Stradolin markings

[Prophetsnake]

A friend has asked me to get a Stradolin he's bought into playing condition, which I more or less have done.

It's an all-genuine-plywood model with a 'burst, fake flame, and the stencil type headstock logo.

I'd like to be able give him a date, or at least a period for this thing, and I initially thought that the cheaper construction compared to the moulded solid wood examples I've seen and the cheap-o logo would indicate the company's declining fortunes, but now I'm thinking the opposite - that this is an early, possibly thirties example, and that they improved them over the years.

There's a pencilled-in marking inside which appears to be 046g , or 0469.

Any ideas anyone?

Thank you for taking the time to have a look.

[Dave Sheets]

Thanks for posting this, I'm quite fond of stradolins and it's neat to see more examples. I have one with the same headstock stencil and tailpiece, but the top of the headstock has a more pronounced curve and the top is carved with a natural finish instead of the 'burst. The overall construction looks very much like this one though. I can't find any numbers on it at all. Mine has a surprisingly appealing sound to it.

I hope other folks can comment on this mandolin, they are such a great mysterious bit of history.

[MikeEdgerton]

All of the logos were stenciled, this model was a bit more rudimentary than the others. Take a look inside and see if the top is really ply or if they simply reinforced the f holes with a layer of veneer. The fake flame was standard on many makers of that era.

There are nice examples up through the forties. In the fifties you started seeing laminated tops as standard but they are usually a weird mahogany type wood. Keep in mind that this was a brand name owned by a known distributor that could have had them made by more than one manufacturer. They also spec'd the mandolin based on what they thought was selling at the time. This wasn't Gibson or Martin type thinking.

More if anyone is interested can be found here.

[Prophetsnake]

Thanks Dave and Mike,

Sure, they were all stenciled, I just meant that this one had that obvious sort of Government Issue type lettering. It's definitely ply. As well as the sound holes, there's a good bit of finish worn off around the rim and it's pretty plain to see. So, later then, eh?

I have my own Strad-o-lin and it has a solid top that appears to have been pressed into an arch and the back and sides also seem to be solid, flamed maple! I think this because the flame on the outside of the back is quite nice and appears to be mirrored in the inside. I have some pics of it up in the Strad-O-Lin group. It sounds superb -better than anything else I have played with a price tag of less than three grand.

I've attached a few pics of this mandolin. I have no idea as to date, but it has a mid fifties kind of vibe.

This first one, the I've posted the pics of above, has a couple of issues, the main one being the cross brace is loose at one end. The top has sunken a little on this account. The neck has a tiny bow , and has probably pulled up a bit as well, which coincidentally matches the lowered bridge. The frets have had the living daylights played out of them, so I simply levelled them and, voila, an almost perfect action you can play right up the neck. It sounds great - kinda funky, bluesy rattly thing going on.

I'm just going to leave it like that, as major surgery would be required to sort the neck and brace. If it was a better quality instrument, Id do it, but I'll just have the owner keep an eye on it, and if the brace gets worse I'll get into it then.

[Randi Gormley]

prophetsnake, your personal strad is identical to mine, which was built in 1952 (the date was stamped inside on the back up above one of the f-holes under the fretboard. i saw it with a flashlight but it had to be at a specific angle). Yours may be a sister instrument -- i think i posted mine in the strad group, but it would be way near the beginning.

[Prophetsnake]

prophetsnake, your personal strad is identical to mine, which was built in 1952 (the date was stamped inside on the back up above one of the f-holes under the fretboard. i saw it with a flashlight but it had to be at a specific angle). Yours may be a sister instrument -- i think i posted mine in the strad group, but it would be way near the beginning.

Hey Randi,

Thanks for that. One mystery solved anyhow, I had a look and I can just see that there are some stamped figures, but that's all. I might have better luck in daylight.

Poking around in there, I'm even more convinced that the back is a solid piece of Maple. The flame appears to match the flame on the outside and you'd have to wonder why they would glue two pieces of maple together with the grain running the same direction. I'd assume the sides are the same, but whatever it's made of, they got it right.


Jeff

[Prophetsnake]

One more question Randi; does yours have an asymmetric neck? On mine, the bass side is kinda 'U' shaped, almost square near the fingerboard and becoming more rounded on the treble side. It would make sense as it follows the contour of the hand, but I wonder if it was accident or design.

[Randi Gormley]

don't know if this will help, I may have to do some more digging for old photos or take some new ones .... i added these after i had new tuners installed (I'd already replaced the adjustable bridge with a solid one)

[Prophetsnake]

don't know if this will help, I may have to do some more digging for old photos or take some new ones .... i added these after i had new tuners installed (I'd already replaced the adjustable bridge with a solid one)

Lovely.

I left my tuners on, but they are pretty stiff in spots. Still, you can tune it and it stays there.

Did you hear much difference with the solid bridge?

[Randi Gormley]

TBH, I don't recall whether there was any difference in sound. I had a neck reset shortly before that and when I took it to a luthier to check the intonation, it came back with a solid bridge he'd made for it and sounded wonderful so I never thought about it again! It was my main gigging instrument for years and I never thought seriously of replacing it despite trying out many instruments with higher price tags. Alas, arthritis in my fretting hand meant I had to move to a mandolin with a slimmer neck profile.

[Prophetsnake]

I ended up going a bit deeper into this mandolin - the dark coloured, G.I. stencilled one in the first post. I took the back off and found a date within. Sep 16 1939, done with what appears to be one of those shipping clerk stamps.

The back had a few loose spots that weren't going to get any better, and crucially one big one along the tailpiece. Also, the top had sunk just a little due to the cross brace being unattached on the bass side. I thought the glue had let go, but it appears that there was never any glue at all along about a two inch long portion of the brace.
The neck joint was solid, but there was a gap on one side of the dovetail about an inch deep and over 1/8 inch wide! I filled that with a piece of mahogany. The portion of the neck's dovetail hidden by the back was uneven and only touched the back over about 1/2 of its area or less, the remainder being filled with glue.

In spite of the dubious workmanship, it all seems pretty solid and a bit of Titebond in the right places should keep it going for another 80 years.

[MikeEdgerton]

What about the wood, was it ply?

[Prophetsnake]

What about the wood, was it ply?

Oh yes, all ply. But I could see that the instant I first picked up the instrument. The finish is worn away around the edges and it's quite easy to see the laminations there and in the F holes as well.

Surprisingly, the back rings pretty clearly when it's tapped. It doesn't sound like a nice piece of mahogany or maple, but it does ring nicely.

[MikeEdgerton]

F holes are a bit dicey when making that determination as many builders would laminate an extra piece around the segmented holes. Did it have the common Strad-O-Lin clamp mark on the neck block?

https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/s...-a-strad-o-lin

[Prophetsnake]

F holes are a bit dicey when making that determination as many builders would laminate an extra piece around the segmented holes. Did it have the common Strad-O-Lin clamp mark on the neck block?

https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/s...-a-strad-o-lin

Yep, the clamp mark is there just the same. I've never seen a Stradolin with an oval hle before. Interesting.
I knew about the doubler on the F-hole. My own Stradolin has one of those and I know it's got a solid, pressed top.

Strange that there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to what materials they used from one year to the next.

By the way, I had a closer look at the stamped date on the back. I think it's actually a '38, not a '39, in case anyone absolutely needs to know!