Help identifying my mandolin brand

[JustinP]

Hello,
I'm new to this forum, and I'd appreciate it if some of you can give me more insight about my mandolin.
I bought two mandolins together, one is Rogue rm-100 but the sound is not too good. The second one is vintage mandolin with no printed names that I could identify, but the sound seems much better than the Rogue. The body looks old but much better quality.

It would be nice if I can find out what brand it is, and what wood material it has for top, back, side, and the frets & neck.

Thank you all for your help.

[MikeEdgerton]

There's a video link in this thread on how to post image files.

[JustinP]

Thank you. I was able to upload the images. Please let me know what you think.

[MikeEdgerton]

It was built by Stromberg-Voisinet. They became the Kay company. It's a production mandolin from the late 20's/early 30's. These were made purposely with no markings "for the trade" so that retailer and teachers and schools could add their own labels to the inside and sell them as their own. The top is spruce, the back and sides are open to discussion.

[MikeEdgerton]

If you scan through these images on the Cafe you'll see a few variations and some that are pretty close to yours.

[MikeEdgerton]

Here is one that is a little more ornate than yours on Jake Wildwood's site.

[MikeEdgerton]

It also appears that the tuners might have been replaced. Are there wood filler blocks beneath the tuners on the back?

[JustinP]

It also appears that the tuners might have been replaced. Are there wood filler blocks beneath the tuners on the back?

Thank you Mike for your information. I do not see any wood filler where the tuners are attached, but I do see wood joints on both sides of the tuners as shown in the attached image.

I enjoy playing this instrument more than the laminated plywood Rogue RM-100A. From far away, the rm100 looks appealing to me because of its new glossy look compared to this old vintage one, but upon close-up, it's cheap wood and its sound is not so good.

Do you have any idea how much this vintage mandolin is worth approximately?
Thanks

[allenhopkins]

Yeah, the tuners have been replaced, and the "joints" you see are where blocks of wood have been added to anchor them. Some of the old Stromberg-Voisinet mandolins had quite distinctive larger tuners, and others had tuners inset into the headstock with an engraved metal plate over them on the reverse side.

I see some similar instruments, though without your rejiggered tuners, offered for sale $300-400. I'd call that optimistic. Probably your mandolin's worth about twice what the RM-100 cost, which I assume was around $75.

The Stromberg-Voisinet is solid woods, unlike the laminated Rogue, and probably does sound better. I'm guessing the back and sides are mahogany, but I may be wrong there. If I owned one of these mandolins, I'd enjoy its somewhat ornate silhouette and vintage history; it was never intended to be a high-quality instrument, but like many mid-range instruments of its time, it was decently constructed of good materials.

Enjoy it.

[EdHanrahan]

Are there wood filler blocks beneath the tuners on the back?

Mike, are you suggesting that this may have had the black Bakelite plugs surrounding the tuner pegs & covering the gears as per the name-branded SV's, the ones that also had non-symmetrical headstock?

To the OP: My impression is that SV's sound so good because they're very lightly built. It probably has a 13" scale, rather than the more standard 13 7/8", which nicely reduces string pressure thru the body.

Add'l observation: While lacking the "standard" SV's ornamentation (purfing and carved rear of headstock), the body is surprisingly clean, and clearly never had the SV pickguard that was held on by two guitar bridge pins pressed into the face.

[oinkstrings]

Here's one now on Goodwill.

https://www.shopgoodwill.com/Item/46794253

[MikeEdgerton]

Mike, are you suggesting that this may have had the black Bakelite plugs surrounding the tuner pegs & covering the gears as per the name-branded SV's, the ones that also had non-symmetrical headstock?

Nope, if you look at the others that are similar in the Google search above and on Jake's website you'll see these had a back plate like the old bowlbacks.

[MikeEdgerton]

Here's one now on Goodwill.

https://www.shopgoodwill.com/Item/46794253

That one is in rough shape but more original and a little more ornate than the OP's. These don't bring huge amounts of money. The tailpiece and tuners have some value but I'd be doing a happy dance if I owned it and got anywhere near $200.00.

[fifths]

I had a 40's Kay, and Think it was a cousin to this one. They are prone to neck joint failure and
***YOU MUST USE LIGHT GUAGE STRINGS!!** The whatever (Daddario J74) strings I got at GC were a death sentence for mine.

Maybe this doesn't apply to yours. Maybe it does...enjoy it!

[MikeEdgerton]

Kay had an issue with neck joints on mandolins. Light strings generally killed them as well as heavy. When you pulled them apart the dovetail was so poorly cut that it's surprising they ever got to their original shipping destination with the neck joint intact after they left the factory. It appears they simply poured hide glue into the void and expected that to fill the gaps. If your Kay was indeed from the 40's period you were at the height of the poor workmanship, not that they got all that much better in the 50's or 60's.