Originally Posted by
allenhopkins
Mandolins were certainly very popular among the Italian immigrant community in New York, and there were quite a few builders there around the turn of the 20th century. Some of these luthiers, and their descendants such as John D'Angelico, are still rated among the top builders of American acoustic instruments. At first, they were building for a specific ethnic clientele, who were used to the type of mandolin manufactured in Italy or around the Mediterranean; later, they branched out into other types of instrument, such as arch-top guitars, carved mandolins, banjos etc.
There certainly was an "explosion" of interest in acoustic stringed instruments a century ago, with mandolins, banjos, ukuleles, guitars etc. being manufactured in the US by the hundreds of thousands. In addition there was a proliferation of zither-like oddities, from which only the Autoharp survives. A few years later, resonator-based stringed instruments were invented and developed, and companies like National and Dobro made thousands of those. The early 20th century is by many considered to be the "Golden Age" of American stringed instrument manufacture.
Mannello is more than a footnote to this history, if brief internet research is any indication. A mandolin with 17 ribs, in the general scheme of things, sounds mid-range; some of the top-line instruments had over 30, often "fluted" or scalloped, with white holly strips inlaid between them. But the mother-of-pearl fretboard does indicate a higher-grade instrument. If it's playable and good-sounding, it's a nice addition; and if it still "works" after a century, it must be well-made and decently maintained.
If you post a pic of the bowl, it should be apparent whether it's rosewood or not. If it is, it's almost certainly Brazilian (or at least South American); the wood was readily available around 1900, and the switch to Indian (Asian) rosewood didn't occur until around 1970, when Brazil embargoed export of rosewood logs, to help their domestic milling industry.
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