Bowlback ID help

[KanMando]

I've been contemplating a foray into the bowlback world. Can anyone identify the maker and the approximate age of this instrument?

Bob

[Bob A]

Not really. The photos crop out or do not show the areas that would help most; peghead, label (if any) and tailpiece, though there's enough tailpiece showing to make a reasonable guess that it's US-made. Given that the great mando-boom was over in the teens, I'd say early 20th century.

If you choose to go with this instrument, be sure that the neck joint hasn't warped, and string it with extra-light strings. Look out for top sag as well.

[KanMando]

Thanks Bob. I got the owner to send me photos of the front and back of the headstock. Nothing there to help identify it except for the shape of the headstock itself. There is no label inside the bowl.

Bob

[Bob A]

No inspiration there for me, but perhaps one of the local experts on US bowls will chime in.

I'd caution against spending too much on an old American bowlback, unless it could be attributed to one of the major makers, like Vega, Lyon & Healy, Martin of course, or the like. I like the wood in the bowl, though - I've always been a fool for fancy maple in a mandolin.

[kjell]

I have a non–trivially similar bowlback that I've been wondering a bit about lately. It's in a sorry state of disrepair. The only thing I know about it is that my parents gave it to my aunt who lived in Hawaii, and it came back all warped and cracked and rusted. It tunes up all right, but the top is caving in so I leave the strings loose.

It has the same alternating binding as KanMando's, though most of it has fallen off. No label inside the bowl, no markings on the headstock, nearly identical butterfly/moth under the oval hole. Some pictures attached.

[Jim Garber]

Kjell's has a different headstock and pickguard shape. I believe that these butterfly inlays are stock inlays that companies bought from a wholesaler. They show up universally in American as well as European instruments.

Kanmando's mandolin: the headstock does resemble some Washburns but I see nothing similar in the ornamentation to most labelled Washburns.

[allenhopkins]

I have a marked Washburn mandola with the same alternating maple and rosewood staves; however, it has herringbone rather than alternating black and white binding, the pickguard is plain, the abalone soundhole rosette is a much different pattern, and the headstock is flat on top. Also, the tuners and tailpiece differ substantially from the OP's instrument. More differences than similarities, it seems, though the alternating light and dark ribs are very distinctive.