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Thread: Gifted mandolin

  1. #1
    Registered User fflmike's Avatar
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    Default Gifted mandolin

    Does anyone have any information on this mandolin. No name on or in it, LOL. Got it as a gift from a friend. I was part of a salvage find.
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    Last edited by fflmike; Jan-15-2020 at 7:45pm.

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  3. #2
    Registered User fflmike's Avatar
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    Default Re: Gifted mandolin

    Looks good on the wall with my other wall hangers. My main player is a Washburn F hole.

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  5. #3
    Registered User Doug Brock's Avatar
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    Default Re: Gifted mandolin

    I love it! What a cool instrument!
    Doug Brock
    2018 Kimble 2 point (#259), Eastman MD315, Eastman MDA315, some guitars, banjos, and fiddles

  6. #4
    Registered User fflmike's Avatar
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    Default Re: Gifted mandolin

    Me too! Thinking about putting new strings on it and playing it, LOL

  7. #5
    Registered User Mandobart's Avatar
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    Default Re: Gifted mandolin

    Pull off the resonator. The builder's name might be on the dowel rod. That's the case on my 1930's William C. Stahl banjolin.

  8. #6
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Gifted mandolin

    It's not a vintage instrument, it was most likely made in Vietnam and sold on eBay. It's similar to this one. Sold by Antoniotsai or Bruceweiart.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

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  10. #7
    Registered User fflmike's Avatar
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    Default Re: Gifted mandolin

    Thanks. I could tell it was not vintage, and was pretty sure it was not great quality, but it is a great conversation piece and wall hanger. BTW, it is in great shape, LOL.
    Last edited by fflmike; Jan-15-2020 at 9:53pm.

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  12. #8
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Gifted mandolin

    Sounds like the price was right, enjoy it.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

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  14. #9
    Registered User fflmike's Avatar
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    Default Re: Gifted mandolin

    Correct, the price was right, LOL. I still may re-string of and try it out.

  15. #10
    Confused... or?
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    Default Re: Gifted mandolin

    Considering that the neck's heel extends down the side of the "resonator", seeming to be permanently attached, I'm thinking that maybe the resonator section can't be removed ... ??
    - Ed

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  16. #11
    Registered User fflmike's Avatar
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    Default Re: Gifted mandolin

    Quote Originally Posted by EdHanrahan View Post
    Considering that the neck's heel extends down the side of the "resonator", seeming to be permanently attached, I'm thinking that maybe the resonator section can't be removed ... ??
    That is correct. No name anywhere. Used a flashlight to look inside. If it was made in Vietnam, they wanted it to be a secret, LOL. Very pretty wood anyway.

  17. #12
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    Default Re: Gifted mandolin

    If you string it up to play, use really light strings.
    THE WORLD IS A BETTER PLACE JUST FOR YOUR SMILE!

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  19. #13
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Gifted mandolin

    Quote Originally Posted by fflmike View Post
    That is correct. No name anywhere. Used a flashlight to look inside. If it was made in Vietnam, they wanted it to be a secret, LOL. Very pretty wood anyway.
    Even the Chinese sellers didn't advertise the country of origin when these first started showing up.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

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  21. #14
    Registered User fflmike's Avatar
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    Default Re: Gifted mandolin

    Quote Originally Posted by pops1 View Post
    If you string it up to play, use really light strings.
    I figured I would have to. Thanks

  22. #15
    Registered User fflmike's Avatar
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    Default Re: Gifted mandolin

    Quote Originally Posted by MikeEdgerton View Post
    Even the Chinese sellers didn't advertise the country of origin when these first started showing up.
    The designs on it looked like and reminded me of Chinese or Japanese ornate designs. No way to really know for sure, but I will enjoy looking at it even if I don't end up playing it. Thanks for all the input.

  23. #16
    Registered User fflmike's Avatar
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    Default Re: Gifted mandolin

    I ordered a set of Ultra light strings. Just can't resist hearing it. Actually sounds pretty good with dead strings, LOL

  24. #17
    Registered User fflmike's Avatar
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    Default Re: Gifted mandolin

    Got the strings and discovered that there is no way to set the bridge correctly. If I set it with the 12th fret, the bridge is so close to the foot that it is scary and the harmonic are still way off. I can get the harmonics correct with the 11th fret, but then the tuning is all off, LOL. Guess it will only be a wall hanger, which is all I was really hoping for anyway. Fun trying though. Maybe it is not really a mandolin.

  25. #18
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Gifted mandolin

    That's pretty amazing. These things were more for show than go I guess. Believe it or not, prior to WWII and then the Indo-China wars Vietnam was a country that manufactured musical instruments as well as furniture. There is a thread here someplace where someone popped up mandolin made in 1922 when Vietnam was a French colony and it's actually pretty impressive.

    Here it is. I thought it was newer than it was.

    Most of the stuff we've seen coming out in the last 15 or so years had been very blinged up and odd.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

  26. #19
    Registered User fflmike's Avatar
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    Default Re: Gifted mandolin

    My wife likes it on the wall better than the old potato bug that I had up there, so that is a plus at least.

  27. #20
    Registered User fflmike's Avatar
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    Default Re: Gifted mandolin

    Not really sure that "potato bug" is a correct term for the round or gourd back mandolin. Just what my dad used to call them, LOL

  28. #21
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Gifted mandolin

    The common name is bowlback mandolin. The whole Potato Bug and Tater Bug thing has been around for decades. Gibson used the term when disparaging the design and touting their original design.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

  29. #22
    Registered User fflmike's Avatar
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    Default Re: Gifted mandolin

    Good to know. Thanks

  30. #23
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: Gifted mandolin

    A friend had a mandola by those Viet luthiers. Biggest piece of pearl encrusted junk I ever played. Hopefully yours is more recent and that they may have learned more about construction and seasoning wood.
    Jim

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  31. #24
    Mando accumulator allenhopkins's Avatar
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    Default Re: Gifted mandolin

    I'd love to spend a few hours with the people who come up with these designs, and give them to the Vietnamese cottage-industry workers who build them.

    "Hey, why don't we make a mandolin that has a banjo body, but a wood top? And inlay it all over with vines and butterflies?"

    "Who the heck would buy such a thing?"

    "Someone on eBay, for sure. There's a market for any kinda mandolin we build, somewhere."

    And this, of course, proves them right.
    Allen Hopkins
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  32. #25
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Gifted mandolin

    Considering this one isn't even playable it might be interesting. I always say that the day that they figure out how to make a mandolin that actually looks like something that would sell without the bling they will own the bottom end of the industry right or wrong.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

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