https://imgur.com/a/ZGAUVtZ
Any help would be appreciated. I just bought this and can't find anything on it, or even anything about this shape.
Thanks!
https://imgur.com/a/ZGAUVtZ
Any help would be appreciated. I just bought this and can't find anything on it, or even anything about this shape.
Thanks!
For posterity:
"It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
--M. Stillion
"Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
--J. Garber
To me. By the looks of the carved back. It looks like it could be German made. Like the Roger guitars back in the day. That looks pretty cool.
Doesn’t look that old. Possibly an amateur build by a competent woodworker? The neck is too short for the body. The bridge looks to be in the right place but it’s too far up the body.
I am not sure that is a mandolin. There are several South American instruments that have four double courses of strings and simaler shapes.
I suspect the bridge was not original to the instrument but I guess it could be. The F holes are really rough.
"It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
--M. Stillion
"Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
--J. Garber
When I first saw it, it made me think of a Puerto Rican cuatro, but the shape isn't quite right and it's one course short.
It looks more like a stretched Martin style 2-20.
I agree with Ray(T). Amateur build. Te guy may have built a violin or two. As for the comment about the neck? I say the body is too long for the neck. Joins at 10th fret but the scale (I am guessing) is probably within mandolin range. I don't think it is a South American instrument.
Jim
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I was wondering what the green thing is, and how much resonance (tunable or not) could be obtained from the strings on the ‘wrong’ side of the bridge.
This adds up. I live in Southwest Virginia and there is a ton of bluegrass fiddle/guitar/mandolin playing and likely some fiddle/guitar/mandolin making around here. When I picked it up from the guy, he told me it wasn't mass produced, but not much else. Then i had it in my front seat and went through a drive through and the older lady working the first window asked if i played. I told her i just picked it up to practice on and had never seen a mandolin this shape. She said "I have, but it's been a long time."
Sounds like this could be a local product that shows a luthier skill set from making fiddles and maybe mountain dulcimers.
My only problem with that story is the slot head tuners. The tailpiece is a common US product, he had to work to get those tuners. I'll be honest, if I bumped into that and the price was right I would have bought it just because it's got a certain cool factor.
Last edited by MikeEdgerton; Sep-21-2020 at 10:01am.
"It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
--M. Stillion
"Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
--J. Garber
Could you post a picture of the tuning machines from the side?
That double nut makes me wonder if this neck had a zero fret at one time.
"It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
--M. Stillion
"Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
--J. Garber
"It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
--M. Stillion
"Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
--J. Garber
Have you looked inside with a dental mirror and flashlight for markings?
"It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
--M. Stillion
"Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
--J. Garber
Please put it up on the Mandolin Café classifieds. I don't really want to do business with anyone else.
If it was made in Italy all would make sense except for that Waverly tailpiece. The dots could certainly be a connection or at least an influence. If I bought this I would make myself crazy trying to clean up the F holes.
"It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
--M. Stillion
"Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
--J. Garber
Not much about this suggests Catanese or Sicilian build. The double dots are a red herring. Though Silvestri at least used them on this mandolin.
Mick
Ever tried, ever failed? No matter. Try again, fail again. Fail better.--Samuel Beckett
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I wrote that it might have been made by someone from Sicily and by that I meant an emigrant to the USA as that cloud tailpiece suggests it was made in North America but those tuners are a bit of a mystery. The double dots are a stylistic device that Silvestri used in the 1950s and suggest perhaps an era when this mandolin was made but overall I agree there's very little to go on that can make any real headway to discovering its true origin.
I now see that inside the body, up at the neck, written in ball point pen is "Dan Fitzer, Sept. 1970".
I can find no record of a luthier named Dan Fitzer.
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