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Thread: Orville wright's mandolin

  1. #1
    Site founder Scott Tichenor's Avatar
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    From the National Air and Space Museum, in the Wright Brothers exhibit in D.C. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.
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    Registered User Bill Snyder's Avatar
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    Photos of this mandolin were previously posted in this thread, but they were not as clear.
    Bill Snyder

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    Lyon & Healy
    Bob DeVellis

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    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    No kidding.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

  6. #6
    Registered User John Flynn's Avatar
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    "He sits around and picks that thing until I can hardly stay in the house."
    - Katharine Wright

    Nice spousal support! Just goes to prove the old saying, "Behind every great man, there is a good woman...holding him back!" She probably tried to discourage that "aeroplane thing" he was working on also!

  7. #7

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    Come to find out, Katherine was his sister. I'm not sure either of the Wright boys ever married. Sounds like a good case of sibling rivalry though!

    Lynn

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    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Lynn, when are you going to make the Dude replica of the Orv mandolin?

    Jim
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    I haven't seen chenilled strings in a long time. Can you still get them, or are those strings that old?

  10. #10
    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    OMGosh - thats my mandolin!

    Well almost - the fretboard overhang is different - which possibly explains why I am not an aeronautical genius.
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    A talent for trivializin' the momentous and complicatin' the obvious.

    The entire staff
    funny....

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    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Mine is a Washburn - someone told me between 1897 and 1905.
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    A talent for trivializin' the momentous and complicatin' the obvious.

    The entire staff
    funny....

  12. #12
    Registered User PaulD's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by (JeffD @ April 28 2007, 16:14)
    Mine is a Washburn - someone told me between 1897 and 1905.
    The picture of Orville's mando is a Washburn as well... made by Lyon & Healy.
    "... beauty is not found in the excessive but what is lean and spare and subtle" - Terry Tempest Williams

  13. #13
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Orville's looks like a somewhat older model possibly a model 122, pre-1900. Jeff's has extended fretboard and more elaborate binding.

    Jim
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    Do you think Orville played that mandolin the wright way?
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

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    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    I would love to get one of those for $33.75!

    The letter hints that Orville may have been somewhat passionate about the mandolin. That is pretty cool.

    I wonder if anyone has compiled a list of historically significant and fameous people who also played mandolin (i.e. they aren't fameous FOR playing the mandolin.)
    A talent for trivializin' the momentous and complicatin' the obvious.

    The entire staff
    funny....

  17. #16
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    I didn't pay that much more for the last Washburn bowlback I bought a few years ago. It would be interesting to find out how much 33.75 equates to in today's dollars.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

  18. #17
    jbmando RIP HK Jim Broyles's Avatar
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    You won't believe your eyes.

    Edit: this link takes you to an inflation calculator. It won't display the calculation page I arrived at, but if you click on "try again" and enter 33.75, 1900 and 2006, you will be surprised, I believe.



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  19. #18
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Actually I am. $788.00, basically the cost of a decent entry level pacrim instrument. I wonder what the Martin's cost with the same trim level.

    I'm sure Jim Garber has a catalog someplace.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

  20. #19
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Interesting. The lower Martin styles around 1900 pricewise would be #2 at $30 and #3 at $35. I would say, in general, those were better quality and slightly more ornate mandolins than the Washburn tho they were definitely in competition. I got these prices from Mike Longworth's Martin book (based on Martin's exact recordkeeping).

    Jim
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  21. #20
    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    There is a mandolin up on ebay that looks to be a #122, similar to Orville's, for under $250, though not in new condition.

    I don't know how to post a link to it, but it is item number: 230123167428.

    It is really neat that through the shared passion of mandolins we can "connect" with history.
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    A talent for trivializin' the momentous and complicatin' the obvious.

    The entire staff
    funny....

  22. #21
    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Further confirmation, it is a #122! Woo hoo!



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    A talent for trivializin' the momentous and complicatin' the obvious.

    The entire staff
    funny....

  23. #22
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by
    The lower Martin styles around 1900 pricewise would be #2 at $30 and #3 at $35.
    Interesting, they started out at basically the same price. I would have expected a difference even then. There is certainly a price difference now.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

  24. #23
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    [Quote] I wonder if anyone has compiled a list of historically significant and fameous people who also played mandolin (i.e. they aren't fameous FOR playing the mandolin.)



    I understand Patrick Henry played the mandolin.
    douglas austin

  25. #24
    String Plucker Soupy1957's Avatar
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    Not for nothin, but: We ARE talking about THE "Orville Wright" of airplane fame, correct?

    -Soupy1957
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  26. #25
    Registered User Jim MacDaniel's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by
    "He sits around and picks that thing until I can hardly stay in the house."
    Good God, I think Mrs. Wright was reincarnated as my wife!
    "The problem with quotes on the internet, is everybody has one, and most of them are wrong."
    ~ Mark Twain


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