Aluminium mandolin banjo, any idea of maker or origin?

[patinapeter]

Hello guys, I am new in this forum and i wonder if anybody can help me along with this cute and interesting mandolin banjo I found on a belgian fleamarket about a year ago.

Except the fingerboard, it is completely made of cast aluminium, so there are mainly 5 parts:
body, neck with tuner head, 2 half moon "drum" parts, fingerboard.

It was slightly oxydized, the head was broken, the bridge gone, so I cleaned it up thorougly, made a non perfect bridge ( I will do a better in near future), spendet some time looking to buy a 7,5" mandolin head, and didn´t find a supplier (every help highly appreciated!!) At the and I bought a vintage tambourine with a goat skin head of similar strenght as the broken one, and as the wire ring was still there, this Christmas i found the time to make me a new head for this (first time !!).
At the end I set it up and I am so delighted about its sound and appeal, that I would like to figure something out about origin or maker.
It may as well be a unique custom made piece by an enthusiast, but probably somebody here knows more about.
142764
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The meter is in cm, not in inches of course!

Thanks in advance for any help!

[Beanzy]

No idea, but that looks like a great design.
You look to have got yourself a lovely instrument there.
It will be fascinating to see if anyone can get some background information for you.

[MikeEdgerton]

That is without a doubt my favorite banjo mandolin that has ever been posted here. Aluminum bowlback mandolins have been discussed often, aluminum banjo mandolins not as much. Here (http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/showthread.php?107464-All-Aluminum-Banjo-Mandolin) is one. I like the F style-ish design. The headstock is an engineering marvel. Most of the slot head mandolins we see are European. I see you're in Germany so I would assume it was made somewhere in Europe.

Added: The zero fret also makes it more likely that it is of European origin.

[CES]

Sadly, I a have no good information to offer you, but agree with Mike. That's a really cool looking instrument and design! Thanks for posting pics, and I hope someone can get you some useful information!

[Bertram Henze]

Soundclip, please!

[HonketyHank]

Well, I have a 1960's Ode 5-string with an aluminum rim but I don't see any resemblance. But if it resonates anything like my Ode, it will have a unique tone quality.

[MikeEdgerton]

This actually looks more like an aluminum bodied mandolin with a banjo head on it. It's actually pretty unique.

[pops1]

This actually looks more like an aluminum bodied mandolin with a banjo head on it. It's actually pretty unique.

Including aluminum neck and headstock. Very cool. It seem to one piece of aluminum.

[billhay4]

Very cool instrument. I'd like to hear it, too.
Bill

[brunello97]

Muy cool. That is an awful lot of work to be a one-off instrument….. A prototype? Or the first of its kind that has reared its head?

Mick

[MikeEdgerton]

In the past I've seen things made out of Aluminum that were built simply to show what could be done with the product. I suspect it might be a one of a kind.

[patinapeter]

Soundclip, please!

As I said, I don´t play the mandolin, but to give you an idea, I took some quick chords with the voice recorder, there is a .mp3 in the attachments, will that work ?!
I Will look for an advanced player to record a better one!
Here are as well some other pics of the structure.

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[patinapeter]

Hi Mike, I know that as well from the other collecting fields that I cover: new materials had to be tested, as in the 1960 perspex for violins etc.

But here, in the beginning of 19th c. aluminium was new, but with the whole design and parts I would place that into 1920s and 30s, when it was very popular (and affordable!). Still it may be the work of a skilled founder with addiction to banjo and/or mandolin. All the scars and imperfections let me as well tend to a non-commercial one, or small volume

[vic-victor]

There were several makers in Markneukirchen that made aluminium instruments in 1920's. One was Pfretzschner another was Paulus and probably others less known makers, too. Pfretzschner was famous for it's alu double basses. I have a no-name flatback mandolin with alu body that is probably made by Paulus. In the USA Merryl and Alcoa made aluminium instruments, but always with the makers mark. Since yours has no makers mark and it was found in Europe the most likely origin of your banjo is Germany.

[MikeEdgerton]

In the 1880's Aluminum was actually a precious metal :)

http://www.tms.org/pubs/journals/jom/9511/binczewski-9511.html

[allenhopkins]

In the 1880's Aluminum was actually a precious metal...

True; Napoleon III of France impressed his guests by entertaining them at dinner with aluminum "silverware." Interesting article on the subject. (http://knowledgenuts.com/2014/02/27/the-metal-that-was-once-worth-more-than-gold/)

I own two aluminum instruments, a Merrill bowl-back (only the bowl's aluminum, the top and neck are wooden), and an aluminum bass fiddle, which may be a Pfretzschner; it has a wooden neck, and the faux-wood-finished body's riveted together. I believe the American aluminum basses, at least the Aluminum Musical Instrument Co. Merrills, were screwed together. And I guess I should also mention a cast-aluminum-shell Ode/Muse five-string banjo.

What's interesting about the mandolin-banjo under consideration, is its resemblance to a Gibson F-model, with a "scroll" cast into the body. Whoever made this, probably in Europe, had some familiarity with American mandolins. I've never seen one like it -- and I've seen a lot of mandolins. Also, the solid back of the "pot" doesn't provide an aperture to let air in behind the head, so the closed chamber would actually dampen the head's vibration, as well as reflecting the sound forward -- two characteristics working against each other! Some American banjos had "pie plate" resonators, either press-fit or screwed to the dowel stick, that may have worked similarly.

Someone went to a lot of work to make a one-of casting, IMHO. Slotted aluminum headstock reminds me of older Kramer electric guitars. This is one unique instrument; I have serious envy here...

[billhay4]

Allen,
Can't air get in behind the head via the "scrolls"?
Bill

[allenhopkins]

Allen, Can't air get in behind the head via the "scrolls"?

Good point; might well be true. A bit hard to determine from the pics, but looking at the "side" shot in the first post, and the disassembled pic in Post #12, there may be openings to let the head "breathe" -- vibrate undampened by a closed chamber inside the resonator.

What a neat instrument! Clearly, not a design that caught on anywhere, but really inventive and unique.

[billhay4]

What a neat instrument! Clearly, not a design that caught on anywhere, but really inventive and unique.

I agree.
Bill

[patinapeter]

Allen and Bill, it is as you supposed: both "scroll" holes open into the bowl, and there is enough space between the two "drum" parts and the bowl back to let the head "breathe" and vibrate freely. This pic will clear it:
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By the way, I roughly checked the informations about Paulus and Pfretzschner alu instruments, found very interesting ones, but nothind in the near of that F-style design. Will carry on

Rudolf