Vintage Stella

[mandonewbie]

I just purchased a vintage Stella off of Ebay, and I am awaiting it's arrival....I sure hope it's in as good of shape as the pictures portray....Anyway, it was sold as a 1920's era mandolin, but that has not been substantiated as of yet. Does anyone have any suggestions, on how I might be able to narrow down the dating to the correct year?....I didn't buy it as an investment, so I'm not real concerned with getting into the valuation area, although it would be nice to know an approximate market value for insurance purposes, so some help there would be appreciated...Thanks for the help.

[Eugene]

There are a couple incarnations of Stella: the earlier pieces made in the Jersey City's Oscar Schmidt shop and the later one's made in Chicago's Regal shop. The former is preferable to the latter. They are as different as night and day. An image would make for easy ID.

[mandonewbie]

Thanks Eugene,

Here's a link to a couple of pics.

http://community.webshots.com/scripts....an=8791 (http://community.webshots.com/scripts/editPhotos.fcgi?action=viewall&albumID=176606736&ran=8791)

[Eugene]

The link sent me to an error message.

[GVD]

Eugene Posted on Aug. 18 2004, 10:01
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There are a couple incarnations of Stella: the earlier pieces made in the Jersey City's Oscar Schmidt shop and the later one's made in Chicago's Regal shop. #The former is preferable to the latter. #They are as different as night and day. #An image would make for easy ID.

Lets not forget Blanche DuBois's sister STELLA #http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

Stanley Kowalski

[mandonewbie]

That link seems to be working for me.

[mandonewbie]

Here's another

[Eugene]

Alright, I did the cut-and-paste thing to get the address to browser, same result. The specific error message I am receiveing is "You do not appear to be the owner of this album." Evidently the url you're providing is specific to provide access to you alone, newbie. Is there some klind of username you have there or a photo album title for which I can search?

[Eugene]

...but you trumped my request by posting images here. This is better than the low-grade Regal junk I had originally called to mind, but it still looks Regal-like to me...just pre-junk Regal. This bears a striking resemblance to pieces made for Weymann. I'm just shooting from the hip here without the benefit of any lit research or cyber digging. Thoughts from other knowledgeables--jgarber, bobd, etc.--would be interesting.

[Jim Garber]

Here's mine in funky condition. I bought it cheap with the idea of trying my hand at some repairs when I get a spare moment (hah!). These are at best inexpensive lowend instruments. They were cheap when originally made but that doesn't mean they don't sound good, just not exactly refined in tone. Yours looks good in good shape. let us know how it is and sounds when it arrives.

More info on the company here (http://www.stellaguitars.com/). Stella is most importantly know as the maker of those funky but great sounding 12 string guitars. Many of their bowlback mandolins (which prob predate the flatbacks) were also 12 string.

Jim

[mandonewbie]

Thanks for the input guys...

..Still wondering how I could pinpoint the dating a little closer....so if someone else out there has any idea....I'd sure like to hear em.

[TommyK]

So... Howmany clams did this tater bug set you back?
There's a guitar store in my area that has a bunch of these, probably mandos and mandollas in a 'museum' display case. I don't think they intend to sell them, but should I look into these as a cheap way to satisfy the Mando fever? I'd like to get started on Mando, but have limited resources at the moment. I've thought about a new Rogue from Musicians Friend, but worry if it'd sound like a cigarbox with baling twine. I've been unable to find a shop within 100 miles (N. Illinois) that has Mandos in stock.

[mandonewbie]

I didn't pay too much for my Stella, but I bought it as a fixer upper because it has some issues.....For the same money you can get a pretty decent new starter mando....I bought a Kentucky KM-150S (all solid) for under $200....It sounds great and the workmanship is very good....That would be a better way to go than a really old one.