I know this instrument will not set pulses racing- it is a pressed top mandolin sold by Wards- my guess being priced about $9 in 1939. It dates from the late 30s when Montgomery Ward was moving away from Gibson to Regal- but still used Kay and possibly other makers as well. Perhaps, Regal made them an offer they could not refuse!
I bought this on ebay- a Cinderella instrument. It looked pretty rough- but apart from the cloud tailpiece cover, it was all there. The instrument's back was coming away, there was a crack in the fingerboard and there was plenty of ugly mess which turned out to be from a neck reglue/reset. I think someone had used a solvent to remove glue squeeze and turned the finish into a gooey mess- that did not prevent him from leaving plenty of glue elsewhere, as well! There were dings and scratches and it was not strung up- with its bridge taped to the top. The photos were extensive and did a very good job of giving a thorough picture of the mandolin and its condition as a project- nothing was hidden about its condition, which was good.. By being unstrung, getting a feel for the neck's geometry was not possible and it appeared that the photos deterred bids and I decided to bid the $50 start and went to bed- and when I got up, I had won! You win some and you....etc!
Anyway, when it arrived, the neck looked straight and it has probably had a refret- plenty of play wear on the neck shows it to have been played extensively. I would imagine that some of the dings were inflicted on it during its period of inactivity- not during its playing life. The headstock is not veneered- just a basic finish with three MOP markers on the board. Sadly, the bridge appeared to have gone walkabout at some stage in the auction- but I decided to do the work- to glue the top of the back down to the end of the neck block along with replacing some missing binding. I cleaned it up all round and removed the worst yucky messed up finish from the heel and the adjacent top of the back. This revealed that the finish was faux- a sort of maple or birch look as the back and the sides are actually mahogany. It is all solid woods and it has no cracks- which is a minor miracle and the top has no distortion. The board is maple with one crack which has pretty much closed up by applying a wood restorer.
I soon got fed up with a strung up mandolin with no bridge when I remembered that I had a tenor guitar bridge that might work on it. It is not adjustable- and needed cutting down- then I had that fun sanding- refitting the bridge, tuning it up, de-tuning etc and sanding a few times but I got there in the end- and the mandolin plays really well. With the extra light gauge strings, there is a 2mm gap at fret 12 under the Gs and it plays fine and intonates well. There is a buzz after fret 13 under the Gs but looking in daylight, I can see that two frets could use filing down to cure that. Mind you, who plays there anyway? I may be becoming a perfectionist- now that is a worry!
This mandolin is very tubby- 10.5 inches wide- quite a fatso. The body is 13 inches long and the scale is 14 inches. Jake Wildwood wrote this in his analysis of one that it: "has a gutsy, big, warm sort of sound which is unusual for an arched-top instrument. It's also a bit deeper and wider than other arched-top instruments which contributes to its power." I do not disagree- it's pretty good and is a worthwhile instrument. I will take it to the next bluegrass pick and see how it holds up against the massed ranks of ear-splitting banjos. I will need to play it a bit more which will probably improve the sound still further as it wakes up.
There you go- not something too exotic- although Regal f hole mandolins are not that numerous. Yes, it is a Wards stripped down version of a more glitzy mandolin model- but it has merit. Sadly, what with shipping prices going north and the authorities in Britain robbing you blind when you buy from the USA, I think my time on Tracy Island running International Cheapo Mandolin Rescue will come to an end. Mind you, if the UK does do a trade deal with the USA, all those outrageous charges for US imports will be removed and it will be Mandobirds Are Go! once again.
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