Testing
... nevermind
Rosanne Rosannadanna
Kentucky km900
Yamaha piano, clarinet, violin; generic cello;
a pedal steel (highly recommended); banjo, dobro don't get played much cause i'm considerate ;}
Shopping/monitoring prices: vibraphone/marimbas, rhodes, synths, Yamaha brass and double reeds
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Sorry for the late reply, yours looks really similar to mine scroll size is the same aside from the logo they look super close, yours might be a little later 85 or 86, the tp cover doesn’t look original the older ones were hand engraved The Kentucky, most of the 1500s were side bound but I have seen some top and side bound together. And I’ve never seen one with a sumi label in it. Here are some photos of mine to compare
Do you have any pics of mandolins from 1987-1992 to compare to? That would certainly be useful. At first I thought this case wasn't original but I just saw a KM-1000 with the same case only red interior. Maybe that's helpful too.
Check out this tailpiece
http://www.mandomutt.com/products-pa...y-km-1500-sold
Handwritten label. I can't get a clear answer from anyone as to what the S would indicate on the label.
When I bought my first Kentucky mandolin from Stan Jay at Mandolin Brothers in 1989 the S stood for Solid. Mine was an A model. Eventually some models were apparently brought in with a solid top and a laminate top with the same model number and an S on the end to denote the solid top models. Unless something changed I would assume that was why it was there. I think Saga was still evolving in that era.
Through the wonders of archive.org and their Wayback machine here is a screen shot of a Saga online catalog page as an example. Unfortunately they don't have a listing before 2000. Not every model had two versions by the time this catalog was listed.
"It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
--M. Stillion
"Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
--J. Garber
1924 Gibson A Snakehead
2005 National RM-1
2007 Hester A5
2009 Passernig A5
2015 Black A2-z
2010 Black GBOM
2017 Poe Scout
2014 Smart F-Style Mandola
2018 Vessel TM5
2019 Hogan F5
That's what I said it eventually became but early on I not sure Saga had settled on that. If you look at the listing above there is a 140 and a 140S with the S being more expensive. The 140 series was obviously not all laminate at that time. The next page had other S and non-S listings. The lack of a 150S may have meant they didn't have any available. Here is the next page in that listing. I also need to correct my post above, this is a 2001 catalog. The 2000 page would not display.
Keep in mind that the mandolin listed by the OP was made 13 years earlier than this online listing. By then I'm sure Saga had refined their approach.
"It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
--M. Stillion
"Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
--J. Garber
Sure, S meant solid top on the low end models but the KM-1000 and up always had solid tops and it wouldn't be necessary to indicate that.
Any more expert opinions?
The Saga number system evolved over time. What do you want the S to mean?
"It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
--M. Stillion
"Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
--J. Garber
Stradivarius! Sorry... stupid statement. So sue me.
"I play BG so that's what I can talk intelligently about." A line I loved and pirated from Mandoplumb
So no one here can disprove that this is indeed from 1988 as Saga stated?
My guess was 1988 (this first two digits of the serial number -- the system used by countless Made In Japan instruments from mid 70-late 80's -- including Ibanez, Takamine, Epiphone, Aria, etc.)
I would vote the S stands for solid wood top, again used by countless Made In Japan instruments from this period to indicate a step up from the normal laminate models, but I see your point....
I didn't realize that was what you were looking for. I thought you had determined that. Keep in mind that when Sumi was doing these "all by himself" he wasn't seen as the superstar he is today. He was just the guy that had the contract with Saga to build those models. The other thing to keep in mind was that the labels might have been installed after they got to the US.
"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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