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Thread: US made flat top Kentucky mandolin???

  1. #1
    Registered User Jill McAuley's Avatar
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    Default US made flat top Kentucky mandolin???

    Hmm, some fella over at thesession.org posted in a thread there that he owns a "US made solid top flat top Kentucky mandolin, similar to a Flatiron...." I have never heard of such a thing. The guy is in the UK - could he be mistaken or did Kentucky indeed have a US made flat top model? Just curious, and late for work now - uh-oh!

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  2. #2
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    Default Re: US made flat top Kentucky mandolin???

    The Saga company has their location as San Fransisco on the labels. Maybe that's where the confusion comes from. I had an argument at a flea market a few months ago with a guy claiming his low end Kentucky was US made.I have never seen a flat top though. ??

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    Default Re: US made flat top Kentucky mandolin???

    I think I've seen photos here of sunburst army/navy style Kentucky flat tops but don't think any Kentuckys were made in the US.
    Steve

  4. #4
    Registered User Eric F.'s Avatar
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    Default Re: US made flat top Kentucky mandolin???

    I've seen a few. IIRC, they were laminated or had laminated backs. They were supposedly going to reintroduce them a couple of years back and some prototypes were floating around the Web, including an all-solid model. As far as I know, they were all made overseas. I don't think Saga has anything made in the States.

  5. #5
    Registered User Jim MacDaniel's Avatar
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    Default Re: US made flat top Kentucky mandolin???

    Hi Jill - I think the model numbers were KM-100 & KM-100S, the former being all laminate, and the latter with a solid top only, and they were indeed imported as were/are the rest of the Kentucky line-up. (IIRC they were imported during Saga's Korea era.)
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  6. #6
    Registered User Jim MacDaniel's Avatar
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    Default Re: US made flat top Kentucky mandolin???

    Here is an older listing at Elderly for a KM-100S, with pics: http://www.elderly.com/vintage/items/90U-4006.htm.

    Also, here is a discussion thread from 2006 on this model.
    "The problem with quotes on the internet, is everybody has one, and most of them are wrong."
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  7. #7
    Registered User Jill McAuley's Avatar
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    Default Re: US made flat top Kentucky mandolin???

    Ah just what I thought - hope that poor bloke in the UK didn't pay a fortune for his "US made" Kentucky!

    Cheers,
    Jill
    2018 Girouard Concert oval A
    2015 JP "Whitechapel" tenor banjo
    2018 Frank Tate tenor guitar
    1969 Martin 00-18




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  8. #8
    Mandolins and Moonshine mandolinbill1949's Avatar
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    Default Re: US made flat top Kentucky mandolin???

    No saga built kentuckys were ever built here in the u.s. Maybe it was a handbuilt copy of the army-navy built buy soneone who resides in the ole KY
    R.I.P Marvin popcorn Sutton he loved mandolin music and making moonshine.He will be missed by people in the smoky mountains forever.

  9. #9
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: US made flat top Kentucky mandolin???

    Many of the Kentuckys had a label inside that said San Francisco, Ca. and had a "Made in <country of choice>" sticker on the back of the neck. One of these in the UK with the "Made in" label missing could easily be mistakenly identified as made in the US. I think that's what we're dealing with.
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  10. #10
    Mandolins and Moonshine mandolinbill1949's Avatar
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    Default Re: US made flat top Kentucky mandolin???

    I would know if i could see a pic i have owned just about every kentucky mandolin made.
    R.I.P Marvin popcorn Sutton he loved mandolin music and making moonshine.He will be missed by people in the smoky mountains forever.

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