Re: Looking for information about a vintage mandolin!! Photos ins
Look inside the f holes with a flashlight. Any faint numbers?
It's not a Strad-O-Lin genre mandolin. It was produced in Chicago, probably by Kay in the 1940's. I can date it because those tuners without the screws holding the cog on were used circa WWII. I'm a little torn about the manufacturer, it could have been Harmony or Regal as well but I'm going with Kay. The body shape is more Kay like and the headstock shape was used by all three. All three made instruments with no brand name on them "for the trade" so that teachers, music schools, and other retailers and distributors could sell them as their own. This one was fairly nice with the bound fretboard and the tuner bushings but it's still an inexpensive mandolin. It looks like it's in decent shape.
There was also a company in Canada that sold what I believe were unbranded American made mandolins as their own. They tended to dress them up a little. It would also fit what they did.
"It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
--M. Stillion
"Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
--J. Garber
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