still belonged to them. I know the shop was sold and that my uncle continued to work there. I recall he was not happy about working there after the sale but I was too young to understand why. "

    in a 1977 Music Trades article about Multivox (a Sorkin company) Walter Homenick is described as the "head stringed instrument technician".

    Yesterday I spoke on the phone with Bernard (Ben) Forcillo about United. He had never heard the name Stradolin before and I have text him to try and figure out which mandolins they did actually build.
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  9. #32

    Default Re: Strad-O-Lin, United and Homenick Bros

    This is almost certainly a United built mandolin:

    https://reverb.com/item/62791152-vin...-regal-harmony

    They built guitars under the Stadium name, it has a United style headstock and the binding painting is very similar to their guitars, but most crucially the tuners are nailed on.

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  10. #33
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Strad-O-Lin, United and Homenick Bros

    It was made by United. I'm still not buying the Homenick as the manufacturer. We actually have well made copies that are obviously earlier Strad-O-Lin mandolins with decent workmanship labeled Favilla. Favilla had the capacity and Big Tom Favilla identified one as a mandolin they had been making since the 20's. I do believe that Homenick marketed Strad-O-Lin mandolins, might even have bought the name at some point late in the game but every marked example except one looks like it was inlaid by someone in a grade school shop class. I just don't see it. Here are thousands of screened headstocks and none labeled Homenick?
    Last edited by MikeEdgerton; Jun-11-2023 at 5:56pm.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

  11. #34

    Default Re: Strad-O-Lin, United and Homenick Bros

    We never seem to get a definitive answer, but each time we seem to gain a few clues. Here's what I see, going backward:

    1. I have no problem believeing Sorkin bought the Stradolin name and marketed them. Surely by the 50's, but how much earlier than that? Their 1958 press sheet mentions 44 years in the business, which would mean they were doing something music related in 1914. There is a 1958 NYC address given, but where were they in 1914? Possibly in 1914, they were selling under another name?

    I find the Ukranian language newspaper articles interesting because of the 1931, 1935, and 1938 dates. So, basically what, where, and under what name was going on between 1914 and 1931? And, if Sorkin or Homenick were even involved.

    As a side note, I'm not surprised. Less than 100 years ago, there is still much confusion concerning signed Loar Gibsons. We would think there would have been someone or multiple people who could have told the story, with clear dates, names, and details. Fender on the other hand, has a pretty clear recorded history, of course, not going back quite so far. (1946) Also, people's memory of events is often cloudy when it comes to details. Surprising at this date in time, nobody has found a factory photo showing the Stradolin name displayed and an address. Makes me think someone else was actually making them.

    Common practice, Sears and JC Penney had their own brand of bicycles, but they were made by Murray and Huffy, for the most part. Same with rifles and cameras. Same with Silvertone guitar made by a variety of makers -- Danelectro, Harmony, Kay, etc...

    I do think the SOL story is a good brain teaser!

  12. #35

    Default Re: Strad-O-Lin, United and Homenick Bros

    I also wondered if the name "Strad-O-Lin" holds any clues as to origin? I always assumed it was a combination of Stradivarius and mandolin or perhaps violin?

  13. #36
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Strad-O-Lin, United and Homenick Bros

    Sorkin has owned the brand name from the start. They built the brand. As far as I can tell they were built in at least three different factories. There are some major differences over the years. I suspect someone at Sorkin had a actual plans and instead of just buying whatever the major builders were selling to the trade they had some specifications. There are things that are common among many but to address the whole idea that these were somehow built by Homenick I can't get past the fact that whomever built most likely thousand of these instruments over the years only used hacks to inlay and label the models they sold under their own brand name. There are Strad-O-lins with inlaid labels but most are screened. All are professionally done. We've never seen a screened Homenick label yet they built them all? I don't buy it. If you look at the "custom" Homenick labeled mandolins (One with the actual receipt) you'll see what can only be described as hack work. I think it's more likely they decorated a mandolin they purchased unlabeled. If you'd like to see examples join the Strad-O-Lin social group and just look through the headstock pictures. You tell me if this makes any sense. I get it that they advertised like they did at some point. I just don't see them as the long lost builder. Sorry.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
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  15. #37

    Default Re: Strad-O-Lin, United and Homenick Bros

    Back to the "detective" work....

    What is the earliest date stamped Stradolin? Assuming the SOL was a "copy" of a Gibson A style with f holes, the Gibson dating to early 30's, some have stated the date around 1934 -- it would be doubtful that there could be a SOL prior to that date. Unless Gibson copied SOL! That timeline would be in conflict to Sorkin producing instruments in 1914, wouldn't it? Maybe the SOL came later? I'm confused...

    Just a thought....

  16. #38

    Default Re: Strad-O-Lin, United and Homenick Bros

    Sorkin music was founded in Philadelphia in 1914 and moved to New York in 1935. Here is an article from a 1935 edition of music trades that advertises this:

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    They were a distributor and had no manufacturing capability till they started Multivox, which made amplifiers beginning in the mid 1940s. Some time around the late 1940s they started to make lapsteels and guitars, but from extant example both in extremely small quantities. According to Joe Saltzman - who was the nephew of Lou Sorkin and started working for Sorkin in 1935 - they bought the Stradolin company from the Homenick Brothers in the 1950s, a company that made acoustic mandolins for sale to wholesalers.

    All of this can be read in the interview that Michael White did with Joe and Mark Saltzman in the early 1990s and published in Guitar Stories Vol 1.

    They moved this production capability to the Multivox factory, and continued to make acoustic mandolins there, alongside their solidbody guitars. This is attested to by Multivox built Premier guitars and late Stradolin mandolins both having aluminum fretboard markers, a feature I am not aware of with any other maker in this period. Walter Homenick moved with the factory and continued working for Multivox till at least 1977.

    The Homenick Bros are still listed in the 1957 Greater New York trade directory as "mandolins":

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    This ties in with Sorkin first advertising Stradolin as an exclusive in 1958. There are Stradolins available from other distributors in catalogs up to the mid 1950s, but I am not aware of any after. Sorkin did distribute some of their lines to other retailers (particularly those not on the East Coast), so there may well be some out there.

    Graham McDonald says there are Stradolins is the 1932 Gretsch and Brenner catalog, and he has posted a picture of the 1933:

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    The earliest dated reference I am aware of to Stradolin is the 1931 Svoboda article above.

    I believe the first verifiable A style mandolin with f-holes (aside from the Griffith) is Epiphone in 1931.

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  18. #39

    Default Re: Strad-O-Lin, United and Homenick Bros

    If you google Favilla guitars, someone has a facebook page with tons of pictures, mostly guitars, but also mandolins and ukes. Most of the guitar stuff is 60's and 70's. BUT, interesting is a Favilla labeled mandolin that shows many of the Stradolin hallmarks -- pickguard mounted on top rim edge with two screws, matching tortoise pickguard and tailpiece cover, and low bridge position in relation to the f-holes. (as compared to Gibson and other brands)

    Worth a look, IMHO.

  19. #40
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Strad-O-Lin, United and Homenick Bros

    Quote Originally Posted by Jeff Mando View Post
    If you google Favilla guitars, someone has a facebook page with tons of pictures, mostly guitars, but also mandolins and ukes. Most of the guitar stuff is 60's and 70's. BUT, interesting is a Favilla labeled mandolin that shows many of the Stradolin hallmarks -- pickguard mounted on top rim edge with two screws, matching tortoise pickguard and tailpiece cover, and low bridge position in relation to the f-holes. (as compared to Gibson and other brands)

    Worth a look, IMHO.
    We have them here on the Cafe in the Social Groups.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
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  20. #41
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Strad-O-Lin, United and Homenick Bros

    OK, anyone thinking that we have received new enlightening information regarding Homenick should know that the majority of this has been on the Cafe for years. You have to look for it. There are five Homenick labeled instruments (if I recall correctly), one guitar and four mandolins. I'll note that none of them are labeled the same. Two of the mandolins have professionally done headstock inlay, two are pretty awful. Not what one would expect from a large manufacturer that has been churning our very professional looking consumer products. In the 30's to early 40's where the bulk of the production appears to have taken place it was common-place among instrument manufacturers like Gibson and the Chicago builders to screen the headstock labels on this sort of instrument. Whomever was building the Strad-O-Lin genre mandolins did the same except on certain lines. The Professional model had some mandolins that were inlaid with some material but it was not pearl. There have been a dozen or so of those that have surfaced over the years. In that same genre there is one of those models labeled in pearl (professionally) as a PJ Homenick that has surfaced.

    Years ago when I saw the first Favilla labeled Strad-O-Lin genre mandolins the first thing that struck me was the pickguard and the tailpiece cover. The placement of the supports for the pickguard were exactly the same as my Strad-O-Lin and the same delicate rivets holding the tailpiece cover material in place were the same along with the other building similarities. This is here but I'll repeat it again. I contacted Tom Favilla, the last member of the Favilla family that was involved with the manufacturing of musical instruments in New York City and asked about the mandolin. He told me they had been building that mandolin since the 20's. Gold I thought. Then when I asked him about the Strad-O-Lin name brands and others he told me they never built for anyone else. No longer gold but I realize Big Tom entered the family business in 1957 and the Strad-O-Lin years were most likely behind them by then. He could be right on one part and wrong on the other but since it's ambiguous we can't say that Favilla built them all.

    Homenick comes up because we have these four labeled models. It's confusing to me why we see two professionally labeled models and two amateurish labeled models and none with a screened headstock. Surely by now we would have. We have Weymann labeled models and Orpheum labeled models and the Strad-O-Lin labeled models as well as a several others. Surely the major manufacturer would have more than two professionally labeled models surface. Unless Homenick was simply ordering them from someone else and labeled a few in the later years when they had a violin person that had a rough understanding of pearl and no understanding of screening. No one knows that.

    Over the years we have identified a group of these mandolins as having the same clamp mark inside on the head and tailblock. Those were apparently made using the same manufacturing methods most likely in the same factory. The problem with the claims that these were made like the fine violins is that one of the defining characteristics of the earlier (and later) Strad-O-Lins is that misplaced bridge on the F holes thing. That is about as far from the violin world as you can get. Then suddenly in the midst of it all they bring out the previously mentioned Professional model that centers the bridge on the F holes with totally different shaped F holes and a slightly different body shape and a different headstock shape. I have always felt that this one model was definitely built in a different factory just because of the changes. Where was that factory and who owned it? I haven't got a clue but they built enough of them that at least a dozen have survived and surfaced.

    Then with the onset of the forties and the coming of the war to the US we see an identifiable item that can date instruments. There was a period when at least one manufacturer of mandolin tuners stopped using screws to hold the cog on the tuner and moved to a dab of hot brass, in some cases they even nickel plated the glob. Those tuners have surfaced on mandolin that were built more like the original Strad-O-Lins and I've owned to Orpheum branded mandolins with those tuners.

    Why can't I just accept these advertising blurbs as proof that Homenick built them all along with the brand? Well, because I understand how advertising works. If you contact the company selling Washburn instruments in the US today they will talk about the instruments they were building in the early 20's except they have no connection to that other than they purchased the brand name. We don't see pictures of the inside of a factory or any sort of manufacturing records, we blurbs from trade magazines and interviews with people that can't recall pertinent details of transactions.

    Nothing would make me happier than having some real proof of who built these. I took a few years of hard searching trying to establish something that made sense with regard to where these were built and I've only been able to figure where some of them might have been built. I haven't been able to establish that in my mind. I see some possibilities but I don't see Homenick as being that source of all things Strad-O-Lin just due to what remains of the products that they did manage to label. It's apparent that at one point in time that they attempted to establish Homenick as a brand name in the mandolin world. From what we have seen that wasn't successful.

    I don't really feel like digging out all of the pictures and discussions that have taken place over the years. Here's a link for you to look at every thread with the word Homenick in it on the Cafe. Pay attention to the pictures and ask yourself why a manufacturer of a premium brand would have released at least two of those mandolins.

    The Strad-O-Lin brand never achieved the cachet of brands like Gibson or Martin in their heyday. They were a commodity instrument being sold into a tough market and they apparently had some success. That become apparent not by the number of upper models that survived but by the number of well played lower models that survived. Some of them are down right decent mandolins. The cafe named them one of the best budget mandolins several years ago.

    Distributors don't build instruments. If they did they would be manufacturers. Some manufacturers like Gibson attempted to control their distribution and were successful because they did so. I'll note the number of Gibson sponsored mandolin clubs and orchestras. You don't see Strad-O-Lin sponsored clubs and orchestras because they came too late and weren't structured the same way. They were there to sell a commodity and I believe that price was everything because of the world they were selling into.

    As for me, I've spent years trying to keep myself from jumping to conclusions on this. When your research is single minded and targeted you will find what you're looking for but you can't assume it's correct. You have to be able to explain the changes in manufacturing and features and the lack of labeled product and I can't explain that in a way that points at the one company that apparently is being touted as the source of all things Strad-O-Lin.

    Make sure you visit the Strad-O-Lin Social Group here on the Cafe. I'd dare say that is the largest single group of Strad-O-Lin images on the Internet.
    Last edited by MikeEdgerton; Jun-15-2023 at 6:16am.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
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  22. #42

    Default Re: Strad-O-Lin, United and Homenick Bros

    Mike, so you are saying Favilla built the Favilla SOL looking mandolin or do you think Favilla had it farmed out? From the facebook page it seemed Favilla was buying some of their 12-string acoustics from Japan. Of course, this was by the late 60's/70's, not 30's or 40's.

    I'm with you questioning the recollection of a family member, especially from 50 years ago and about events 20 years before they worked there. The person you refer to is also active on the Favilla facebook page, FWIW...

    Working at a vintage guitar shop we often heard stories of grandpa's old Martin he played back in the 30's, when they bring the guitar in it is a 70's Alvarez, made in Japan! Well, the story was true -- grandpa had one in the 30's and loved to tell the story, but forgot the part where he traded it in for an Alvarez in the 70's. Kids never got the memo...

    FWIW, I have an interest in Alembic guitars and basses. They have a website and forum that is run by the daughter of one of the founders of the company. She runs the website with an iron hand, often deleting what she thinks is mis-information -- acting as the supreme authority on things that happened in the 60's before she was born. And quite often, she is wrong. In this case, I think it is logical to defer to the postings of players and guitar dealers who have been handling Alembics since the 60's. Former Alembic co-founder the late Rick Turner often posted on this site. Caveat emptor.
    Last edited by Jeff Mando; Jun-14-2023 at 12:13pm.

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  24. #43
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Strad-O-Lin, United and Homenick Bros

    At the point these were built Favilla was a manufacturer. If they were going to sell mandolins (as they had been since the days they built bowlbacks) I would have thought they were building them but I can't guaranty it. I do know the foil stamp and decals on some earlier models matched what they were putting out on their guitars and ukes. If they were buying mandolins from another builder it would surprise me but certainly isn't impossible and Tom Favilla's statement that it was a model they had built from the 20's is as suspect as anything else because he joined the family business in the mid 50's.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
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  26. #44

    Default Re: Strad-O-Lin, United and Homenick Bros

    Some of those details I hadn't considered, and many design elements are extremely inconsistent (such as the drilled f holes vs comma f-holes) that seem to appear and disappear across the eras, and are hard to rationalise without there being multiple factories producing the mandolins concurrently.

    Favilla were more than capable of building their strad style mandolins in house. From everything I have read about instrument builders during the pre-import era, there seems to have been a collegiate atmosphere and workers were frequently moving between companies. The banjo world is a good example of this, where the same parts can be found across multiple lines, including many that were in direct competition (Vega, Bacon and Paramount at various times all had some parts that were sourced off each other). Premier were offering Gibson made TOM bridges a year after they were introduced, which is a very hard deal to understand from Gibson's perspective and this was a seemingly unique arrangement, so presumably some context is lacking.

    Favilla apparently moved factory a few times - this could account for them sourcing instruments externally as a stop-gap - but this isn't borne out in any of their other lines. They were to my eyes the most accurate copyists of any maker I can think of. Their tenor guitars and OMs are close to the Martins they are based on, and apparently built to a high quality. Ultimately, in the absence of any written evidence I have theories but can't account for the Favilla strads, and I would be very interested to include them in a hands on comparison of a few dozen instruments of all qualities and eras to see where they match and where they differ.

    I have searched extensively in the archives of Music Trades, International Musician, Music Trade Review, Presto, Newspapers.com, NYS histroic newspapers, BMG, The Ukranian weekly, Svoboda, The Cadenza, The Crescendo, The Serenader, Google Books and the web generally for any references to Stradolin, Strad-o-Lin, the Homenick Bros, Sorkin and United. I have posted more or less everything I have found here which is not much. I think only with close study of the instruments can the narrative be reconstructed and it deserves to be - because when they were made they offered musicians a good quality instrument for a reasonable cost and even today they are wonderful instruments relative to their price.

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  28. #45
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Strad-O-Lin, United and Homenick Bros

    I would love to have a definitive answer to who built them. I spent about two years when I first started chasing this crazed trying to resolve it. I was certain at that time that they had to have been built by one company but the more I looked at them the more I realized it probably wasn't one company. Michael Holmes of Mugwumps apparently thought the same years before I came to the conclusion. The entire stringed musical instrument industry in the circa 1900 to 1940 time frame is one of strange relationships. Gibson and Martin sat kind of outside this realm but almost everyone else at least had some connection in their local areas. The NYC metro area had theirs and the Chicago area had theirs. There had to be pictures. There was a point when most of us thought that Harmony wasn't really a source for bowlback mandolins. Then pictures of the factory surfaced in a Chicago history site and there were stacks of bowlback mandolins. Oscar Schmidt had multiple factories in the Metro NYC area (includes NJ). There are lots of possibilities but I'm just unable definitively say who they were. There was a time that I was dealing in vintage instruments and I had several pass though my hands. By the grace of the Cafe community a repository of pictures has been built up showing these instruments. There are more than a few of us that can identify what I have always called Strad-O-Lin genre mandolins. Some here have learned a lot more than I have and honestly I'm grateful for anyone that can point out new things. Over the years things have surfaced and the knowledge grows but as much as we have figured out we haven't really been able to pinpoint a factory that was definitively responsible for a given group of these mandolins in a given time frame.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

  29. #46
    Registered User mandopaul's Avatar
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    Default Re: Strad-O-Lin, United and Homenick Bros

    One way to pinpoint a SOL factory would be to compare date stamps that are found inside below the bass f hole. I have stamp from April 1938 in looks like blue ink. Certain fonts used, ink color, year and month can all be used to identify factory of known origin with similar date stamps. Wonder why the date stamp without any other info near stamps? Seems odd to have it dated but why bother if no other info. on stamp? By the way i have a pic of date stamp on my 1938 on the Strad page here.
    Last edited by mandopaul; Jun-17-2023 at 10:47am.

  30. #47

    Default Re: Strad-O-Lin, United and Homenick Bros

    I mentioned in another thread what I thought was a significant "tell" on some Stradolin mandolins -- a scarf joint on the neck/peghead joint. This might help pinpoint a factory. Not all SOL's have this -- obviously a cost saving method, even back in the day when good wood was plentiful and cheap! Any other factory doing a scarf joint on a cheapie mandolin?

  31. #48
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Strad-O-Lin, United and Homenick Bros

    Quote Originally Posted by mandopaul View Post
    One way to pinpoint a SOL factory would be to compare date stamps that are found inside below the bass f hole. I have stamp from April 1938 in looks like blue ink. Certain fonts used, ink color, year and month can all be used to identify factory of known origin with similar date stamps. Wonder why the date stamp without any other info near stamps? Seems odd to have it dated but why bother if no other info. on stamp? By the way i have a pic of date stamp on my 1938 on the Strad page here.
    The problem is that not all have the date stamp. There are a few mentioned, many more that aren't there unless they were hidden somehow. I suspect that similar stamps would indicate similar instruments that is true but you need to have the stamp.

    Perhaps people could start listing the date stamp (if they have one) with their images in the Strad-O-Lin social group.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

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  33. #49
    Registered User Eric Platt's Avatar
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    Default Re: Strad-O-Lin, United and Homenick Bros

    Quote Originally Posted by MikeEdgerton View Post
    The problem is that not all have the date stamp. There are a few mentioned, many more that aren't there unless they were hidden somehow. I suspect that similar stamps would indicate similar instruments that is true but you need to have the stamp.

    Perhaps people could start listing the date stamp (if they have one) with their images in the Strad-O-Lin social group.
    A good idea. Unfortunately of the one's I've owned, only one had a date stamp.

    My own argument for multiple builders is the basic body shape. The models with either the bridge in the center of the F holes and/or with the comma shaped ends have a more pear shaped body than the model with bullet hole ends. Doesn't make sense to me that a builder would use two different body molds. Then again, it doesn't make sense that one builder would install two different length necks for the different bridge placements. Or change the ends of the f holes for that matter.
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