Nice of them to allow the 2 guys on the middle row to have bowlbacks...one might be a mandola?
I wonder how many of those instruments are still around. I’m sure none of the people are.
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Is that a snake head piccolo or what do you call them?
Ever tried, ever failed? No matter. Try again, fail again. Fail better.--Samuel Beckett
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This photo/postcard is dated 1926 and was sent from Latvia ..but no certainty when the photo was actually taken..
Any chance these Snakeheads pre-date Gibson's in 1922 ?
and very impressive that the entire Gibson mandolin line was reproduced ...
Love the Piccolo
mandotool: what was written (if anything) on the back of this postcard? Was it a photo postcard, not printed by a company? Do all these carved top instruments look like Gibsons? For some reason some of the snakehead headstocks look wrongly proportioned. I am not so sure about the mandocello—it looks larger than a Gibson and the mandobasses are obviously not Gibsons.
BTW there is a thread we started years ago with lot so similar old photos. Antique Photo of a Mandolin of the Day.
Jim
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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
They do not all look like Gibson’s, soundholes in some are too round not the more conventional oval shape of the factory at that time. Some might be but, I’m pretty sure the bulk are not, very cool picture though.
Timothy F. Lewis
"If brains was lard, that boy couldn't grease a very big skillet" J.D. Clampett
Yes I love looking at any of these old mandolin orchestra pix! Way neat, the instruments used, the cloths, the era! Its just the whole package from a time in history that would've been IT if you were a musician.
Oh I know they're still around David its just the old history particulars I love, the eras, all the old instruments. Its just from a different time and place, simpler but yet harder life compared to our run, run fast crazy paced life!
Ever tried, ever failed? No matter. Try again, fail again. Fail better.--Samuel Beckett
______________________
'05 Cuisinart Toaster
'93 Chuck Taylor lowtops
'12 Stetson Open Road
'06 Bialetti expresso maker
'14 Irish Linen Ramon Puig
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
I worked with a Latvian architect years ago on a project in Central Texas. Or maybe he was Estonian. Can't remember exactly. He didn't wear a turban to work, but would have rocked it if he did. His name was Eff or Ezz or something like that. Huge guy. Affable.
Still fascinated by that Garter-Snake-head piccolo ("mazs" in Latvian, apparently) mando.
Kim Wilson from the Fabulous T-Birds used to sport a turban around town. Saw him once in the old (original) Whole Foods on Lamar in the produce section just so lidded. But if you even thought of the word "clown" around him you'd get a fist in the schnoz in a NY minute.
I would have thought the bowlback guys were the orķestra klouni.
Mick
Ever tried, ever failed? No matter. Try again, fail again. Fail better.--Samuel Beckett
______________________
'05 Cuisinart Toaster
'93 Chuck Taylor lowtops
'12 Stetson Open Road
'06 Bialetti expresso maker
'14 Irish Linen Ramon Puig
The interesting question is who made them, as most of them look as if they may well have come from the same source? If dated a few years later I might suspect the Schonbach region in Western Czechoslovakia who made a lot of carved Gibsonesque mandolins in the 30s, but I have never been able to establish when they started to make carved mandolins.
Cheers
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I speak a bit of Latvian. The back of card says: Ligo (Summer solstice) celebrations 23. 6.1926. Ziemelblazma (Northern Lights - it is a place in Riga) Mandolin Orchestra of Janis Melnalksnis.
Photo from "Kristall" German record label catalogue - There are 10 records listed in the catalogue by that orchestra. Chances they can be found and heard. There are many old records enthusiasts around.
In 1937 there are mentionings of Janis Melnalksnis Jazz Orchestra in Riga's papers, so the mandolin orchestra evolved into a Jazz version, by that time, by the look of it. Or Janis went his own way perhaps.
I have posted the questions about this orchestra at the Russian-speaking Riga forum. There are some real enthusiasts that know a lot about Riga's history. Hope we'll get more info on these guys.
Last edited by vic-victor; Dec-09-2018 at 6:37am.
Thank you Vic-Victor for the translation and your research..
My resources have turned up just the photos/postcards so far...
I'll post better quality scans of the photos when i get them..
Please do let us know what else you can find out..
Thomas Quinn
I don't see a Gibson in the bunch. No doubt some serious copying of Gibson mandolin went on back in the 20's. Those holes are round not oval.
I have never found any catalogues suggesting that there were any European music companies producing carved top mandolins before the 30s, and even then it seemed to be a only few in the Schonbach region, who were mainly building them for export to the UK. The builders only a few miles away in Markneukirchen made only flat or canted soundboard mandolins with variously bowl, flat or the 'swelled' Portuguese backs. The instruments in the photos certainly look carved, but the Gibson style bodies with round soundholes are a mystery. There are a couple of Czech websites with archtop guitar collections and the folks who have those sent me some translated notes of the Schonbach builders. There seem to be quite a few collectors of older European archtop guitars out there and some fascinating websites.
Cheers
http://www.mcdonaldstrings.com
The Mandolin Project on building mandolins
The Mandolin-a history
The Ukulele on building ukuleles
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