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Thread: Any info on this old A style

  1. #1

    Default Any info on this old A style

    All I know is that it was bought used somewhere between 47-49. I'm thinking it was a "catalog" mandolin. The pick guard looks to have been added later. Unfortunately the top is sunk in so it is not really playable. No labels inside
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  2. #2
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: Any info on this old A style

    The shape of the headstock and the body looks like some Harmony mandolins.

    Here are a few in a Polk catalog from 1937. Not exactly yours but similar design.

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    Ah, here, on the left is one that is closer, from a 1935 Grossman catalog.

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  3. #3
    Mando accumulator allenhopkins's Avatar
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    Default Re: Any info on this old A style

    Harmony was my first guess too, from the body shape and the faux wood grain. The "dished" headstock profile and the scalloped tailpiece aren't typical Harmony; if Harmony made it, my guess is that it was made for a particular store or distributor -- or, as you speculate, for a catalog seller.
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    Full Grown and Cussin' brunello97's Avatar
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    Default Re: Any info on this old A style

    Quote Originally Posted by allenhopkins View Post
    ...from the body shape and the faux wood grain...
    Maybe it's the Texan in me coming out, but some of these mandolins remind me more of a slab of meat with grill marks than they do of a piece of wood with grain marks. This one in particular.

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  6. #5
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: Any info on this old A style

    Quote Originally Posted by brunello97 View Post
    Maybe it's the Texan in me coming out, but some of these mandolins remind me more of a slab of meat with grill marks than they do of a piece of wood with grain marks. This one in particular.

    Mick
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    Default Re: Any info on this old A style

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