PDA

View Full Version : Can anyone identify this mandolin.



rcalvert
Apr-20-2011, 1:39pm
Hello all,

I wanted to buy this mandolin, but not sure if its worth 350 dollars. It has a bone nut and bridge. There is no visible label inside or out of it. Seems to be birch. The neck is straight, and no obvious defects small or large. Thanks in advance.


71126711257112471123

Jim Garber
Apr-20-2011, 2:18pm
Looks Asian (I think) and relatively new. Normally I would say Suzuki as many of these are but it looks a little different. Tuners are fairly recent mfg also. Bridge position looks a little odd. I would not pay $350 for it either unless I played it in person and it sounded and played well.

rcalvert
Apr-20-2011, 2:32pm
I am not sure its newer, the inside of the bowl looks pretty old... But of course I will defer to the more informed opinions... Thanks

Jim Garber
Apr-20-2011, 2:58pm
Could be 20 or 30 years old but that would put it in the 1980s. Maybe 1970s is possible but not older than that, I would think.

Margriet
Apr-20-2011, 3:04pm
Ibanez ?

Jim Garber
Apr-20-2011, 3:53pm
Ibanez ?

Could be tho I think those might also be made by Suzuki or vice versa. This one has an oval hole and doesn't really resemble the OP's.

Rodney Riley
Apr-20-2011, 4:10pm
Check bridge intonation at the 12th. Looks a little too far north...

Paul Hostetter
Apr-20-2011, 4:46pm
One of the eBay Chinese dealers (Sam AKA Taisamlu) has bought up lots and lots of old roundbacks and refurbished them and resold them, too. Ironically he occasionally sells off lots of tuners and bridges scavenged from the originals after replacing them with Ping tuners like in the photo above. And he also makes them from scratch, and you can see one here (http://cgi.ebay.com/Italian-Style-Bowl-Back-Mandolin-Rosewood-CMR-/360335110681?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item53e5a57219). Not sure if that bowl started life in Taiwan, Ho Chi Minh City, or Chicago.


So the one the girl with the blue fingernails is holding is not a very good deal.

mrmando
Apr-20-2011, 5:37pm
Kent, possibly?

rcalvert
Apr-20-2011, 6:43pm
I think looking at ebay as suggested by Paul tells me it may be as he says. Ite hardware is the same essentially. I will hold off on buying this one, maybe find a different one that I like. Thanks everyone, I will get one soon enough...

Roger

Jim Garber
Apr-20-2011, 7:00pm
I did find a very similar mandolin in a completed eBay auction. It was IDed as a St. George Classique bowl back mandolin.
71133

epicentre
Apr-20-2011, 9:21pm
If'n the gal with the bluish nails'll throw in one a them rifles of'n the rack, along with some ammo, ya mite hav a deel. Youse buys a mando whuts shiney er then a rifle, tain't lakely two bee much good. jist a sayin.........


A Kent would have a big KENT cross the headstock, and most likely a paper thingy with KENT rote on it, on thu inside. Course it cud be a Loar disguised as a bowl back.

Caveat emptor big time.

rcalvert
Apr-22-2011, 2:00pm
Ok Rodney,

Let me explain what a novice I am... what does bridge itonation at the 12th mean... I assume that the last part is a good indication, the brige is too far up the body... Thanks

Roger

Rodney Riley
Apr-22-2011, 2:36pm
The 12th fret is an octave higher than the open string. If using a tuner, when you have the open string in tune. Fret at the 12th fret and see if it is the same note. If the octave of the string is flat, the bridge is too far towards the tail piece. If it is sharp, too close to the tuners. When you can get the open strings and the 12th octave both to be in tune, the bridge is in the perfect spot. Your mando intonation is spot on. :)

After looking at the pictures Jim posted. The bridge on both of them are touching or real close to the inlay/pick guards like the OP's. Bridge might not be off as far as it looks.