Jammin' south of the river
'20 Gibson A-2
Stromberg-Voisinet Tenor Guitar
Penny Whistle
My albums: http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/album.php?u=7616
Jim
My Stream on Soundcloud
19th Century Tunes
Playing lately:
1924 Gibson A4 - 2018 Campanella A-5 - 2007 Brentrup A4C - 1915 Frank Merwin Ashley violin - Huss & Dalton DS - 1923 Gibson A2 black snakehead - '83 Flatiron A5-2 - 1939 Gibson L-00 - 1936 Epiphone Deluxe - 1928 Gibson L-5 - ca. 1890s Fairbanks Senator Banjo - ca. 1923 Vega Style M tenor banjo - ca. 1920 Weymann Style 25 Mandolin-Banjo - National RM-1
If I look out my office window I can literally see the old Bacon factory . . . but I have never seen one of the mandolins in this area.
Strange.
Jim
My Stream on Soundcloud
19th Century Tunes
Playing lately:
1924 Gibson A4 - 2018 Campanella A-5 - 2007 Brentrup A4C - 1915 Frank Merwin Ashley violin - Huss & Dalton DS - 1923 Gibson A2 black snakehead - '83 Flatiron A5-2 - 1939 Gibson L-00 - 1936 Epiphone Deluxe - 1928 Gibson L-5 - ca. 1890s Fairbanks Senator Banjo - ca. 1923 Vega Style M tenor banjo - ca. 1920 Weymann Style 25 Mandolin-Banjo - National RM-1
Jim
My Stream on Soundcloud
19th Century Tunes
Playing lately:
1924 Gibson A4 - 2018 Campanella A-5 - 2007 Brentrup A4C - 1915 Frank Merwin Ashley violin - Huss & Dalton DS - 1923 Gibson A2 black snakehead - '83 Flatiron A5-2 - 1939 Gibson L-00 - 1936 Epiphone Deluxe - 1928 Gibson L-5 - ca. 1890s Fairbanks Senator Banjo - ca. 1923 Vega Style M tenor banjo - ca. 1920 Weymann Style 25 Mandolin-Banjo - National RM-1
Here is a shot of the front of the building, as it stands today:
Some additional background on what Willkamm contributed in Posts #4 and 5:
The address is now a restaurant. If you go around to the back of the building there are some basement offices that may be a part of the original Bacon factory. The reason I say 'may' is because the site sits right on the edge of the Thames River - and back in 1938 a horrendous hurricane blew through this area, and almost all of New England, that utterly destroyed everything in its path - and just about anything that sat along the Thames River in the town of Groton was practically annihilated. I can't say what remains of the original building, but there is a good chance that at least some of it was destroyed, 80 years ago.
Mike - that restaurant uses the same address as the Bacon factory, but it's a few buildings down from the original factory - which does survive, but is basically now a barn used for storage by the owners of the house out front. There are pics of it here.
www.OldFrets.com: the obscure side of vintage instruments.
Well, you learn something new everyday. I guess it shouldn't surprise me that the town actually switched addresses - this is the same town that, until a few years ago, had multiple streets with the same names.
THANKS for the info - I will have to drive by later today and check it out . . . and check the local pawn shops again to see if any Bacon's have shown up!
Last edited by Gibson John; Apr-27-2018 at 5:19pm.
This Bacon Belmont mandolin was just listed but doesn’t look like any other Bacon model. I’m wondering if it was one that was produced after Bacon had sold out to Gretsch in 1939?
Dave Bradford, it appears to be very similar to a Harmony Monterey- I have one- sold as an S S Stewart that is from 1938 or 1939- the f holes are different as are the tuners which suggest this mandolin is late 1940s or even 1950s. The alternative, is a Stra-O-Lin of the same era- late 40s. Here is a Harmony Monterey which I think it is now for sure:
https://reverb.com/au/item/3748569-h...-h417-mandolin
Last edited by NickR; Oct-19-2020 at 10:15am.
Nice to resurrect this older thread. As far as who made these my guess is that either Bacon brought someone or a few folks into the factory to tool up and make the few of these we find. Or else they contracted out to some unknown luthier(s). They are nicely made but don't really resemble any other makers even in terms of the minute details. Anyway, another mystery we may never find out.
They seem much rarer than Lyon & Healy especially the Artist model. Many years ago I was at a party in NJ and was playing mine and Stan Jay of Mandolin Brothers was there and he came up to me out of breath and said, "What is that? I have never seen one of those."
Jim
My Stream on Soundcloud
19th Century Tunes
Playing lately:
1924 Gibson A4 - 2018 Campanella A-5 - 2007 Brentrup A4C - 1915 Frank Merwin Ashley violin - Huss & Dalton DS - 1923 Gibson A2 black snakehead - '83 Flatiron A5-2 - 1939 Gibson L-00 - 1936 Epiphone Deluxe - 1928 Gibson L-5 - ca. 1890s Fairbanks Senator Banjo - ca. 1923 Vega Style M tenor banjo - ca. 1920 Weymann Style 25 Mandolin-Banjo - National RM-1
Looking again at that Bacon Belmont on eBay, all the metal fittings are secured with Phillips screws. I don't know when Harmony went over to Phillips screws but I assume it was well into the 1960s making this mandolin much newer than I had first thought.
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