Mystery Bowl-back Mandolin

[alerdale]

Hello fellow musicians,

I'm trying to find more information about his mandolin. The owner of it wants to get an approximate value and possibly sell it.

Unfortunately, there are no markings anywhere that I can find. Nothing inside, and nothing on the head.

Any information you can provide will be very helpful.

Thank you!
Alerdale

[MikeEdgerton]

American made, most likely in Chicago, probably by Lyon & Healy or Harmony, lower end model as shown by the number of stays on the back. They routinely fail to sell on eBay weekly. If you can get anything near $150.00 for it do a happy dance. It was built circa 1900, a bit before or after.

Very few bowlback mandolins bring a high price and those would be marked and deluxe. Many thousands were manufactured and survive, some in better shape than others.

[alerdale]

Thank you for the response. I appreciate it.

[DavidKOS]

American made, most likely in Chicago, probably by Lyon & Healy or Harmony, lower end model as shown by the number of stays on the back. They routinely fail to sell on eBay weekly. If you can get anything near $150.00 for it do a happy dance. It was built circa 1900, a bit before or after.

Very few bowlback mandolins bring a high price and those would be marked and deluxe. Many thousands were manufactured and survive, some in better shape than others.

Many if not most of those old basic bowlbacks have been damaged by having been strung with heavy strings, and the action is too high.

If yours is still playable, it may be of interest but as Mike says, these things do not sell for a lot.


BTW, that looks a lot like one of my old bowlbacks!

[LadysSolo]

Most of my bowlbacks did not come with original cases - that case looks a little rough, but may add a bit of value. Maybe $25 or so. Maybe string it up, keep it and learn to play it? (Will need ultralight strings to avoid damaging the instrument.)

[Jim Garber]

American made, most likely in Chicago, probably by Lyon & Healy or Harmony, lower end model as shown by the number of stays on the back. They routinely fail to sell on eBay weekly. If you can get anything near $150.00 for it do a happy dance. It was built circa 1900, a bit before or after.

Very few bowlback mandolins bring a high price and those would be marked and deluxe. Many thousands were manufactured and survive, some in better shape than others.

I think we need a special app that will automatically insert Mike's info above. Hmmmm... maybe we can add it to the buttons above the post. It could be called the Mike Edgerton button. Perhaps another one that says, "Probably not a Larson-made mandolin."

[EdHanrahan]

FWIW, the lowest-left photo, that mostly shows the side of the body, also shows that the current (5 out of 8) strings are relatively close to but probably not touching the fretboard, which can be a good sign. (Comparing the string height to the depths of the fret tangs, they're way lower than on the typical warped old bowlback.) There's at least some hope that, when strung up with new & very-light gauge strings (and after lubing/rehabbing the tuners), it may be reasonably playable.

For good measure: http://www.lutherie.net/tuner.maintenance.html

[brunello97]

I think we need a special app that will automatically insert Mike's info above. Hmmmm... maybe we can add it to the buttons above the post. It could be called the Mike Edgerton button. Perhaps another one that says, "Probably not a Larson-made mandolin."

Maybe that button should open up a drop down menu with selections, Jim, since around here "Probably not a Larson mandolin" means "Possibly is a Larson mandolin" which also means "It could be a Larson mandolin" which also means "You can't prove it's not a Larson mandolin!" which means "Well, I think it's a Larson mandolin."

It would save a lot of time.

Mick

[Jim Garber]

Maybe that button should open up a drop down menu with selections, Jim, since around here "Probably not a Larson mandolin" means "Possibly is a Larson mandolin" which also means "It could be a Larson mandolin" which also means "You can't prove it's not a Larson mandolin!" which means "Well, I think it's a Larson mandolin."

It would save a lot of time.

Mick

There are some folks on the Cafe I would call larsonists.

[brunello97]

There are some folks on the Cafe I would call larsonists.

I know that's right, J. And some folks are "Possible Larsonists". Others exhibit "Larsonist traits".
Some sort of resemble folks who look somewhat like Larsonists who were identified in a book, once upon a time.

Mick