Medalist mandolin

[Chal W.]

I just bought 2 of Medalist mandolins because they looked cool and I never saw one like it. I took one into the local mandolin store and the owner never saw one either. The mandolin's wood is tiger striped and it has what seems to be a resonator on the back with small holes around the top of the resonator, and the top has f-holes. The mandolin is all wood and I think it is solid not ply. It sounds great severel mandolin players I know loved it and they never saw it before either. So what can you guys/gals tell me about these mandolins?

[Jim Garber]

I have seen these around a fair amount. Medalist is one name. I had one with a decal saying Imperial and I have seen a few with decals saying Blue Comet. Most I have seen have had what appeared to be a resonator attached but they are glued together.

The ones I have seen have had that faux tiger-striped plywood bodies. They are fun mandolins, but not high quality. I believe they may have been made by the United Guitar Company in New Jersey who I think had connections to Premier and Strad-O-Lin and even built some plywood electric guitar bodies for D'Angelico.

Jim