Are there any vintage octave mandolins?

[Roman Pekar]

I'm thinking about adding OM to my instruments and I wonder - are there any option of finding an old instrument, somewhere around Loar Era? Were octave mandolins actually made at that period of time?

[allenhopkins]

Good question; the octave mandolin was not a completely unknown instrument. This 2010 thread shows a 1904 Gibson OM, supposedly the only one known to survive out of five that Gibson made. However, the mandocello was the "standard" low-range mandolin family instrument of the period, and not too many of them were made, either.

There are a number of long-neck bowl-back eight-string instruments from the early 20th century, often called "bouzoukis" although the general run of Greek bouzoukis had three double courses, rather than four, at the time. Here's one by Stathopoulo, progenitor of Epiphone (his son Epimanondas was the "Epi" in "Epiphone"). One of these could be strung as an OM.

I have a Regal Octofone from the 1930's, that I have strung as an OM. Might be the closest think you'll find, and they keep cropping up on eBay and elsewhere. Jake Wildwood's description of one he had at Antebellum Instruments; Octofones have got their drawbacks -- very lightly built, cheap tuners, prone to neck problems (especially if over-strung), but they're good-sounding and fun to fool around with. They're also quite affordable, though when you realize they listed for under $20 when new, paying $400 for one may seem quite inflationary.

[Jim Hilburn]

To me the modern octave mandolin, at least the gbom arch tops are a result of the collaboration of Tim O'Brien and Mike Kemnitzer.
I saw Tim and sister Mollie play in Boulder in the late 80s and Tim was playing a Flatiron Pancake bouzouki which I think but not sure was on "Take me Back, their first album together, although I'm not sure of the timeline and he might have had the Nugget, but I think they were playing in support of the album.
I also have an old poster of Ophelia Swing Band with Tim playing a Gibson arch top guitar. He discovered how well the bouzouki worked with his music and realized the potential of combining it with the archtop body. It wasn't a new idea after all since Gibson had made mandocellos.

[Roman Pekar]

wow, thanks guys, this is some serious information you gave me here! I probably should mention that I think about OM for irish music.
At the moment I'm thinking about trying to find some of these old Fylde mandolas, like this one https://www.pinterest.com/pin/376895062535234812/
I've read that those are nice for folk music, and probably I could find one of those somewhere in Europe too

[Jim Hilburn]

I built my first octave because of a band I was in that did some Celtic based stuff, and I ended up making 5 more. But in retrospect an Irish teardrop style instrument would have possibly been a better choice in a band with a guitar. The rich deep sound of the archtop is great for when Tim plays solo but it occupies some of the same sonic space as a guitar.

[mrmando]

Lots of bowlback Italian instruments from the turn of the century. Not many flatback or carved, however.

[August Watters]

Lots of bowlback Italian instruments from the turn of the century. Not many flatback or carved, however.

Yes - the bowlback mandola in GDAE tuning was/is the standard Italian orchestral instrument. Easy to find in Italy; although you see them sometimes here in the USA I'm surprised we don't see them more often. None of the American builders seems to have gone into serious production of Italian-style mandolas. Too bad for us!

Occasionally you see vintage German flatback instruments. The terminology can be confusing since both the Germans and Italians usually use "mandola" to refer to an instrument with the older GDAE tuning.

[jdsobol]

Larson Brothers made a few octave mandolins back in the day, but they are nearly as rare as Gibson OMs. One possible option is to string your mandocello with medium-gauge mandola strings and tune it FCGD (a whole tone below OM tuning), then capo it at the 2nd fret. What you'll have is an OM with roughly a 22" scale, and they can sound and play very nicely that way. Never tried a Gibson in that set-up, but I have a 1910s Leland Brilliantone mandocello, possibly Larson made and possibly a very nice early Regal (experts differ), which rocks out as an OM c2.
Joseph

QUOTE=allenhopkins;1427036]Good question; the octave mandolin was not a completely unknown instrument. This 2010 thread shows a 1904 Gibson OM, supposedly the only one known to survive out of five that Gibson made. However, the mandocello was the "standard" low-range mandolin family instrument of the period, and not too many of them were made, either.

There are a number of long-neck bowl-back eight-string instruments from the early 20th century, often called "bouzoukis" although the general run of Greek bouzoukis had three double courses, rather than four, at the time. Here's one by Stathopoulo, progenitor of Epiphone (his son Epimanondas was the "Epi" in "Epiphone"). One of these could be strung as an OM.

I have a Regal Octofone from the 1930's, that I have strung as an OM. Might be the closest think you'll find, and they keep cropping up on eBay and elsewhere. Jake Wildwood's description of one he had at Antebellum Instruments; Octofones have got their drawbacks -- very lightly built, cheap tuners, prone to neck problems (especially if over-strung), but they're good-sounding and fun to fool around with. They're also quite affordable, though when you realize they listed for under $20 when new, paying $400 for one may seem quite inflationary.[/QUOTE]

[Tavy]

Also let's not forget the German Waldzither's, flat back and often tuned (these days anyway) as an OM, although they would have been in open tunings originally.