My 1st

[hummingbirdsprings]

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y159/queenscarlet/mandolin1.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y159/queenscarlet/mandolin2.jpg

[Tracey]

OMG !!!! She's beautiful.

[hummingbirdsprings]

thank you :)

[billhay4]

Is this the first you've built, or the first you have owned?
Interesting instrument. Do I count 12 tuners? How is it tuned?
Bill

[hummingbirdsprings]

It is the 1st I've owned. It is a 12 string (4 sets of three, inside of the usual 4 sets of 2). The previous owner thinks it was made around 1920-1930ish.

[EdHanrahan]

Wow! Except for the wear on the neck, it seems to be in beautiful condition.

Others know far more than I, but that style of back seems to be typical of German instruments, or maybe Eastern European? Any label or markings inside?

BTW, I think the term for such a 3-string-per-course instrument is "mandriola".

[Jim Nollman]

Looks like it's German made. That's where they were kept most busy inlaying designs into the back plates. But I'm not sure I'd call it a mandolin. That's a lot strings vibrating at such high frequencies. Must sound angelic. I can easily imagine tuning it to an open D or F, then playing it with a bottleneck.

[jnigh]

Really really nice. The work on the back is stunning. I'd love to hear it.