'Country of origin'

[NEH57]

Does the panel think - this is Italian ? or is it possibly American ? No makers marks or label, so no one was particularly proud of it even when it was new, or so it would seem.
The 'ebony' ? veneer is inset into the top not a-top of it. Some effort seems to have gone into it's making.

It seems very 'plain' and untypical for an Italian'esque tourist attracting model and three fret dots is positively 'mean' by continental standards but seems to be more akin to what I see on some U.S.A. produced ones ?

[Graham McDonald]

Perhaps even of British manufacture or maybe German. The raised scratchplate was used by the Italian builders such as DeMeglio and Ceccherini whose surviving instruments are found almost entirely in the UK and was copied by several of the British makers like George La Foley and H. Webb, but their head designs were different than your instrument. The solid maple (?) neck would be unusual for an Italian instrument, which were more commonly veneered poplar with a separate V joint attached head. The neck does suggest a German origin, but I am open to argument 8-)
Cheers

[allenhopkins]

Does the four-pin tailpiece indicate Italian origin, or was this common on European instruments?

[brunello97]

I don't think of if it is a "smoking gun", Allen, given the distribution of such parts.

I've seen some on what I'm pretty sure are US made mandolins. I also have a Vinaccian with a Waverly tailpiece

I wouldn't be surprised if the Markneukirchen builders were buying parts from same sources as the Neapolitan folks at one time or another. I've seen a lot of the folded-over one-piece tailpieces on German mandolins as well.

I've also owned some Catanese bowlbacks with one piece maple necks. Hard to be categorical about some of this stuff.

That said, I have seen that same DeMeglian scratchplate in German catalogs, too. This one has a bit of a V neck profile, too, which outside the obvious Roman makers tends to have me pendente verso la Germania.

I'm with Graham on the German attribution. Nur meine zwei pfennig.

Mick

[vic-victor]

99% German. They've used raised wooden scratchplates on many models.

[NEH57]

Ok, thanks team. German it is then and explains the lack of identification. Danke vielmas!