Supertone bracing? (?!)

[Dan Gellert]

Just acquired a c.1936 Supertone in what looks to be hardly-ever-played shape. Looks like a pressed, laminated(?) birch(?) top.

A quick check with a mirror shows not one brace anywhere on that top, and no obvious mark where any might have been. Seems odd to me, but I've not had one of that mark before.

Just wondering if this is typical. Were some braced, some not?

[NickR]

Your Supertone was made by Harmony- if it is from 1936. At this time, Harmony made a number of arched top guitars with round sound holes and these were not braced in the typical fashion. The backs just had material glued on them while the tops had thin bands of wood as bracing. I have one oval hole mandolin that I am sure was made by Harmony in about 1937 and that definitely has typical bracing. If your mandolin was made by Harmony it would almost certainly be all solid wood construction although the company did make an archtop guitar in 1934 with a laminated wood body. Perhaps, you can post a photo but I think I know the type you probably have. Here is one of the least expensive examples from about 1936:

I see that Jake Wildwood has doctored one of these! https://jakewildwood.blogspot.com/20...supertone.html


The one in this listing is circa 1940- you can date Supertone instruments from the label inside: https://reverb.com/item/4079724-supe...unburst-w-case

[NickR]

Here is Jake Wildwood's analysis of a PMICO branded example. It is a notch up from those in my previous post- spruce top. What I think is my Harmony mandolin was sold by PMICO and that appears to be all mahogany- with a faux maple finish on the top, sides and back. I bought it for parts but I am afraid it plays really well and sounds very good- you sometimes cannot tell from photos. Jake did an analysis of a more expensive Supertone- I will see if I can find it.

https://jakewildwood.blogspot.com/20...gue-style.html


Here it is- an f hole model so probably unlike your mandolin: https://jakewildwood.blogspot.com/20...-mandolin.html

[NickR]

This is my PMICO mandolin- it has a Perfacktone label inside and Santacilla on the headstock- three brands! It may look like a Regal product but it isn't- there are many subtle differences to a Regal of this era. I know that Oscar Schmidt was making instruments for PMICO branded as Santacilla at this time. However, I have seen Harmony all mahogany mandolins also retailed by this company- the same shape as that one that Jake Wildwood has reviewed. On balance, having a Regal and Oscar Schmidt mandolin from exactly the same era to make comparisons, I have to go with Harmony as the maker.

[Dan Gellert]

Here's my Supertone:

It does have binding around the top, but otherwise of very minimalist construction. The neck block appears to be some kind of fiberboard.

Date stamped S-36

[NickR]

It's a cute little instrument- similar to that PMICO/ Vogue that Jake Wildwood reviewed although yours will be all birch. I bid for one of those crown tailpiece covers last night- did not win! It's good that yours is so original and as you mention- it looks unplayed or certainly well care for by someone.

[Dan Gellert]

Thanks for the info!

It wasn't cared for at all. A barely-perceptible amount of wear on a few of the frets are the only evidence that it was ever played. I'd bet more than I paid for that mandolin that the strings I removed from it were the ones that were put on at the factory. All correctly hitched onto the tuner posts, and wound just twice around-- that had to be done on an assembly line!

I found it interesting that the frets had been leveled, but not crowned.... all plumb flat on the top. Does make it easy to see that the neck has managed to maintain its shape very nicely...

My guess is somebody bought it, quit after a couple of lessons, and threw it under the bed or into the back of the closet where it remained thoroughly neglected for 80 years. Luckily the only damage time seems to have inflicted upon it are a bit of opening in the back seam at the tail block, and the tip of the pickguard gone missing (broken off at the screw due to celluloid shrinkage). The eBay seller I bought it from said it was from an estate sale in far-Northern Michigan.

[NickR]

I hope you play it! Looks like quite a good find- not valuable but in good original condition and now ready to be used. It makes you wonder if the $4.00 or less these were priced at was achieved by not crowning the frets and other labour-saving omissions like top bracing! I am sure you will have fun with it!

[Dan Gellert]

Got her all set up and strung with GHS ultra-lights. Talk about fun!

Though I'm more a fiddler than a mandolin picker (dig that scale!), I often teach mandolin, and my first impression is that this is would be the ideal beginner's instrument. Even with the short scale and low tension (super easy!), it produces an open, musical tone. (Not lots of volume, but that's great for a novice, too, IMO). String a modern entry-level mandolin that lightly, and it will sound thin and pinched, and of course its scale is a real struggle for inexperienced fingers, especially if they're small and/or stiff.

It's certainly going to get played around here, but maybe not much by me.... My wife has fallen in love with it and insists it remain always at the ready on a stand next to her recliner!

[NickR]

I am pleased to read that. Just because it was a cheap instrument does not mean it cannot be used to make good music and as you mention, with a shorter scale it would be easier for a novice to start learning.

[pops1]

I have had a few of these, they are great little mandolins. Let the last one go to a 6 year old that wanted to learn mandolin. When his folks bought him a uke instead he said "it doesn't sound like a mandolin", he knew what he wanted. I let it go then.