Old resonator mandolin?

[longbow]

Hi. I found this in my parents basement. Its been there for years. They probably got it at an auction or something. I was wondering if you guys could help ID it and maybe give me a value on it? Its in pretty rough shape. I am coming up blank on searching for Vibratone resonator mandolins.

[Mark Gunter]

Yes, tough to find much reference to the Vibratone brand related to mandolins. There are some really knowledgeable people here who may have some idea of the maker and may know something about that brand name. Sometimes they can tell from the hardware or the body style a bit about the maker. I'm not one of them, but I'm always interested in reading what they have to say, and I like the old, cheap instruments like this one. I'm into restoring old cheap instruments for the fun of it.

I like the shield style labels like the one your mandolin "used" to have - and what's left of it is cool. I think that gold leaf and red painted labels were in vogue for some distributors of that period, at any rate, I've seen a few and have an old fiddle with a different distributor's label that's styled as a red and gold shield.

Here's a mandolin bearing a stencil Vibratone label, the blog writer claims it is a Harmony:



https://bluesmandolin.wordpress.com/...tone-1930-49s/

And this guy, scoodledeebebop, claims to have sold a mandolin a year or so back that was labeled as a Vibratone, and it would most likely have been a Kay modeled similarly to one of these, though he didn't post a picture of his Vibratone in his Reddit post. He mentioned that it had this body style that is apparently common to Kay guitars and mandolins of the era.



From Reddit:

I just sold an old Vibratone mandolin with this shape (two-point, flat-top) and headstock. The buyer was a sorta amateur luthier guy who said it was all solid wood which surprised me. It was a pretty thing hanging on the wall but un-playable.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Guitar/comm...d_this_guitar/

I know that none of this really helps you, maybe one of the more knowledgeable experts here can tell you more.

I can tell you that this was a cheap entry level mandolin when it was new, and the Vibratone label mandolins do not seem to have been terribly well known. In its current shape, I'd guess the value at $20 - $50

[MikeEdgerton]

Is there actually a cone behind the resonator or is there just a cover making it a faux resonator.

[MikeEdgerton]

By the way Mark, those are both Kay built instruments.

[MikeEdgerton]

Hi. I found this in my parents basement. Its been there for years. They probably got it at an auction or something. I was wondering if you guys could help ID it and maybe give me a value on it? Its in pretty rough shape. I am coming up blank on searching for Vibratone resonator mandolins.

I'm sure Vibratone was a marketing name. They didn't build it. It looks Regalish to me.

[longbow]

Yes, tough to find much reference to the Vibratone brand related to mandolins. There are some really knowledgeable people here who may have some idea of the maker and may know something about that brand name. Sometimes they can tell from the hardware or the body style a bit about the maker. I'm not one of them, but I'm always interested in reading what they have to say, and I like the old, cheap instruments like this one. I'm into restoring old cheap instruments for the fun of it.

I like the shield style labels like the one your mandolin "used" to have - and what's left of it is cool. I think that gold leaf and red painted labels were in vogue for some distributors of that period, at any rate, I've seen a few and have an old fiddle with a different distributor's label that's styled as a red and gold shield.

Here's a mandolin bearing a stencil Vibratone label, the blog writer claims it is a Harmony:



https://bluesmandolin.wordpress.com/...tone-1930-49s/

And this guy, scoodledeebebop, claims to have sold a mandolin a year or so back that was labeled as a Vibratone, and it would most likely have been a Kay modeled similarly to one of these, though he didn't post a picture of his Vibratone in his Reddit post. He mentioned that it had this body style that is apparently common to Kay guitars and mandolins of the era.



From Reddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Guitar/comm...d_this_guitar/

I know that none of this really helps you, maybe one of the more knowledgeable experts here can tell you more.

I can tell you that this was a cheap entry level mandolin when it was new, and the Vibratone label mandolins do not seem to have been terribly well known. In its current shape, I'd guess the value at $20 - $50

Hey thanks for all the quick info. We are doing an estate auction tonight and I was going to pull it if its something very valuable but looks like its gonna stay in the auction. In the shape its in its probably got more value as wall decoration than anything

[Mark Gunter]

By the way Mark, those are both Kay built instruments.

Thanks for that, Mike, I didn't buy the Harmony designation but didn't really know. Thus, "the blog writer claims it is a Harmony". I'm into these old things and always enjoy reading what you guys have to say about them.