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Chiledog
Jul-21-2008, 5:00pm
..."Played by my Grandfather and Bill Monroe"...

Is this legit? #For some reason the lettering on the headstock just doesn't look like pre '30's it looks more like late '60's or early '70's, at least to my eye...

Opinions? #I have no interest in purchasing this mando, just curious about the description...aside from the the Bill Monroe comment that is!

http://corpuschristi.craigslist.org/msg/757631962.html

Todd

MikeEdgerton
Jul-21-2008, 5:09pm
Bill Monroe may have played it but it isn't pre 30's. There should be some numbers stamped inside. One of them will be a XXXXXHXXXX number that will have numbers where the X's are. There may be more or less at the start and the end. That is the model number. That means very little as it's near impossible to find a lot of model number information that makes sense. The number you're looking for will be like F49 or W53 or S62. Something like that. The Harmony date codes were done like that. The above dates would be Fall of 1949, Winter of 1953 and Summer of 1962. That is the only way to date it. I have Harmony Catalog pages from the 30's that show Monterey Mandolins. I've had Monterey guitars with 40's, 50's and 60's date codes. That faux flame finish places it well after the 20's (as in pre-30's). You need that date stamp.

Chiledog
Jul-21-2008, 5:31pm
Thanks Mike, I will see what I can find out about it.

BlueMountain
Jul-23-2008, 8:25am
I can't stand the fake flaming on the Monterey. Horrible. And I'd agree that that one is more likely to be 50s. However, there WERE some Montereys that had solid wood tops and no fake flaming, and set up with good nuts and bridges, could sound very good indeed. I fixed one up last year, frets, bridge, bone nut, set-up, that I sold for about $250, and it was a good deal for the buyer, because the sound was surprisingly good, and it looked really nice, ambered gloss finish and all. I won't touch one with fake flaming, but I'm willing to buy the decent ones from the 30s and 40s and fix them up so they can be appreciated for decades to come.

MikeEdgerton
Jul-23-2008, 10:07am
They all had solid wood tops and the faux flame isn't unique to the Monterey and not all Monterey's had faux flame tops.