Antique guitarshaped mando?

[oldwave maker]

Neighbor sent this link, looks kinda cool, any idea who made it?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-Mand...item3ceabfa31e

[Grommet]

No, but now were all hoping you'll make one so we can watch Ezra demo it!

Scott

[Steve VandeWater]

That is cool. I want it

[Graham McDonald]

I haven't come across a carved guitar mandolin from any of the big manufacturers as all the guitar-mandolins I have seen in person or in catalogs have been flat-tops. An individual builders long forgotten?

cheers

[allenhopkins]

Love those tuners. A "one-of?" Never seen one exactly like it -- or even reasonably close. Not a mandolinetto.

[kkmm]

Ovation mandolins have guitar (with cut away) shape !!!
I am wondering how can the bridge/saddle hold up to the string tension.
The bridge/saddle does look like a bridge to me with supporting posts on both end.

[MikeEdgerton]

I don't think it was US made, it is cool though. On closer look those f holes are rough.

[billhay4]

Very interesting instrument. I,too, would like to know it's origins.
Bill

[Jim Garber]

I don't think it was US made, it is cool though. On closer look those f holes are rough.

I am curious why you say that. To me that only thing that looks European (or non-US) are the tuners. I don't think this is a factory instrument, prob a small shop or a talented amateur.

[MikeEdgerton]

I am curious why you say that. To me that only thing that looks European (or non-US) are the tuners. I don't think this is a factory instrument, prob a small shop or a talented amateur.

The tuners and tailpiece are not common and I would assume anyone building it in the US would have used the common parts available from almost any jobber at the time. That mandolin has to be later than the late teens, most likely later than the late 20's. I suppose a small hobbyist type builder might have built it using old tuners and a tailpiece off an old mandolin but I suspect it was built elsewhere.

[allenhopkins]

Perhaps some violin maker's effort at a mandolin? Maybe German or French?

[brunello97]

The tuners and tailpiece are not common and I would assume anyone building it in the US would have used the common parts available from almost any jobber at the time. That mandolin has to be later than the late teens, most likely later than the late 20's. I suppose a small hobbyist type builder might have built it using old tuners and a tailpiece off an old mandolin but I suspect it was built elsewhere.

I don't know, Mike, that looks like it could be a Waverly tailpiece minus the cloud (the rest under the strings is just gunk or leftover from a felt / leather string dampener.) The tuners could have come off an older mandolin, been leftovers at the shop or (if this were old enough, brand new.)

We're all just pixxing right now, but I do think it is US made. Howe-Orme was steaming tops on mandolinettos in the early '00s or so. The 'model' form was around and my (uninformed, shot-in-the-dark) guess this was someone's take on those--with the obvious addition of f-holes.

The absence of neck / head joint makes me want to lean away from Italian manufacturer. Too rough and ready for the Germans or French.

The 'point-y' end of the fretboard also suggests US to me (like on Fairbanks or Waldos, though I don't think of this as coming from them, or a production model--too bad! Maybe a demo?)

Just my dos centavos, obviously just guessing....Cool mandolin!

Mick

[Marty Jacobson]

Check out those dowels through the back into the neck heel. A "repair"? Or if not, clearly an amateur job. The rest of it looks quite competent, though.

[MikeEdgerton]

I don't know, Mike, that looks like it could be a Waverly tailpiece minus the cloud (the rest under the strings is just gunk or leftover from a felt / leather string dampener.) The tuners could have come off an older mandolin, been leftovers at the shop or (if this were old enough, brand new.)

We're all just pixxing right now, but I do think it is US made. Howe-Orme was steaming tops on mandolinettos in the early '00s or so. The 'model' form was around and my (uninformed, shot-in-the-dark) guess this was someone's take on those--with the obvious addition of f-holes.

The absence of neck / head joint makes me want to lean away from Italian manufacturer. Too rough and ready for the Germans or French.

The 'point-y' end of the fretboard also suggests US to me (like on Fairbanks or Waldos, though I don't think of this as coming from them, or a production model--too bad! Maybe a demo?)

Just my dos centavos, obviously just guessing....Cool mandolin!

Mick

You're right about the tailpiece. I couldn't get that image to enlarge before. It might be a Waverly cloud. The tuners are still out in left field. I think you're wrong about the age though. That is definitely a copy of an f hole guitar and they have a definite start date and that would be well after the mandolinetto craze. Either that or this guy was way before his time.

[Jim Garber]

Tuners may very well have come from some European instrument. From the photos they don't look like they fit perfectly. I am not sure about the period. Waldo mandolins had f-holes and the patent for them dates to 1897. They also have a v-shape at the fretboard end. That, of course, is no conclusive evidence of anything, including where it was made, by whom, or when. However, I would be somewhat hesitant to say it was not made earlier. OTOH my gut does say it was later than the first decade of this century and most likely was after the mandolinetto time, but I am not 100% sure.

Of course, Waldo, Shutt or Gibson did not invent the f-hole. They were on violins way before all these guys. My guess (as some others have noted) is that it could have been made by a violin guy.

[MikeEdgerton]

Tuners may very well have come from some European instrument. From the photos they don't look like they fit perfectly. I am not sure about the period. Waldo mandolins had f-holes and the patent for them dates to 1897. They also have a v-shape at the fretboard end. That, of course, is no conclusive evidence of anything, including where it was made, by whom, or when. However, I would be somewhat hesitant to say it was not made earlier. OTOH my gut does say it was later than the first decade of this century and most likely was after the mandolinetto time, but I am not 100% sure.

Of course, Waldo, Shutt or Gibson did not invent the f-hole. They were on violins way before all these guys. My guess (as some others have noted) is that it could have been made by a violin guy.

If it didn't look so much like a modern archtop guitar I might be able to say it was back in the early days. I have to assume somebody added the plastic electric guitar era endpin later on but who knows. The tuners might very well have been off an old non-US mandolin. I think it's a darn nice one off. I can't even attribute this one to Regal. If it was a violin guy he might have got the f holes a little cleaner.

[Jim Garber]

I was just cruising thru my files and I found this unusual mandolin by Araldo de Bernardini an Italian who emigrated to France around 1921. Other than a rough resemblance for shape, carving and f-holes I doubt that this current eBay was made by that maker or even if it was made in France, tho the French did like to experiment with cross-pollinating instruments: violins with guitar shapes (Chanot) and mandolins with violin shapes (JTL).

[Timbofood]

I think Jim may have made an interesting observation, the tuners may have been salvaged from something else or that sort of scenario.
However, "French" came to mind first, I have nothing to base any of this conjecture on but, it's pretty cool. Might be fun to spend an afternoon with a glass on the patio with this curvaceous little gem.

[MikeEdgerton]

Unless he made the one that is currently for sale as an old man I don't think they are connected but that one is beautiful.

[MikeEdgerton]

For posterity, this is the mandolin for sale on eBay right now.

[bingoccc]

Mandolin Luthier has these similar tuners shown on his site. I can't access his site right now but he may know what they are.

.

[Timbofood]

Cool!

[brunello97]

That style tuner was used by numerous US manufacturers as well. Martin, in particular used them on various mandolins. Fairbanks and Cole as well from Boston. I don't know who made these tuners. They very well may have been imported but on their own their presence on this mandolin doesn't necessarily imply anything about its origin.

I'm a devotee of Ockham's Razor, so Mike's theory of it being a mando-take on an F-hole guitar ('20s) makes sense. The mandolinetto fad and the H-O experiments were a decade or more in advance of that--as was Waldo F-holes as Jim pointed out.

We're beating a dead horse, though, until some more info turns up. I appreciate Jim's gumshoe work (as always) but I agree with his caveat, this doesn't look French at all. My guess is US made by some enlightened free-lancer.

I agree with the consensus so far, NLM: Nice Looking Mandolin. Would love to have it on my lap for awhile.

Mick

[MikeEdgerton]

At one time almost everyone used tuners that were similar to that, some had a single plate some had the double plate. I suspect that they were originally patterned after what was used in Europe and may or may not have been manufactured here. I would assume that by the time mandolin production went big time that somebody started making them here. It appears that the tuner covers on the mandolin in question were either stripped of their plating or left unplated. That could have been done at a later date as well I suppose.

[Gregory Tidwell]

That thing is totally cool.