Need help to figure what is the year and the company.

[Pocail]

Hi everyone.

Here's my story,

I saw this is the trash and there was a note on it *Take care of it*. That is all! I tried to do my research and I *think* that it's a 1960's mandolin. The pegs were in poor shape and the strings were oxide (Sorry my english writing is so so. I'm a french canadian)

The keys came from Klason Chicago and by the look of the model I can maybe conclude that it's beetween 1964 and 1969 a Harmony maybe?

[allenhopkins]

It does look like a Harmony or a Stella (built by Harmony) from that era. The white pickguard is found on many of those instruments. Kluson tuners were common on many US-made mandolins, as was the "cloud" tailpiece.

Are there any ink stampings inside the instrument? Most Harmonies and Stellas were labeled, but this one apparently not.

[Pocail]

No stamp or sticker inside. I took off the keys and will buy a new set (Probably Ping) and will have a great instrument to learn now (I'm a guitar player, so this will be a good thing to learn)

[lenf12]

You can get a set of new Kluson tuners to replace the old ones. Ping tuners are not such a good choice for this old mandolin...jus' sayin'

Len B.
Clearwater, FL

[Pocail]

You can get a set of new Kluson tuners to replace the old ones. Ping tuners are not such a good choice for this old mandolin...jus' sayin'

Len B.
Clearwater, FL

But at 110$ US for me coming from Montreal, it comes out to 146$ Cnd. That's a lot for tuners isn't it?

[allenhopkins]

But at 110$ US for me coming from Montreal, it comes out to 146$ Cnd. That's a lot for tuners isn't it?

It's probably what the mandolin's worth, in toto.

Do you have an instrument shop that does repairs somewhere near you? Often they'll have a "parts drawer" with tuners, bridges, tailpieces etc. taken off other instruments. Maybe a set of usable Klusons there.

Or, alternatively, clean up the old Klusons with a toothbrush, lubricate with TriFlow, and see if they're still usable. Takes a lot of abuse to permanently disable tuners.