german ebay mandola [Archive] - Mandolin Cafe Forum

billkilpatrick

Sep-24-2005, 7:28am

there's an attractive looking mandola up for auction on german ebay at the moment. #i've already been out bid for it. #any suggestions on how high i should go, general comments, etc., etc.?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws....IT&rd=1 (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7352905728&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1)

... hours later: just found out it's a trinity college import from china. new, they sell for $400+. as this one has a pick-up hole in the face and there's something like 19 bids in on it already, with 9 days to go ... i'll just watch, thanks.

Martin Jonas

Sep-24-2005, 1:08pm

Well, I can't say too much about the instrument, but I can at least translate the German description for you. It says:

The instrument is sold from the estate of a well-known guitar teacher in Regensburg. He has restrung the mandola and tuned it Bb-F-C-F (!). The musician always used to select his instruments on the merit of the tone; this is an instrument with outstanding tone. The specimen recording provided cannot fully reflect the great resonance, but may serve as a point of reference. When the strings are struck, the sustain sounds for more than ten seconds.

A good instrument, well looked after, no signs of use. The white patch at the lower edge is the residue from a sticky tape used to fix an electric pick-up. With a suitable solvent, these residue are surely removable. The neck has a trussrod. The headstock inlay is mother-of-pearl.

length: 72.5cm
body: 35 x 28.5 cm
scale length: 43.5 cm
fretboard width at first fret: 3.2cm
fretboard width at 12th fret: 4.1 cm
action at 12th fret: 3 mm

We also have on auction this week a case, which will fit this isntrument. However, this is not the original case.

Our telephone numbers are: (0049) 9126 290823 [presumably a landline] and (0049) 163 3363733 [presumably a mobile].

There is no mention of a maker's name and no photo of a logo, so presumably it's anonymous. There seems to be a logo and possibly also a name stamped on the tailpiece cover, but I can't make it out. Clearly, it's not tuned in fifths at the moment. With that scale length, I would think it could be strung either as an octave mandola or an alto mandola. The headstock fleur-de-lys inlay is fairly widely used; for example the Kentucky A models have it. The mandola player in our ensemble plays a similar-looking instrument with the fleur-de-lys inlay, branded on headstock and label with the "Ozark" name. That one is a very very good instrument, much better than any other Ozark I've seen (Ozark is a brand of convenience in the UK and distributes mandolins made by lots of different makers all over the world ranging from utter factory dross to really rather nice ones). Whether it's the same maker as this one, I really couldn't say. It does look a nice enough instrument and may well be a good buy if it stays low enough. I'm a bit sceptical about the claims being made for it: the action is a bit high for a properly set up mandola and the spare strings shown in the photo are clearly ancient.

All in all, probably a worthwhile instrument but difficult to say from the info that is provided whether it's a factory instrument or a luthier-made one.

Martin

PS: Just saw Bill's edit. Forget what I said above -- Trinity College makes sense. Not particularly rare or valuable then.