Re: Need an ID on Neapolitan style bowback
The tuners put it after 1900. Chicago was a major manufacturing area for musical instruments with Lyon and Healy, Harmony, Kay (originally Stromberg-Voisenet). and the second Regal Company with the original being in Indianapolis. There were other builders such as Bohmann and the Larson Brothers as well. This is a mandolin that was built "For the trade" with no brand name. That way a music school or teacher or a retailer could sell it as their own brand. They might have labeled or they might not. All of the major Chicago builders built for the trade. The butterfly was a common inlay. The headstock shape was common to a few builders. The inlay around the sound hole and the body are also common items sold by jobbers to multiple builders. A guess would be that it was built by Lyon and Healy as they were the largest builder but it could have been built by a slew of other builders that were not in Chicago. Either way, and identification is going to be a guess.
"It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
--M. Stillion
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