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Came across this site. Old posts from a few members asking for info on Ostrander mandolin & violins from 1880’s. I am a descendant & have an E. Ostrander 1885 viola. Anyone looking for Ostrander info can contact me here.

So I recently found this old vintage unmarked banjolin on eBay. I’ve been digging everywhere across the internet just to try and figure out who made it, but I can’t find anything concrete. I have managed to find another one on reverb that looks just like it, but it is also a John Doe. However the person who listed the other one seems to think it might be a Favilla Brothers banjolin. I don’t think they’re FAB banjolins. After doing more digging and extensive research, I finally ran across Oscar Schmidt’s ...

This week on Mandolin Mondays we've got 2019 RockGrass Mandolin Champ Dylan McCarthy from Lyons, Colorado with us to play a beautiful original tune played on his amazing 2019 San Juan F5 #70.




With nearly 20 years experience playing and performing, Dylan's musical background is deep and diverse. He hit a turning point at 18 with his decision to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA in 2012 ...

Check out Tom Kimber from Newcastle, England here with us on Mandolin Mondays this week. Incredible original jig played on his killer Davidson F5 Mandolin.



Tom is a Newcastle Upon-Tyne based multi-instrumentalist who specialises in fretted strings and is most often seen playing mandolin and tenor banjo, as well as tenor guitar and mandola.

Originally from Bath, he reached the final stages ...

I have had my share of tragedy and sadness in life. Not significantly more than most and much less then many. My point is not to get sympathy, but to share a few things I have figured out.


Limited resources due to unforseen life events taught me at a relatively early age that experiences are better things to pursue than possessions. Experiences cannot be stolen by thieves or lost through carelessness, or divorce, or destroyed in a hurricane, or repossessed by the bank.
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Jan Bíba, mandolinist of the Czech bluegrass band Sunny Side, joins us this week on Mandolin Mondays for a tune of his called "One Horse Town" played on his 1993 Gibson A-5L (with a special easter egg appearance of a 2000 Fender FM60E five-string hollow-body Mandocaster at the end).



Jan is the tenor and mandolinist with Sunny Side--a Czech band that plays an authentic interpretation of traditional ...

This week on Mandolin Mondays, UK-based mandolinist Nic Zuppardi of the Shackleton Trio, joins us for a finger-picking original tune played on his beautiful mandolin build by Andrew Mowry in 2012.



Nic has been a mandolin instructor and performer for more than 10 years now--having toured Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Slovenia, France and the UK. His playing has been featured on BBC ...

All the way from Hamburg, Germany, classical mandolinist Florian Rumpf brings us an exciting rendition of "The Rising Sun" by Keizo Ishibashi played on Florian's "Seiffert" soloist mandolin built by Alfred Woll.



Florian Klaus Rumpf decided to put the mandolin at the center of his life from the age of seven. He studied with Professor Caterina Lichtenberg, Valerij Kisseljow, and Silke ...

This week on #mandolinmondays, check out Greg Pauza of the Tenderbellies play this brooding original composition on this self-made, custom electric mandolin.



Greg is a Burlington-based mandolinist. He plays with The Tenderbellies--a string band that seamlessly blends Americana, bluegrass, new grass, jazz and rock to create a performance suitable for any audience. Additionally, he is known for his collaborations with other ...

I have been doing a blog on my website, www.honketyhank.com, for several years. There are three main sections to honketyhank.com:

• My blog, which is basically a more or less monthly post about anything to comes to mind. The blog started life as a "journal" at CaringBridge.com. When it became probable that I would survive my bout with lymphoma, I moved all the journal entries to my own website and I shifted the content away from my health and more about life in general. There is

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