I have this mandolin with no brand on it?

[Layra]

Does anyone know who this was made by, and it's worth?

[bmac]

Someone can correct me if I am wrong and I certainly could be... These were sold to the trade often unmarked or with a paper label unique to the seller, not the manufacturer... Often you will see this, and other basic mandolins sold under several different brand names and they have almost no meaning because the labels were pasted on for the seller not the manufacturer. One of mine, a Lyra was sold under lots of brand names.. This usually indicates that it was not a top of the line mandolin but that too can be problematic.. One of mine, a banjo with no label is a quality instrument made with fine materials meant to last. Yet there is no indication of its manufacturer or retailer anywhere. It likely had a paper label which fell off years ago.

All that being said, that does not mean that you cannot get decent sound out of it. Many fine blues mandolin players for instance played department store mandolins and did just fine... And some players today prefer the funkier appearance and sound of the low end mandolins. If you watch eBay for a while you will see these come up and sell for not a lot of money.

I certainly could be wrong about this but yours seems to have a plywood top (and most llikely back). If so it usually, but not always indicates an inexpensive instrument. My guess is that it is roughly a $150 or a little more mandolin, new.

[MikeEdgerton]

It's one of these. As you can see from this thread they were sold under dozens of brand names. The value, not very much.

[carrasaurus]

I Started a similar thread a while back. I too acquired a mandolin with no markings. I recently had mine looked at by an older picker who's been around a while. His best guess is that mine was made from a kit. He told me that sometimes people will make one out of a kit as a hobby or by folks beginning careers as a luthier. Mine is decent, but seems like the strings are very tight. Kills my fingers.

[MikeEdgerton]

The mandolin in your post has shown up three or four times in the forum in the last few years. I just don't have the time to go back and find them. I don't think it was a kit.

[bmac]

carrasaurus:
Your comment on sore fingers suggests that you need to adjust your nut. Mando strings are terribly tight and unless you are nut is adjusted carefully you will have very painful fingers and your instrument will not sound particulary good.

[carrasaurus]

Thanks for the input bmac. What would be the best technique for removing the nut? I've thought it sits a bit high.

[bmac]

Nuts are cheap and their removal is normally easy. To remove put a wood block on the fretboard with one edge against the nut and then tap the nut towards the tuners... It should pop right off with a light tap... There may be varnish on the backside of the nut so you may want to use a razor blace to cut through the varnish so that popping it off does no damage to the finish on the headstock.

But normally you don't have to remove the nut it to adjust it from above.... If you prefer to adjust it by sanding the base Which will be easier, then remove it. Again frets.com has good info on this. Most new instruments need this unless you purchased from a well established musical instrument store... This is basic maintenance and discount retailers don't do any of this... They don't know how and don't want to learn... So if you buy discount you will almost always have to have your instrument adjusted by a luthier or learn to do it yourself. This has always been the case... I have early 20th C instruments which have never been adjusted for playing. and that is way the player gave up on them because they were painful and never sounded quite right. This is a fact of life and you cannot get around it unless you purchase from an established dealer.