Help Identifying Mandolin

[jshannon]

I'm new to the mandolin world. I've been looking for something to get me going and had a rough idea what I was looking for. That being said, I just picked up one the other day.

It's old but seems to play well and has great tone. It's made with all the right stuff (Spruce top and Maple everything else). It came in a Gibson rectangular case (not that I think that's what it is). There is a cracked piece on the headstock. It's not cracked all the way off and I think it would be fairly easy to repair. Other than that, just some scratches and age related wear.

The problem is I have no idea who made it. There is nothing on the headstock and no marking that I can see in through the sound holes. I certainly don't think that it's anything spectacular, but it's nice enough for me (for now).

If anyone can identify it, I think it would help me decide which direction to go as far as any modification / restoration. One thing I don't want to do is mess up a nice instrument. If it is a dime a dozen mandolin, I'll fix it up the way I want and forget any historical value.

I do know that the previous owner had changed the tuners and the bridge.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[MikeEdgerton]

Actually it looks like someone built them selves a decent F5 style mandolin, perhaps from a kit like the StewMac or Siminoff products. Absent any tags that would be my guess. It looks decent although a bit beat up.

[allenhopkins]

If anyone can identify it, I think it would help me decide which direction to go as far as any modification / restoration. One thing I don't want to do is mess up a nice instrument. If it is a dime a dozen mandolin, I'll fix it up the way I want and forget any historical value.

Concur with Mike E's analysis. Almost any factory- or luthier-made instrument has some sort of identifying markings. Could well be a kit-built mandolin, and a nice one at that. Appears to be solid woods, though you might want to look at the edges of the f-holes to see if the top's laminated.

I wonder what you're considering when you talk about "fixing it up the way you want"? You have a decent instrument here and IMHO it's worth getting professionally repaired and set up. You probably don't need to worry about "restoring" it to any particular appearance, since it's not "pedigreed," but a pro repair job on the headstock, some finish touch-up, and a good set-up would be likely to give you a very nice instrument to get you into playing mandolin.

If that's the direction you're thinking of, whether pro or do-it-yourself, sounds like a plan. But if you're going to finish it in purple epoxy and glue rhinestones to it...

[jshannon]

Thank you Mike and Allen, That's exactly the kind of information I'm looking for. I bought it because it had all the qualities I thought it should based upon what I've been reading. In addition, it has a classic look to it that I like (no rhinestones for me).

It seems pretty old to me. If I had to guess, I'd think it's at least 50 years old based upon the finish. I don't think the pictures show what the finish truly looks like. The frets are rather warn and flattened out in spots but it's still quite playable. The top is definitely solid.

Does any maker put any markings on the back if the soundboard? That's the only place I can't see.

I guess "who made it" is less important to me than "is it worth having a professional do some work on it?". You've answered that well enough for me. I'll try to find someone locally that can take a look at it, fix the headstock and touch up some of the scratches.

Thanks again!

Jon

[MikeEdgerton]

I don't think it's that old.

[Bob DeVellis]

Personally, I wouldn't do much, if anything, with the finish. Get the headstock repaired and have a good tech set it up and go over it to check for structural issues. Then play the heck out of it. After you've lived with it a while, you can think about whether to make any purely cosmetic changes. People are paying good money to have brand new instruments beaten up to look more like this one, after all.

The top looks solid, if you enlarge the sound hole picture.

[mrmando]

You can get a dental mirror or small bicyclist's mirror and see if there's anything on the underside of the soundboard.

[jshannon]

Well, I think the mystery has been solved. I was able to use a small mirror and inspect the underside of the soundboard. Up near the neck, it reads "RS" and "1991". After spending some time at the Siminoff site, I'm pretty confident in saying that's what it is. Turns out I was WAY off on the age! Mike was correct on both accounts (age and Siminoff Kit).

As for what to do with it, I'll take the advice to get the headstock fixed and leave it at that. Somewhere down the road I may get new bridge and Machine tuners.

Thanks for all of your help!

[EdHanrahan]

That broken scroll on the F-style headstock very common, and might be THE most common repair. They're SO easy to knock off, even, as in your case, where the binding might have provided some reinforcement across the weak(est) direction of the wood grain.

[jshannon]

Just wanted to update you all on what I've done with this over the last several months.

Stripped the mandolin bare, stained, french polish, re-fretted on leveled fret board, new hardware...

[Malcolm G.]

Holy Cow!

There's some spectacular wood grain there!

WELL DONE!

[bluegrasser78]

Man O'Man thats sweet lookin to say the least about it,great reworkin job,,,I love to see stuff like that,,turn the not so good into great playable gorgeous art

[JEStanek]

Great job restoring it to it's glory!

Jamie

[Rodney Riley]

Love it. I like the brown stain. Are you able to give us a sound clip?

[jshannon]

Thanks all! I'm very happy with the way it turned out. It's not perfect by any means. I've got a new nut that I need put on it but that will have to wait. I just want to play it at this point.

I'll work on a sound clip. I'm fairly new to the mandolin so I can guarantee it won't win any awards! Actually, I'm a drummer of 30 years or so. I can appreciate good tone though.

Jon

[DerTiefster]

Wow. "Several months" was like "two years" this time. Beautiful job. And thanks for updating the old thread to show what you meant by "I'll fix it up the way I want." What you wanted seems to be just what it needed.