Results 1 to 13 of 13

Thread: Here's an interesting one

  1. #1
    Martin Stillion mrmando's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Seattle
    Posts
    13,087

    Default Here's an interesting one

    Homemade F-style with reverse headstock:

    http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-MAND...YAAOSwImRYQsX~
    Emando.com: More than you wanted to know about electric mandolins.

    Notorious: My Celtic CD--listen & buy!

    Lyon & Healy • Wood • Thormahlen • Andersen • Bacorn • Yanuziello • Fender • National • Gibson • Franke • Fuchs • Aceto • Three Hungry Pit Bulls

  2. #2
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Gainesville, FL
    Posts
    2,664

    Default Re: Here's an interesting one

    Vintage? Now my eyes hurt.

  3. #3
    Mando accumulator allenhopkins's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    Rochester NY 14610
    Posts
    17,378

    Default Re: Here's an interesting one

    Comes with a flight case -- for those who are in flight from the pictures...
    Allen Hopkins
    Gibsn: '54 F5 3pt F2 A-N Custm K1 m'cello
    Natl Triolian Dobro mando
    Victoria b-back Merrill alumnm b-back
    H-O mandolinetto
    Stradolin Vega banjolin
    Sobell'dola Washburn b-back'dola
    Eastmn: 615'dola 805 m'cello
    Flatiron 3K OM

  4. #4
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    Boston, MA
    Posts
    186

    Default Re: Here's an interesting one

    I've always wondered about posts like this. Don't get me wrong, I think that mandolin looks pretty ugly, but isn't our concept of beauty shaped by the Lloyd Loar F-5?

    Had Bill Monroe not discovered the mandolin he did (at least for American musicians) we could have a VERY different opinion of what looks "good". And as a corollary, be obsessed with a completely different type of tone.

    I guess whenever I look at photos of mandolins like this I think "what if that thing sounds 1000 times better than a Loar, but the only reason no ones ever played it is cause it doesn't LOOK like a Loar?"

  5. #5
    Martin Stillion mrmando's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Seattle
    Posts
    13,087

    Default Re: Here's an interesting one

    Well, it won't cost too much to find out. But mandolins like this would never get built if Monroe hadn't made the Loar famous. Perhaps the builder would have made a strange Lyon & Healy knockoff instead.
    Emando.com: More than you wanted to know about electric mandolins.

    Notorious: My Celtic CD--listen & buy!

    Lyon & Healy • Wood • Thormahlen • Andersen • Bacorn • Yanuziello • Fender • National • Gibson • Franke • Fuchs • Aceto • Three Hungry Pit Bulls

  6. #6
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Location
    Va
    Posts
    2,573

    Default Re: Here's an interesting one

    So he reversed the headstock, other than that it looks like many F5copies. How does it sound, that's what is important to me. Must have a F5 police now.

  7. #7
    Registered User jim simpson's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Wheeling, WV
    Posts
    5,505

    Default Re: Here's an interesting one

    The reverse headstock would be the least bothersome thing to me. I just expect home made instruments (or any for that matter) to meet the standard I'd be happy with if I were to build it (or commission a build). The scroll (or lack of) looks poorly executed. This detail alone is probably the one feature that always stands out to me (nothing to do with Bill Monroe and his Lloyd Loar). I notice also the absence of the riser block at the 15th fret. It could have a dovetail joint or not, hard to tell. Does it sound great?, hard to tell. I'd hate to risk it based on the things I see that I don't like.
    Old Hometown, Cabin Fever String Band

  8. #8
    The Amateur Mandolinist Mark Gunter's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2014
    Location
    South of Cleburne, North of Hillsboro, Texas
    Posts
    5,083

    Default Re: Here's an interesting one

    Quote Originally Posted by jim simpson View Post
    The reverse headstock would be the least bothersome thing to me. I just expect home made instruments (or any for that matter) to meet the standard I'd be happy with if I were to build it (or commission a build).
    Check out the neck, neck joint, fingerboard & binding . . . look at the joint following below the binding along the length of the neck. Props to anyone who builds a homemade mandolin and perseveres to the end, but . . . this thing's a mess in my book.

    For posterity:

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	6.jpg 
Views:	118 
Size:	148.1 KB 
ID:	151864 Click image for larger version. 

Name:	5.jpg 
Views:	121 
Size:	155.2 KB 
ID:	151865 Click image for larger version. 

Name:	4.jpg 
Views:	113 
Size:	194.8 KB 
ID:	151866 Click image for larger version. 

Name:	3.jpg 
Views:	111 
Size:	207.0 KB 
ID:	151867 Click image for larger version. 

Name:	2.jpg 
Views:	122 
Size:	140.4 KB 
ID:	151868 Click image for larger version. 

Name:	1.jpg 
Views:	101 
Size:	184.6 KB 
ID:	151869
    WWW.THEAMATEURMANDOLINIST.COM
    ----------------------------------
    "Life is short. Play hard." - AlanN

    ----------------------------------
    HEY! The Cafe has Social Groups, check 'em out. I'm in these groups:
    Newbies Social Group | The Song-A-Week Social
    The Woodshed Study Group | Blues Mando
    - Advice For Mandolin Beginners
    - YouTube Stuff

  9. #9
    mandolin slinger Steve Ostrander's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    Capitol of MI
    Posts
    2,795

    Default Re: Here's an interesting one

    That scroll is on steroids....

  10. #10

    Default Re: Here's an interesting one

    Reverse peghead reminds me of that (thankfully) short-lived 80's fad of putting a reverse peghead on a stratocaster. Also known as putting a left-handed neck on the right-handed body. Really off-putting, IMHO. I think Stevie Ray Vaughan had one of his backup guitars made that way and people picked up on it.

  11. #11

    Default Re: Here's an interesting one

    I'm always impressed when someone tries to do it themselves and I think everyone gets a pass if they fail! This doesn't look all that bad. It isn't in pieces or look completely unplayable and it's pushing 50! 1968? This guy was winging it anyway! There wasn't much information,no books, how to videos and practically no one to even ask how to build a mandolin. I keep thinking one day one of these will pop up and people will dis it and one of the really revered builders will step up and and claim it as their first attempt at making a musical instrument.

  12. The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to barney 59 For This Useful Post:


  13. #12
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Dec 2016
    Location
    Lancashire, UK
    Posts
    14

    Default Re: Here's an interesting one

    Quote Originally Posted by barney 59 View Post
    I think everyone gets a pass if they fail!
    I like this: one of my favourite maxims came from the founder of Judo, Dr. Jigoro Kano, who said "failure is *not* trying".

    Maybe I have my doubts about the finesse of this instrument, but it's better than I'd ever be able to make, even under constant instruction

  14. #13
    Registered User fscotte's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    Zanesville, Ohio
    Posts
    2,490

    Default Re: Here's an interesting one

    One thing is for sure, despite this being ugly, the F5 shape can be beautiful no matter the workmanship. A testament to perfection in design. And nobody, and I mean, nobody has improved or surpassed the beauty of the F5 mandolin design.

Bookmarks

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •