Can someone identify my grandfather's mandolin?

[brobar]

Greetings. I was curious if any of you fine folk out there could help me identify the make, model and roughly year of my grandfather's mandolin. I wouldn't imagine it to be too old... but it is at least 30 years old since he passed in the mid 80's. It has been passed around in the family and my aunt currently has it. This is the only pic of it... hopefully it is enough to get you guys close.

I have one of his fiddles that dates back to 1890-ish. I'm sure this mandolin is nowhere near that old... but I am curious. I'd like to find one similar to it so I can shadowbox it with his fiddle in the living room. If anyone can help me with the make/model/year so I can hopefully find a similar one, I would be extremely grateful.

Thank you!

[mrmando]

Ultra-cheap, most likely made in Korea in the '70s.

[brobar]

Yeah... price isn't a concern or what I'm looking for. $1,000 or $10 really makes no difference... I'm just hoping I can find out what it is and see if I can locate another one.

[Bill Snyder]

This one on ebay is close. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Harmony-mand...item46126b77b3

[brobar]

Thanks Bill. That does look very similar. Besides the slightly different scalloped tail-piece and a little different routing of the head on the neck... it is pretty darn close.

I may not be able to find the exact same mandolin as my grandfathers... but as long as I can get one pretty close. I'll hold out and see if I can find anything closer, but thanks for the link. I appreciate it.

[Jim Garber]

Ask your aunt for it. Does she play it? Tell her it has little value except as a playing instrument.

[brobar]

Ask your aunt for it. Does she play it? Tell her it has little value except as a playing instrument.

Nah... I couldn't do that to her. It is actually right opposite, surely ALL the value is sentimental... and you can't put a price on that. It is a family heirloom. Just like the fiddle of his I got... it is over 120 years old and not worth much money wise (about $300-$500 in its current, unrestored condition). I'm more concerned with preservation than I am restoration... and even if it were worth thousands... you couldn't pry that thing from my hands! The sentimental value and all the memories of him sitting out on the porch playing or in church playing... worth way more than any dollar amount you could put on the instrument. I have no doubt she feels the same way about her mandolin. There is another fiddle and another mandolin of his floating around in our large family somewhere. I have no doubt that one of those mandolins could make their way into my home one of these years, but I'm not going to try and rush it.

I'm planning on shadowboxing the fiddle and bow along with a picture of him playing it and some aged sheet music of his favorite song. IF I can find a similar mandolin, I'd like to shadowbox it as well... and kind of use it as a placeholder until I can get my hands on one of his two mandolins (If I ever do). However, if I don't end up inheriting one of those two mandolins... I might look for an 1890-ish mandolin to put in there with the 1890-ish fiddle.

[MikeEdgerton]

Your mandolin is one of these. It is circa 70's-80's and were brought in under dozens of brand names and obviously some with no names on them. If you were to sell it (and you won't) you would be doing a happy dance if you got $100.00 for it. They weren't stellar instruments.

[Jim Garber]

Oh, I get it... shadowboxing... meaning sort of framing it and displaying it somewhere. Hah!! Your grandfather must have been an amazing musician or at least superbly loved by all.

[brunello97]

Shadow box. Shadowboxing.

I was kind of rolling with it literally, too, Jim. Sounds like a lovely project.

Mick

BTW Here's a look-alike on Lansing CL:

Mando

[Darryl Wolfe]

We sold dozens of those in 1976-1977 when I was teaching mandolin at Pick N Grin in Knoxville. I think most of them were Hondo's and were around $100 at the time

[MikeEdgerton]

From the thread I posted the link to above, a Hondo.