Mystery Mandolin

[Ranger_rick]

:confused:127634127635127636127637127638 Help!! I just picked up a rather odd antique “A” style mandolin with a semi-round back?? It has an unusual string head with slots, the pick guard is an inlayed piece of solid wood, completely lined inside with a “rose” paper, 2 mystery holes on the front, an awesome slightly bowed back with a “Button” in the center, no makers name, but has “SANSSOUCI” stamped in the front under the pick guard area. Anyone have any idea who made this or when???

[morganpiper]

Well, 'sans souci' means 'without care' but that's probably common knowledge, and probably doesn't help....

[Ray(T)]

I'd say eastern European, built in the 1970's, and ah! the mystery holes. I don't recall that we ever came to a decision as to what they were for.

[rubydubyr]

WOW, its beautiful! How does it play?

[Ranger_rick]

I don't know how it plays, I can't play one! It still needs a small crack fixed and some new strings. I bought it because I really like how it looks.

[pfox14]

A 9-fret neck is a bit unusual. Seems like it would limit your playing a bit. What's the scale length?

[Bertram Henze]

Probably East German make. Sanssouci was the Prussian palace of Emperor Friedrich the Great (contemporary of Napoleon), but the instrument is younger than that, of course.

[kkmm]

The French word SANSSOUCI really means "No worry", so I guess this is owned by a French.
I did not know this (my ignorance)

Sanssouci was the Prussian palace of Emperor Friedrich the Great

The nice pattern on the back makes me think it's German made.

[James Rankine]

More info on these GDR arch backs here (http://www.mandolinluthier.com/Garchbacks.htm)
Apparently the lack of a makers name is typical. The luthiers weren't allowed to put their name to their mandolins as everything was considered a product of the state.
They can be real bargains, well made with beautiful woods for not much money. I also find them more practical than a bowl back, you get the volume and reverberation associated with a deep body instrument but they don't wriggle around in your lap. Shorter, Neapolitan type, scale length coupled with a narrow neck takes some getting used to though.
Mine has the mystery holes on the top and sides - they appear to serve no structural or acoustic purpose.
Here's mine in action. despite the fact that it looks like it should be in a tudor period drama it was probably made in the 60s. More images of the mandolin towards the end of the video.

-nYbw1SzTwY

[Shelagh Moore]

As Bertram said definitely East German. I restored a very similar one from a rather sorry condition recently and it has made quite a nice-sounding and easy-playing mandolin for a beginner I know.

[barney 59]

The two small holes are to place your first and second fingers. The large hole in the center was for your thumb. It was to play a East German form of bowling where you slid the mandolin across a bar at a boot full of beer. The one who got their mandolin closet to the boot drank the beer in one continuous swallow while playing the "International" on the mandolin!

[Bertram Henze]

The two small holes are to place your first and second fingers. The large hole in the center was for your thumb. It was to play a East German form of bowling where you slid the mandolin across a bar at a boot full of beer. The one who got their mandolin closet to the boot drank the beer in one continuous swallow while playing the "International" on the mandolin!

http://972mag.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/facepalm.jpg

[mrmando]

I thought the hole was a place to put your cigarette while you drank your beer.

[Jeff Mando]

The two small holes are to place your first and second fingers. The large hole in the center was for your thumb. It was to play a East German form of bowling where you slid the mandolin across a bar at a boot full of beer. The one who got their mandolin closet to the boot drank the beer in one continuous swallow while playing the "International" on the mandolin!

Sounds very similar to the Canadian game of Curling. The drinking part, that is!

[jlatorre]

I wonder if any plans for this instrument are available. Sounds like they'd be fun to make.

[JH Murray]

Most Canadians are not allowed to drink beer on the ice while they curl. Most curling clubs have had to ban the practice. Many old time curlers remember 'stacking the brooms' after the fifth end, to go in for a drink, then toss the mandolin, before returning to the ice for the last five ends. Since there was no clock, the last five ends were often much looser than the opening five.

[barney 59]

I've seen curling ---I can't imagine doing that sober! Banning drinking probably brought their numbers down! I saw a documentary about Windsor Castle once and in preparation for a state dinner they had a guy with a big buffing pad strapped to his butt. He would squat on the dining table and give it a nice shine by rubbing his butt back and forth. -----"and what do you do at Windsor Castle......?" " I polish the table with me bum!" The Royal Bum Polisher! Anyway, curling seems a lot like that! What's this thread about anyway? Oh, I remember a German mandolin----

[Martin Veit]

Here is another one for you:
http://www.ebay.de/itm/Wunderschone-Mandoline-in-sehr-gutem-Zustand-bereit-zu-spielen-/131384771296?pt=Antike_Musikinstrumente&hash=item1e972482e0

From the early 1970 to 1990, as far as i can remember, most of the mandolins in (west-)germany
were made in this form.
The great supliers like Höfner, Hopf, Gewa and so on sells this instruments.
I guess, that some of these were build in east-germany, prob. in Marktneukirchen.
But its although posible, that they were imported from far-east.

[Adaminspace]

135600 This is also a 'Sanssouci' mandolin, just found in my mother-in-law's flat. From the family history it is certainly German and pre 1944 - ie before the GDR came into existence - probably a student model. It has a plate on the bottom saying 'Musikhaus' with an address in Coburg. Sounds not very good but needs some work. If anyone has any information on the two holes in the sound board, I would love to know what they are for, one of them still has a grommet in it.

[barney 59]

Those holes are for bowling. It's a German bar thing ---you bowl the mandolin down the top of a bar and try and knock over a stack of giant boot mugs!

[MikeEdgerton]

Those holes show up on many of the German made mandolins from that era. They have been discussed before and I don't recall anyone having a real reason for their existence. They generally elicit answers like the one Barney 59 gave you. Somebody thought it was a good idea.

[Ray(T)]

Thanks Mike, that confirms what I said. I've always thought that they wre for fitting some sort of accessory which never managed to make it to this side of the iron curtain. That said, I've seen them on several, much earlier, instruments.