OK, What the heck it this?

[Capt. E]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Very-Fancy-1919-Martin-Bowl-Back-Mandolin-w-Case-for-Service-/391332573373?hash=item5b1d3d30bd:g:5f8AAOSwNSxVcuZ i

This Martin bowl-back looks like it has a new fretboard and finger-rest. The inlay looks like the stuff out of Viet Nam etc, and since when do these have a truss-rod?...or maybe it is just a decorative cover. The body, neck and headstock does look vintage. Good luck to whom ever may buy it.

[MikeEdgerton]

I'm pretty sure it didn't leave the factory like that.

[Timbofood]

I have a feeling that the truss rod cover is simply being used as a vehicle for inlay.
Pick guard is way weird, to me, at least.

[Tobin]

I notice the seller says it has a low action, but the photo with the emery board seems to suggest otherwise. Unless this is what passes for low action on bowlbacks???

[brunello97]

….Unless this is what passes for low action on bowlbacks???

Hardly.

I like the "recent clear coat" description in the ad. Looks like a hand dipped finish.

Some of that high action might be readily dealt with by modifying that muy beefioso bridge.

Mick

[vic-victor]

Looks like Bruce Wei/Antonio Tsai "restoration" special.

[Capt. E]

Right, there is probably no truss rod, just a decorative cover. Somebody thinks all "good" mandolins have one, but they have no idea of the function.
So, nobody with a spare $800+?

[lflngpicker]

Looks pretty sweet! I don't know bowl backs, but that one looks very vintage, though somewhat refinished and modified, too?

[allenhopkins]

According to Longworth's Martin Guitars: A History, all the fancier Martin mandolins had pickguards that extended to both sides of the soundhole; the only one showing with a "side guard" is a later -- post 1917 -- Style 1, though the Style 2 is also mentioned as changing to the one-side-only pickguard around 1917. As far as I can count the ribs on the pictured mandolin, they seem to be close to the specified number for Style 2, 26.

So my SWAG (sophisticated wild-a*s guess) is a heavily modified Martin Style 2. My 1919 Style A flat-back doesn't have a model number stamped inside, only a serial number, so I would be surprised if there were a model number stamped inside this one. There should be a serial number, which would give its date of manufacture. The Style 2 was apparently made through 1924.