Mystery Brand Mandolin

[Powertrain]

Hello all.

New guy here. I could use some help identifying this mandolin.

I bought it new back in 1980-1982 from the local music shop. I paid $50. A decent but affordable amount of money for a high school kid, back then.

As you can see in the pictures, it has no brand name on it. If there was a sticker on the headstock, it is long gone. I certainly don't recall one. The sticker on the back reads Made in Korea.

It currently is unplayable due to the top caving in. My plan to fix it will be in another thread. (Of course, I am fixing it purely for sentimental reasons.)

Can any of you fine folks identify it or provide any information on the manufacturer or any history?

Thanks!

[NickR]

This sort of mandolin- which bears some resemblance to the Kay pear-shaped mandolin type (and was sold under the revived Kay brand) was sold under a myriad of brand names and unbranded examples. There have been quite a few threads on this sort of mandolin which was also made in Japan here.

[Jim Garber]

A very common Korean import dating back to the 1980s/1990s. I am sure that Mike E will be posting links to threads about this mandolin type. These were super budget instruments but can be ok to serve the function of a mandolin until you find a real one.

[mrmando]

It will cost more to fix than it is worth.

[rcc56]

That looks like the first mandolin I ever bought. I do not recall whether mine had a name on the peghead or not. I think I paid $40 for it about 1979. I replaced it with a $90 Strad-o-lin 6 or 8 months later, and gave it to a lady friend of mine. 6 months or so later, the top caved in on that one also. I remember Sandra was very upset that she had done something wrong, and I tried to explain to her that it was not her fault.

[MikeEdgerton]

A very common Korean import dating back to the 1980s/1990s. I am sure that Mike E will be posting links to threads about this mandolin type. These were super budget instruments but can be ok to serve the function of a mandolin until you find a real one.

Right you are Jimbo, it's one of these!

[Sue Rieter]

I guess if he's going to take it apart and mess with it himself, it might well be a worthwhile endeavor. I'd do it if I had that mando. You could learn alot, what's to lose? Having someone else work on it, not so much.

Sue

[MikeEdgerton]

The nice thing about this one is we have the original buyer placing it in the very early 80's and the Made in Korea sticker still on it so we know the country of origin. That's more than we usually have.

[Powertrain]

Thanks all. I read the linked thread and am quite happy to have learn a bit about this mandolin. I am still curious to know more about the company and factory that was churning these out.

I forgot to mention that there is no label in visible through the f-holes. I do have the case that came with it; it looks the same as the ones in the main thread.

I am not at all disappointed in the results as I knew it was cheap. Surely not expecting it to be a Gibson. The value to me is strictly sentimental. Would love to make it playable, but it isn't that important. I may hang it on the wall along with my dads horrible, old, junky and beat up guitar (that I never saw him play. I doubt he ever really learned).

For now I plan to attempt fixing it myself *without* taking it apart. I just bought some narrow 5" clamps from Stewart MacDonald with the plan to glue and clamp the brace through the f-holes. It is going to be a bit of a tricky process to clean up the surfaces, slowly pull the top back up to shape with the clamps, then inject glue before final clamp up. Hopefully it will stay together well enough to play at least once.

FWIW, I bought this when I discovered the tuning and fingering where the same as the violin. I played violin from third grade through high school, then not much after that. I never did learn any mandolin cords, i just played fiddle tunes on it as if was a violin. I took up the guitar some years ago, then got the bug to dig out my violin and mandolin. Discovering the mandolin wasn't playable, I bought a Eastman MD305. Just ordered new tuners for it after finding a thread here that suggested a nice replacement. If I get better at it, I will buy a nicer mandolin.

Again, thank you.

[Joseph Baker]

A very common Korean import dating back to the 1980s/1990s. I am sure that Mike E will be posting links to threads about this mandolin type. These were super budget instruments but can be ok to serve the function of a mandolin until you find a real one.

The photos remind me of my 2nd mandolin, bought back in 1978 (1st mandolin was a bowl back)
It was a "Hondo" brand.
I think that the mandolin was sold under a number of brand names.

Joseph Baker

[pops1]

I had something similar when starting out. Adding mandolin to the guitar then. At a gig one night the owner, his birthday, stepped on it bring us a drink. The brace popped loose and the top started to cave in. I took the string tension off, pried it up with a pencil or something, drilled thru the back so a screw would lift the brace and support it. Played it till I got my Gibson and gave it away. It went thru a few owners and more than a decade later it was still playing. Not sure what happened to it, but the simple repair worked well enough to keep it playing for a long time.

[Sue Rieter]

I had something similar when starting out. Adding mandolin to the guitar then. At a gig one night the owner, his birthday, stepped on it bring us a drink. The brace popped loose and the top started to cave in. I took the string tension off, pried it up with a pencil or something, drilled thru the back so a screw would lift the brace and support it. Played it till I got my Gibson and gave it away. It went thru a few owners and more than a decade later it was still playing. Not sure what happened to it, but the simple repair worked well enough to keep it playing for a long time.

That's a good story. A story of resilience
Bodes well for Powertrain's mando.

[Jeff Mando]

I had something similar when starting out. Adding mandolin to the guitar then. At a gig one night the owner, his birthday, stepped on it bring us a drink. The brace popped loose and the top started to cave in. I took the string tension off, pried it up with a pencil or something, drilled thru the back so a screw would lift the brace and support it. Played it till I got my Gibson and gave it away. It went thru a few owners and more than a decade later it was still playing. Not sure what happened to it, but the simple repair worked well enough to keep it playing for a long time.

Here's something similar -- I briefly owned a fairly fancy large-bodied Kay archtop guitar that had some tiny brass screw heads showing on the top down by the tailpiece in the dark portion of the sunburst. Odd, but not something you would notice at first glance. I put my mirror in one of the f-holes and saw that someone secured the loose top braces by drilling a small hole, through the top and into the brace, then drawing the brace tight with a small brass screw. Solved the problem, especially for a cheap guitar without having to remove the back.

[Bill Cameron]

Looks a lot like my old Bentley, which I bought for $90 in 1989 whilst following my policy of sticking to famous name brands that ooze quality.

The Bentley is still quite playable. Lacks the zero fret and body is painted black, not as pretty as the wood examples seen above and in Mike’s related link. Does have the “Made In Korea” sticker. No truss rod of course but the neck and body have held together and stayed functional over the decades. The original adjustable bridge collapsed so I made a full-contact bridge. Pretty decent player for a piece of low-status plywood. Bright sound.

[jimmy powells]

I have seen Maya mandolins like that in the 1980s.

[Bob Buckingham]

Those Pacific rim mandos were lined up on tables and buyers picked lots and names were silk screened on them and they were ship to various distributors. Finding the exact factory would take a lot of digging as they were treated as so many widgets, a commodity made to minimal specs to be sold cheaply. Basically a consumable item with a short life expectancy. I've had students watch them implode in a matter of months. You have done well to have it last this long.

[Powertrain]

Those Pacific rim mandos were lined up on tables and buyers picked lots and names were silk screened on them and they were ship to various distributors. Finding the exact factory would take a lot of digging as they were treated as so many widgets, a commodity made to minimal specs to be sold cheaply. Basically a consumable item with a short life expectancy. I've had students watch them implode in a matter of months. You have done well to have it last this long.

Bob, thanks. I can imagine the scene. Surely the small shop I bought it from in Ohio got them from a distributor who attended an event like that. It is fun seeing other similar mandolins with the various names on the linked threads.

Hard to believe it has been almost 40 years since I bought it. It survived because it sat in a case unused, for most of those years (No kids, no pets, and some luck.)

-Luis

[BTW, I wrote "mandolin cords" in my previous reply, obviously I meant mandolin *chords*.]