Re: Please help me identify my mandolin
This is a curious one.... I disagree with our good friend, Allen. I don't think this is a Ditson / Vega made mandolin. Some things look very Italian (double row of inlay around the top) and the curved treatment of the fretboard as it meets the soundhole. The later is rarely seen on US mandolins--and when it is it seems to be from the very ex-pat Italian hands.
The tuners are worm-over....which is rarely seen on Ditsons or Vegas, etc. Ditson tended to spec inset tuners. Okay, they could have been somehow flipped. But they look like Italian tuners--with a rivet rather than a screw. The general countenance--dark rosewood bowl, general shape, unveneered neck, etc. certainly do look American, as Allen no doubt sussed.
I think the bridge is simply mislocated rather than being the "Vega (aka Ditson) smoking gun". Lord help me, it is not a Larson. So please, please don't go there....
I agree with Allen, it doesn't look like any of the Ruffinis I have in my files which feature many iconic Neapolitan features..in particular the very thin fretboard and classic body shape.
Like Quasimodo, I have a hunch in that it is US made by a very recently arrived Italian mandolin maker--maybe working in someone else's shop. Of course, I'm often, okay, very often, wrong. I'd be interested in what my esteemed colleagues think.
Mick
Ever tried, ever failed? No matter. Try again, fail again. Fail better.--Samuel Beckett
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