Comments on old mandolin?

[afo]

Hi all,

This mandolin belonged to my wife's grandfather, a doctor - family lore is that it was gift from a patient. Nobody ever played it - it hung on the back of his office door for decades, strung with beads so it would make a sound when the door was opened. Then it sat in my wife's closet for another couple of decades. Sadly, I'm sure it was under random tension for all that time, and the top is sunk, the neck warped, the tuners nearly frozen. It will return to hanging on the wall. I like the shape, and it seems like it might have once made a nice sound.

There are no maker's marks anywhere on it. The top and back are pressed. The tuner buttons are plastic. The rings around the string posts are interesting - looks like gold metal flake and seems plastic. It spent its post-door life in an old slingerland banjo case not much bigger than the mandolin - maybe for a banjo uke.

Here are more photos:
https://plus.google.com/photos/105991248873766293296/albums/6063828771676867825?authkey=CNLcmqzz0brK4QE

Just interested in any comments - seen one like it?

thanks
Aaron

[Grommet]

Cool looking instrument to my eyes! I don't have any info for you , so hopefully someone else can identify the maker. Could you measure the scale length (nut to bridge) for us?

Scott

[bart mcneil]

You are making several of us jealous and it is an unusual instrument. Have no idea what it is worth. But it is an unusual shape. The problems you mention are repairable should you or your wife want to learn to play it. The tailpiece is a quality item. The tuners likely only need to be cleaned and lubricated for easy turning as they are likely still good tuners. In my opinion it is in remarkably good condition for an instrument of its age and history. It likely had a paper label visible through the hole but which has fallen off at some point.

[Bob Clark]

Hello afo,

Could you please post a picture of the back and one from the side? It would be nice to see a little more of the instrument. As Bart said, it is unusual and of interest to some of us.

Thanks, Bob

[afo]

Hi all,

I've posted a few more pictures - back, side, and some details - here:

https://plus.google.com/photos/105991248873766293296/albums/6063828771676867825?authkey=CNLcmqzz0brK4QE

Scale length is 14" on the nose.

Aaron

[Bill Snyder]

This crack in the soundhole purfling makes me wonder if the crack goes all the way to the edge of the mandolin.124272

[afo]

This crack in the soundhole purfling makes me wonder if the crack goes all the way to the edge of the mandolin.

Hm, yes - I can see the crack continue on the top between the neck and the pickguard, almost all the way to the end of the body - a couple of inches. Without taking off the pickguard, I can't tell if the the crack ends or just becomes hidden in the joint between neck and body.

A

[EdHanrahan]

For whatever little it's worth:

Stromberg-Viosenet, the '20s predecessor of Kay, used similar black pickguard material and held them on with similar pearl-dot guitar bridgepins, usually 2 of them. But the pins do easily fall out and get lost. Maybe one of them here was replaced by that screw? Note that the radius around the top edge of both pickguard holes is similar, and similar to my S-V (with its recovered pins!), hinting that there had been a pin before the screw.

OTOH, S-V generally did not radius the pickguard around the soundhole, and the pins were usually located near the neck (where this has the screw) and at the treble point rather than near the bridge. The bit of purfling that peeks out from under the tailpiece was common on S-Vs, but also on others.

On the third hand... The gold-flake inserts around the tuner shafts (where S-V used black Bakelite plugs to cover their buried tuner gears) sort of scream 1950s!

[Hudmister]

Beautiful old mandolin. Love the shape, it looks loud. It's certainly worthy of repair & restoration. The inlay around the tuner posts is too cool. I have carried two mandolins in a guitar case but using a banjo case probably violates some rule.

[Jim Garber]

Interesting mandolin but I have never seen one that looks like that made by the larger American companies. it could have been made by a small-shop luthier.

[billhay4]

Nice, quite unusual, instrument. I'd get it worked on a bit.
Any idea of when it came into the family and where? This might help trace its origin.
Bill

[bart mcneil]

Looks to me like that crack in the top next to the fretboard indicates that the neck has moved forward a bit in its neck/body joint indicating a neck reset may be in order