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There is quite a difference between those 1920s Stromberg Voisinet mandolins and the KayKraft, then Kay mandolins from the late 20s onwards. The one the OP posted was only sold for a few years from...

Mike Holmes mugwumps.com site has a pretty comprehensive listing of American instrument makers from the Civil War up to 1940, and the Mount Washington Mandolin Co is not listed there. The Jenkins...

I just cut them out and thread them on to 1/4" bolts of the appropriate length. Not real easy to get anything to stick to polyethylene anyway. I think I got the idea from Roger Siminoff, so I can't...

An alternative to wooden dowel is 1/4" thick polyethylene cutting boards, cutting out whatever sized discs with a hole cutting blade in the drill press.

cheers

Barbaric jargon!!??!! Hurumph, grumble, grumble... :grin:

If you are going with the Gibson shape, I would suggest using the arched longitudinal braces (which is more or less what Gibson used original on the Alrite models). They will put a slight arch along...

It perfectly OK. I just couldn't resist the temptation :)

Sob...:(

They are quite common in France (as well as Algeria) and were/are made there, probably more than in Algeria I think. Essentially a mandocello - mandole in french - and even made by some of the...

It should be remembered that we are pretty restricted in the lacquer we can buy out here on the far side of the world. There are only a couple of manufacturers of nitro lacquer in the country and...

There you go, four people who spray lacquer, four opinions :)

I just noticed a typo in my previous post. I spray three coats half an hour apart but I live in a really dry climate and lacquer...

Depends on whether you want to have a coloured/stained finish or just a clear lacquer. In either case lots of sanding to get all the scratches out. On maple to at least 180grit and spruce 280 grit. ...

Interesting in that it is the earliest dated Italian flat back I have come across. The head is quite Vinaccian in style, but the body is right out of the ordinary for a Neapolitan instrument. Might...

I am driving up from Kansas City on Sunday May 19 and then back on Thursday 23 May to get a plane to Seattle.

g

That would be excellent. Thank you and looking forward to it

g

Friday 31 May until Sunday night

g

I will be in the US for three weeks from May 12 - June 2. Dallas for a couple of days, Kansas City for the rest of the that week at a day-job conference on recorded sound archiving, then Vermillion...

There was a discussion here a few weeks ago about a mandolin very similar to your unknown one, with the circular soundhole and the geometric scratchplate, and the thinking was that it was also a Bay...

Surprizingly the new AL arrived yesterday (they might have a new mailing service) and I read Andrew's article last night. On its own that article has justified the cost of the annual subscription....

AL takes a few extra weeks to get across the Pacific, but I will be looking forward ton this edition with extra interest.

cheers

graham

The head is unusually shaped and the plugged holes would be in the place where pegs would have been, but I can't think why Pasquale, who was the person who introduced mechancical tuners to the...

Totally ignoring the fact that the mandolin tuned in fifths (like the violin) didn't appear until the 1740s at the earliest. Prior to that they were tuned in fourths.

I would certainly put some arch in the soundboard. It just makes the whole structure stronger and better able to cope with humidity changes. The two longitudinal and a single transverse brace with a...

Once I get the electronics sorted out I will see about a sound clip. The idea is not for it to be loud, but audible in a hotel room and not annoying others. The tuner buttons are not nearly as much...

This is the third go at trying to make the smallest possible mandolin for the traveller. Not quite pocket sized, but it will fit in a suitcase of the size that you can take onto aeroplanes and stow...