Bizarre instrument. ID, please?

[DavidKOS]

Even more fascinating that both have the same missing strings.

That is interesting...but they appear to be different instruments based on the wear marks on the body and the tailpieces not being the same.

[MikeEdgerton]

It took me longer than I expected it to but the banjo part was made by John Gray and Sons. How it got married to the other part and by who is up in the air.

They aren't the same instrument as the fretboard on example 2 goes all the way to the sound hole and the first one doesn't. You need a picture of both instruments from the front and back. Somebody thought it was an idea worth trying.

[DavidKOS]

It took me longer than I expected it to but the banjo part was made by John Gray and Sons. How it got married to the other part and by who is up in the air.

They aren't the same instrument as the fretboard on example 2 goes all the way to the sound hole and the first one doesn't. You need a picture of both instruments from the front and back. Somebody thought it was an idea worth trying.

Indeed, the banjo skin resonator looks to be the same design.

Did John Gray and Sons make a teardrop wooden body instrument? Did someone else get those parts and mate them to the mandolin bodies?

They did make this version with a small round body:

https://www.easyliveauction.com/cata...-collectables/



A casual search did not turn up any instruments with the teardrop mandolin body, though.

Thanks, Mike...another clue to the puzzle.

[MikeEdgerton]

I still think this is a mashup. Although both examples use the same banjo head the two mandolins have a different tailpiece and the fretboard ends are different. That doesn't look like it was a production model to me or they should be the same. I think the builder was simply trying to get it right for himself. That head was specific to that banjo model I guess as they made different models with different numbers of those lugs. That's what you've displayed. Similar but not the same and your headstock shape isn't anywhere near the first example.

[brunello97]

It took me longer than I expected it to but the banjo part was made by John Gray and Sons. How it got married to the other part and by who is up in the air.

They aren't the same instrument as the fretboard on example 2 goes all the way to the sound hole and the first one doesn't. You need a picture of both instruments from the front and back. Somebody thought it was an idea worth trying.

Ace.

Nice pickup, Mike.

Mick

[Ray(T)]

The plate on the back of the headstock confirms that (at least the neck) started life as a John Grey “Dulcetta” which, I believe, was a mandolin-banjo. The hoops of such instruments had a nasty habit of going out of shape or distorting - the neck being screwed directly to the hoop. ... and what do you do if you have a perfectly servicable neck and head? You might want to build it into something else.

[DavidKOS]

I still think this is a mashup..

That seems likely!

..and what do you do if you have a perfectly serviceable neck and head? You might want to build it into something else.

Again, that seems to be the case.