You need a picture of the inside edge of the sound hole to have anyone tell you if it's solid. The tuners without screws dates your mandolin to WWII or just after.
You need a picture of the inside edge of the sound hole to have anyone tell you if it's solid. The tuners without screws dates your mandolin to WWII or just after.
"It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
--M. Stillion
"Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
--J. Garber
Thanks for the quick response. The top is definitely solid. Wood grain on the inside and on the edge of the sound holes is obvious. It's the back and sides that don't look it to me. Can't really see any definitive grain at all, even looking at the outside of the back. When did laminate instruments first start popping up? It doesn't matter too much to me because I really like it and it's not a collectors item so I'm not interested in selling it at any point. Just curious about it. I guess if I ever put in an end pin I'd find out about the sides. Now I just have a lace through the gap in the tail piece and it seems to work just fine.
In their 1977 book Guitars, Tom and Mary Anne Evans illustrate (p. 48) a guitar made by Louis Panormo of London in 1822, with a laminated back of rosewood over spruce. Quite a few of the earlier, 17th and 18th century guitars had laminated necks, but this was done with the dual objectives of appearance, and of strengthening the neck against warpage under string tension.
The use of laminated wood as a cost-saving factor probably began in the early 20th century; Washburn mandolins were shown in their 1922 catalog as "3-ply back and sides" for less expensive models. (Pleijsier, Washburn Prewar Instrument Styles, p. 160.)
Not sure when laminated tops were introduced; as far as I know, Gibson didn't make laminated-top mandolins, although Gibson's import brand Epiphone has all-plywood, less expensive mandolins in their line.
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
Kay was selling laminated sides and backs as a feature in the 30's. Lyon and Healy actually used laminated sides on some of their Washburn guitars, again as a feature, that kept them from cracking. I haven't seen any laminated tops on Strad-O-Lin genre mandolins until the later years, the 50's.
"It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
--M. Stillion
"Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
--J. Garber
Interesting that it was once a "feature". Well my top is definitely solid by I am quite confident the rest is laminate.
People in the military, when I was in, were required to mark all of their personal belongings with a driver's license, service number, or social security number just in case it were stolen or someone thought it was government issue. So, perhaps these numbers are for that reason?
Loar LM-370
“The music is not in the notes, but in the silence between.” ― Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Back in the 70's pretty much every police department in every large city in the country suggested you engrave an identifying number like your social security or drivers license number on valuable personal items so they could be identified as yours if they were recovered after being stolen. You see it all the time on eBay. It was the advent of the inexpensive personal engraver market.
https://www.harborfreight.com/search?q=engraver
"It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
--M. Stillion
"Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
--J. Garber
These days if you did that you'd get the double whammy of having your item stolen followed by good old fashioned identity theft.
I think those kluson tuners with cover plates are from 1941- and possibly used into 1942 when metal became scarce. I have never seen them on mandolins except those Stradolins featured at this site. However, the Sivertone catalogue for 1941 actually shows them- the guitar versions which I have on a 1941 Silvertone Crest. They are shown on the top right of this page while the blurb for the Crest further down mentions them in the text.
Further to my above post, this Stradolin which needs work but is currently at a low price has those enclosed Kluson tuners. I will also post this at the ebay discussion thread:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-man...emCondition=10
Brentrup Model 23, Boeh A5 #37, Gibson A Jr., Flatiron 1N, Coombe Classical flattop, Strad-O-Lin
https://www.facebook.com/LauluAika/
https://www.lauluaika.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Longtine-Am...14404553312723
Yes, that bridge is from a Kay. It begs the question: would the original bridge fill the gap without the wooden plinth? If it does, it may be that the top is not too bad but it is often hard to tell without a good shot from the side.
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