Strange headstock: homemade, or Harmony/Regal/Kay?

I wasn’t a bidder, but I was curious about this mandolin that just sold on the Goodwill site. It looks a lot like a ‘40s or ‘50s Harmony/Kay/Regal, particularly like the Stella’s, but the back of the headstock isn’t something I’ve ever seen on a production mandolin: https://www.shopgoodwill.com/Item/74864071

Anyone recognize this? I can’t tell if the angle of the photos make everything look a little off, or if it’s maybe homemade. Just curious. The F style tuners might be replacements, or if it’s homemade they might be the “original!”

-M

Interesting. I can say this much: it didn't come from any of the big Chicago manufacturers (Harmony, Kay and Regal), at least not with that headstock on it. I'm tempted to rule out Oscar Schmidt as well. While the headstock looks like some sort of home-made deal, the rest of the instrument looks mass-produced. It looks like a genuine ebony fretboard, as opposed to the dyed pearwood or maple that you often see on instruments like this, but I'm not 100% certain.

If you look closely at the shot that shows the end of the fretboard, it looks like it was painted or died black. There is a blob of black on the face, and a hint of light wood where the fretboard meets the body. But the painted binding and everything else scream mass produced. I never thought it might be a franken-mando!

Over the years I've seen guitars and mandolins like this and I've never figured out who made them. The binding is always painted on and they look more like toys than instruments. Some have Made in the USA stamped inside them.

It looks somewhat akin to an United of NJ instrument. They always had MADE IN USA stamped inside.

The tuners have come from a mandolin that had them recessed into the headstock. This mandolin obviously needed new tuners and somebody shaved the headstock down to accommodate these units which would have had too short tuners posts if this action had not been peformed.