SS Stewart mandolin

[trindi]

So I have an old SS Stewart mandolin and can't find much about it. I have looked everywhere but nothing....

I read they made banjos and some bowl shaped mandolines. This one is a flat back and has no identification number on it. It just has SS Stewart inscribed behind the tuning pegs and its says it inside the hole also.

If anyone has any info on this it would be great. Thanks

[Ken Berner]

There is a 1930 SS Stewart (made by Regal) flat mandolin on the Gruhn web site. George could answer any question you might have.

[JGWoods]

I have one- an SS Stewart bent top- all koa- and likely made by Regal. Much like the Martin bent tops but not the same.
A lot of instruments from the 20s and 30s have suffered with hard lives and attendant cracks, finish damage, or worst of all a bad neck angle, so making general statements about how good or bad they are is not very fruitful.

Mine is in good shape, good action, nice high bridge, no cracks and good finish. It sounds very good too, I have played it in jams and it can be heard, but I would'nt say it is loud.

it has the short -13" or so- scale like all of the old bent tops as far as I know. Some folks like that for the shorter reach, most seem to think the old necks are too narrow and don't like the short scale, which is one reason these very good old instruments can be had for pretty low prices- it's a buyers market pretty much and you can get a nice old Regal or SS Stewart, Stahl, or the like for $300-$700 depending on condition and how fancy it is.

I like the Regal/Stewart body with the back slightly smaller than the top and the sides have a bit of an angle- kind of boat like. Mine has tasteful 5 ply binding on the top, 3 ply on the back. The only thing missing is side dots and I've been thinking of having them added.

You won't see many of them being played out and about but I take mine to jams, sometimes on flights as it is small with a nice small case. Overall a very good instrument.

[fatt-dad]

I just played an S. S. Stewart mandobanjo - my first go at one of these twangers. May are they annoying! What I know about S. S. Stewart is from having a 5-string banjo that they made for Sears and Robucks under the name "Acme Professional". Mine dates to 1898 (or so). They were quite an old company in Philadelphia.

f-d

[steve in tampa]

I 've got a 1937 SS Stewart all mahagony archtop guitar. It a nice jazz guitar. I t is my understanding that they were sold by the Sears catalog.

Steve, are there any numbers inside that guitar?

[MML]

The S S Stewart Snow Queen is my favorite!

[Paul Hostetter]

The SS Stewart guitars were made by Harmony, which indeed made the Silvertone brand for Sears, but the SS Stewart line was made for Tonk Brothers, a different marketing outfit in Chicago. They sold them to other retailers, not Sears.

The real SS Stewart company manufactured banjos in Philadelphia (not Boston - oops!) in the late 1800s, and also offered a few contract-made guitars and mandolins, but the later items most people think about simply bore the brand name long after the actual company was extinct.

[Jim Garber]

The real SS Stewart company manufactured banjos in Boston in the late 1800s
I always thought that SS Stewart was based in Philadelphia, never Boston.

http://www.mugwumps.com/stewart/sss_plaque.jpg

Jim

Yes that is true and I've seen SS Stewart Guitars and Mandolins that were made by Regal as well as Harmony. If you look long enough you'll probably find that Kay made some. By the way, Silvertone's were made by other companies as well, not just Harmony. Harmony made the bulk of them as they were owned by Sears at one time.

[fatt-dad]

HERE's (http://savethebanjos.com/Acme%20Professional.htm) the link to my old banjo, which is an Acme made by S. S. Stewart in the later 1890s. S. S. Stewart was making these in Philadelphia, as I understand it.

f-d

[Paul Hostetter]

Of course they were in Philly. Oops!http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif