1924 Mando Bass

[zedmando]

It would be cool to try one, but I don;t know that I have to space to keep one.
But if someone gave me one, I'd find room.

[mrmando]

You may be referring to this guy

http://www.mandobassman.com/Index.html

No, I was referring to Gene Stephenson. Here's the thread: http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/sh...764-Mando-Bass

See the discussion of the Gibson style J here:

Yes, I've read that before. Was that supposed to clear up something? That article refers to the 1898 Gibson patent for instrument construction, and makes it clear that it's not a mandobass patent. Which is more or less what I already said: there's no patent specific to the Style J.

Try internet searching "gibson mandobass" pdf, with some variation of plans, drawings, or diagrams between mandobass and pdf. If any style J plans are out there, this should harvest them.

Have you tried that yourself?

[multidon]

I saw the Pittsburgh Mandolin Orchestra last summer. They had 3 bass players, two played upright but one had a mando bass. So there is one more group for your list.

[GstyleJ]

Yes, I've read that before. Was that supposed to clear up something? That article refers to the 1898 Gibson patent for instrument construction, and makes it clear that it's not a mandobass patent. Which is more or less what I already said: there's no patent specific to the Style J.

Actually, the link reinforces what you said, which is one reason I included it. Probably the only definitive way to know would be to
do an extensive (and time-consuming) search through http://www.uspto.gov/patents/process/search/ which I have no reason to do. I'm set as far as mandobasses.

[/QUOTE]Have you tried that yourself?[/QUOTE]

Cursory searches using all three terms, not viewing screens and screens of results. I just know that plans, etc. likely are hand-drawn and then scanned-in, and .pdf is the best limiting term to surface that type of document. Even with limiting, you still will get a lot of slop and irrelevance in a Google search. It's the nature of the beast; Google's relevancy rankings are nowhere near as precise and consistent as those used by commercially-vended databases.

I'm not saying that this search will absolutely turn up any plans, only that it is the best way to start.