Antique Store Find

[winkmader]

Greetings! I was hoping to get a mandolin for Christmas, and I was browsing an antique store in La Crosse, WI and my wife stumbled across this labeled "stringed-instrument". I thought that the $20 price tag seemed fair, considering it had no bridge or tailpiece with it. There are also no markings on the mandolin, leading me to believe it is a handmade mando. There are also several other touches on the mandolin that leads me to assume it is handmade, including the soundhole which is somewhat unevenly cutout.

I was wondering if anybody had any suggestions about getting this set-up to play, what sort of bridge/tailpiece to get, or had any sort of information on the mandolin. Here is a link (https://plus.google.com/photos/116830812972722085636/albums/5817520185431203953?authkey=CJT9p8Gmxr7meA)to more pictures if you are interested.

I posted this on mandohangout, and I thought I would try here too.

I am also curious if somebody could give an estimate of its age.
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[f5loar]

The good news is the tuners might be worth $20 or more. The bad news........ it's a basket case. To set it up with a $30 tailpiece, a $25 flat bridge (hard to find) and a $5 set of light guage strings plus the body separation damage repair you are going to have over $100 in it and I'm not so sure it would be worth it. Looks like a copy of the old 60's Harmony A oval hole model which you should be able to find for $100 in much better condition.

[f5loar]

Here you go: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Harmony-Mandolin-fine-condition-with-case-from-1960s-/121029731681?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c2def2561

There is also several others to choose from in the $100 range just search ebay under "harmony mandolin".

[Jim Garber]

My guess is that it is an amateur-made mandolin using an existing fretboard and pretty nice vintage ivoroid button tuners. It is possible that it is a re-topped old inexpensive mandolin. The tuners themselves are worth more than $20, so you did well.

I would get one of these for a bridge:
Rosewood Bridge for Flattop Mandolin (http://elderly.com/accessories/items/MA4.htm)
Ebony Bridge for Flattop Mandolin (http://elderly.com/accessories/items/MA5.htm)

You will have to make sure that you fit the bridge properly to arch of the top.

This tailpiece (http://elderly.com/accessories/items/MA8.htm)would also do.

You can prob buy those from other places but I figure better to buy in one location and might as well get strings there also.

[winkmader]

Thank you both for the replies. I figured that the tuners were worth the $20 alone, but that isn't what drew me to the mandolin. It is not a pretty mandolin, that is for sure, but I was drawn in by the handmade features, and how it shows its age. It's not a Gibson, but it also isn't trying to be. The separation isn't as bad as it looks in the pictures, it is more worn down than separating. f5loar - so do you think it was made around the 1960s, judging by the style?

[Rodney Riley]

If you could get a small mechanics or dentist mirror. Look at the underneath side of the top. A lot of luthiers write stuff there. Could be a date, a name or something else written to suggest when it was made. And unless the neck/fretboard is warped, I would restore it. $100 and the joy of working to get some music out of it would be very rewarding I'm thimking. :)

[Jim Garber]

It may very well be 1960s but there were flattop mandolins made by Regal, Lyon and Healy, Kay, Favilla and Harmony that were made much earlier than that, even back in the 1930s. That fretboard & fretting looks a lot slicker and well made than the rest of the instrument. That is why I think that was taken off a factory-made one.

[JeffD]

Mandolin like that has the potential to make someone very happy for a long time.

[Shelagh Moore]

I agree with what Jim said and would also suggest doing it up using the inexpensive parts that he linked to plus a bit of glue and TLC. You may well end up with an instrument that works and which you will have had the satisfaction of bringing back to life.

[Jesse Harmon]

A few years ago I bought an American Conservatory bowlback in good condition except for the tuners which someone had tried to rectify with some washers etc, from Ace hardware. (wish I would have taken a picture) I took it to a violin repair shop and later it became the mandolin that I started playing with after it spent a little time on the top of the secretary in the kitchen. Not my main mando now, and it still does duty as an art object, although I do play it occasionally and get a special kick out of knowing that I put it back into life again.

[winkmader]

I really appreciate all of the feedback I've gotten. I love the thought of getting this mando playing again. The mando itself is like a piece of art, I love the thought of somebody working on this project years ago. I think I can get it done cheap enough as well. :) Question about the neck: should I try to buff it/sand it/refinish it? (see pictures above) What have people done in terms of reconditioning the fretboard as well? And if you guys could weigh in on whether to get a pickguard, that would be great. Finally, what should I use to attach the tailpiece? Will it come with hardware? I think Phillips screws would look off, but then again, the whole mando itself looks kind of off.

[Jim Garber]

Finally, what should I use to attach the tailpiece? Will it come with hardware? I think Phillips screws would look off, but then again, the whole mando itself looks kind of off.

If you get the one at Elderly (also available from StewMac (http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Bridges,_tailpieces/Mandolin_tailpieces/Scalloped_Mandolin_Tailpiece.html)) it comes with screws:

SCALLOP SHELL MANDOLIN TAILPIECE
Coverless tailpiece for A-style or roundback mandolin, hooks hold loop-end strings. Nickel-plated brass with hole for endpin, 3 attaching screws included.

BTW StewMac does have it cheaper but if you are ordering other things from Elderly that dd up to over $49 you get free shipping. I have also seen this tailpiece sold on eBay.

I also would not worry too much about originality... this is never going to be a seriously valuable instrument. If you want to refinish it or add a pickguard, do so.

[MikeEdgerton]

In the 60's and I'm sure in the 70's and probably later you could go to your local wholesale musical supply distributor and buy pre-fretted fingerboards for just about everything. I know they were in the L.D. Heater catalog in Portland, Oregon along with the tuners, tailpieces, nuts, bridges and just about every other conceivable part. I'm going to hazard a guess that they probably came from the same jobbers that were supplying the Chicago builders or from the Chicago builders themselves as an additional source of revenue. I used to buy mandolin bridges, tuners and nuts and convert Harmony tenors to eight stringed instruments and I had very little idea what I was even creating at the time.

[MikeEdgerton]

BTW, this would look really decent with Waverly tuners and a James tailpiece. :cool:

[winkmader]

thanks Mike! I just bought $300 in hardware. :))

Kidding, of course. I do think there is something to what you said though, I think it looks worse than it would with a tailpiece (any tailpiece) I think when she's clothed it will look nicer - again, not Gibson nice, but it isn't supposed to, that's part of the charm.

[allenhopkins]

If you want a pickguard, you can get self-adhesive black plastic sheets (http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Pickguards/Pickguard_materials/Acoustic_Pickguard_Blanks.html) from Stewart MacDonald for $10. Cut to shape and stick it on.

[Phantoj]

You can get a tailpiece off of ebay for $5 shipped from hong kong.

Also, there are cheap bridges on there, too.

[Jim Garber]

You can get a tailpiece off of ebay for $5 shipped from hong kong.

Also, there are cheap bridges on there, too.

Cheap is right. I would not bother. My experience is that they are not at all decent quality. I had a mandolin with one of those and the hooks all fell off.

[gauze]

I'd get a small mirror and make sure the top has bracing before doing anything else if it is indeed a new top someone put on there and just had it hanging up as an ornamental piece.