Thanks-- to rcc56 for the info, to Mike for drawing attention to this, and to Kaye for her clear description.
I'm checked the dimensions of the Bitting Special and am going ahead with the...
Thanks-- to rcc56 for the info, to Mike for drawing attention to this, and to Kaye for her clear description.
I'm checked the dimensions of the Bitting Special and am going ahead with the...
I've been messing around with mandolins since I played (guitar) for a while in a bluegrass band in college. I played electric guitar in bar bands for a while, and then later in life (I'm in my late...
I admire Thile--love his classical playing in particular--and thought this was excellent.
I can see how some would find it pretty baffling, and it made me think of my own little epiphany about...
I've owned several of the Martin flat-backs over the years--a couple of As, an AK, a B, a C and an E, from the teens to the mid--1930s. None of the ones I've owned had a pickguard crack.
The only...
That's the pick guard they used in the first years they made the flat back mandolins, 1914-1916, according to the Mike Longworth book.
The one third from the right, front row on top of the table,...
Just to close the loop on the this thread, I own the EM-150 four-string in question. I had it for sale on consignment at Retrofret for a while, but have had a change of heart (and financial...
There's a very cool motorcycle museum on the Isle of Man, which is a three-hour ferry ride from Dublin in the Irish Sea.
I like both (I'm primarily a bass guitar player and have one each of those for basses).
But if I were going to pick one to offer a variety of customers, I'd go with the black. The tweed kind of...
I own one from the year before. It's a terrific sounding mandolin. One of the loudest Martin flat backs I've played (and I've played and owned more than a few). Mine also has what I'd call a...
I think the reissues may be having some effect on the prices of the vintage ones, but I'm not sure how much. Seems to me they would be most attractive to people who always kind of wanted a Fender...
Here's my KM-400E electic four string:
117040
It just got a new bridge, tailpiece and tuners, and lost its pickguard.
I started a thread on this in the "Four- Five- and Eight-String Electrics"...
I've had this for a while, and just got around to upgrading it. It has a new bridge, courtesy of Steve at Cumberland, plus a new tailpiece and tuners. I'm a four-string fan, and this is one of the...
I'm no an expert, but I believe "Parlor Guitar" generally means a flat-top smaller than "Concert" size, in early-20th century terms. (Martin's "concert" size was the "0," which had a 13 1/2" lower...
I owned a 2-30 for a while back in the 1990s -- one that had been built in the late 30s. An absolutely beautiful example of Martin craftsmanship. I agree with the other comments on the tone -- very...
There's a long entry on Mannello in "American Musical Instruments in the Metropolitan Museum of Art"
By Laurence Libin, which is viewable on Google books. (Hope this link works.)...
Two possibilities that I know of might fit your criteria:
Earnest Instruments' Swamp Cat111833
and Paul Schwab's 111834
These both feature 14.5-inch scales on the four strings as well as the...
Mike Longworth's "Martin Guitars: A History," has the production totals for mandolins year by year. He shows 51 BKs produced in 1921, and six in 1925. So it's a pretty rare bird. In contrast, they...