Looking for info on an old mandolin

[Rob77]

I just recvd this old mandolin from an elderly lady nearby. She said this has been in her family for years. They used to sit and listen to her grandfather play this. She figures it is well over a hundred years old. I am trying to see just who made it way back then. Any markings have been worn off over the years. You can see inside where there was something there years ago but no longer is. Any info will be helpful. Thanks

[Jim Garber]

These were sold wholesale in bunches to music stores. Suspects were various Chicago makers: Regal or Harmony most likely ones. Is the bridge placed correctly?

[Cary Fagan]

Ninety percent sure that's a Regal.

[JeffD]

From the smudge marks on the front between the sound hole and the bridge it looks as if the instrument was played with an electric pick up.

[Jim Garber]

That is funny, Jeff. I assumes that it was the shadow of where the bridge was positioned before. That is not to say that that is the proper place for it, however. But I would think that if it did have a pickup them we would see some screw holes otherwise I am not sure how it would be attached to the mandolin.

[Bill Snyder]

Jim is right.The bridge needs to be moved. While you can't get a very accurate measurement from the angled photo if you measure from the nut to the twelfth and from the twelfth to the "smudge" on the top that appears to be about where the bridge belongs.

[mrmando]

Not well over 100 years old ... 60 to 80 years old would be more like it, methinks.

[bmac]

I have one of those, almost identical but with a slightly different headstock shape. Mine has a paper label inside listing the brand as "La Melodia". They are very lightly constructed of very thin wood with no plywood so they are prone to have a crack or three by this time. Mine has a very resonant tone (probably from the thin wood). In fact of my mandos I would place the tone near my steel resonater mando. A little mellower though. The tone is not what I would guess is a popular tone now, but some folks not interested in bluegrass might like it very much. These show up all the time on eBay and sell for very little. Mine was fun to restore.

What does not show up on the photos is a slight cant just at about the bridge position. It is almost invisible but it is there.

There is a formal portrait photo of Charlie McCoy, the blues mandolin player, holding one of these on his lap. It can be seen in DelGrosso's Mandolin Blues instructional book.

[Loudloar]

If you look here: [URL="http://www.acousticmusic.org/userfiles/file/pdfs/historical-data/Musical%20Distributors/Metropolitan%201935%20Catalog.pdf"] you'll see a 1935 catalog from a music distributor. On page 9, #5 looks very similar. #11 is identified as a Regal and seems to have a similar headstock shape. I think #12 is a Harmony. None of this proves the maker of your mando, but it's an interesting reference.
Steve