Mitin Mandolin France - Gypsy Unknown

[dcw]

Who can find some info on this gypsy mandolin ? Label reads
Mtin
Directeur Nguyen - Duc - Trong
Eleve DE Marc Laberte & Mirecourt (Vosges)
Ref. Dict. Union Des Luthiers R. Vannes
(Academie Nationale Ste Cecile De Rome)
121 Rue Frere Louis - Saigon

To the webmaster : Sorry I posted in classified then twice in this here forum now - you can delete the first one- This one is more organized. I was confused on how to post more than one picture. I also wanted to type out the label to save people time by copy paste in their interest of searching for me !
Note : I do have the original bridge tailpiece and tuners, and it plays like a charm - Thanks pickers.

[Martin Jonas]

Thanks for the extra photo of the label, which makes things rather clearer. Despite the mentions of France and Mirecourt on the label, this is not actually a French mandolin at all -- it is a Vietnamese mandolin, made in Saigon. Vietnam was of course a French colony until the 1950s, and this mandolin was presumably made in the colonial period. The maker, Nguyen-Duc-Trong, was a pupil ("Eleve") of a French luthier from Mirecourt (which was and is the centre of French lutherie).

While there are lots of discussion here about Vietnamese mandolins, they are all about instruments made in the past few years and sold via Ebay. As far a I recall, we've only ever discussed on colonial-era Vietnamese mandolin here before, a rather intriguing looking one made in Hanoi in 1922, with a carved bat as a headstock. Discussion here: Link.

Martin

[Jim Garber]

I believe that I have some scans of Laberte catalog but that would not have much to do with this mandolin. It looks oike a very interesting instrument. Sounds like you already have it set up to play. Where did you find this?

[dcw]

I got this off of ebay. I was the only bidder, and won for 100 bucks. In the listing they had no idea about it either. They even spelled it "mandelin". haha, that was to my advantage in the search results. Yes, it is set up, and has that loud bite of mids. I'm looking to sell it because I hardly play mandolin, but I'm clueless on a a starting asking price.

[Jim Garber]

I would say the asking price may be more that what you paid, but not much. Unless you have a buyer who is hot for Vietnamese-made instruments, don't expect to make a killing.

BTW where are you located..,. that could make a difference...

[bmac]

AN interesting looking mandolin but the fact that it is missing bridge, tuners and tail piece suggests that there may be some structural problems. These parts were salvaged to be sold or used on another mandolin. If so then repairs would make your selling price prohibitive if you expect to make a profit. I would buy a cheap bridge, tailpiece and tuners; string it up and use it as a wall hanger or learn to play it if playable.

[Canefieldkid]

<Removed by Moderator. Please send the user a Personal Message>

[pheffernan]

dcw has not posted to this thread in over four years or signed in to his account in over three years. You can click on his name and send him a personal message which might connect to his email account. Otherwise, if you're waiting for him to "see this," you might be disappointed.

[Canefieldkid]

I just did. I realize that he has been inactive for quite some time, so it's a longshot, but I figure why not give it a shot. Thanks for the suggestion, pheffernan!

[Jim Garber]

If you are interested in a Mitin guitar there is a rather funky one on eBay right now. Mitin guitar.

NFI on my part.