Various Mandolin Restos + Video

**Jake Wildwood** · Mar-05-2010, 3:48pm

Hi folks, just wanted to share some links to my blog of the latest mandolins I've been working on.

First off, an LH Leland mando of (supposed?) Larson Brothers fame... which you can hear on video:

Next, a 1920s Oscar Schmidt "Sovereign" banjo mando. Great sound!

Runner up for most cost-effective introductory mando is this 1950s Stradolin.

And while not exactly a mandolin of sorts, I keep this super cool 1930s archtop tenor guitar in GDAE. It's now sporting a Baggs M1 and is sans the pickguard.

I've also recently finished off a really nice 1920s American-made balalaika that might be of some interest to a mando player, though the EEA tuning leaves a lot to be desired.

**Jill McAuley** · Mar-05-2010, 4:43pm

Lovely work as always Jake - that archtop tenor rocks!

Cheers,
Jill

**Jake Wildwood** · Mar-05-2010, 5:29pm

Jill: It truly does. It's an indescribable middle ground between archtop sound and flattop sound... with that sort of liquid guitar-bodied bouzouki sound ala Andy Irvine. I found some old 2:1 Waverly geared pegs for it, too, which dresses it up and lets me tune just that little bit easier. What makes it so curious is that it's almost like an R-18 makeover of an 0-18T... nearly identical body shape.