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Thread: Gemtone Mandolins?

  1. #1
    Puzzlesmith
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    Question Gemtone Mandolins?

    I found a 1960s Gemtone electric mandolin for a couple hundred bucks. I tried to check whether it's a good deal, but I've found very little information about these - just one page on reverbnation with a different model selling for a bit more than the one I found. Does anyone know anything about these instruments?

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  2. #2
    Puzzlesmith
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    Default Re: Gemtone Mandolins?

    Found an identical mandolin under a different brand name, in worse condition for more money, but that unfortunately doesn't tell me anything about the overall quality or value of the build. Would I be correct, though, in thinking this suggests that this might be a lower-quality or beginner-level mass-produced model from back then that was just rebranded by various companies?

  3. #3
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    Default Re: Gemtone Mandolins?

    On first glance I feel you are correct in your suspicions regarding quality. Does the neck attach with screws? Nevertheless, if the action is decent and since it has a pickup, it may do a fine job with the blues and perhaps rock.

  4. #4
    Puzzlesmith
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    Default Re: Gemtone Mandolins?

    Yes, the neck attaches with screws. The seller claims all original hardware except for having moved a strap button. I don't know why they chose to take pictures of it on the grass.

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  5. #5
    Registered User Charlie Bernstein's Avatar
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    Default Re: Gemtone Mandolins?

    Wow! I'd be tempted to get it just as a fashion statement and conversation piece. And I'm with with DiMono, it would be a hoot for blues. In fact, it's begging for it.
    Gibson A-Junior snakehead (Keep on pluckin'!)

  6. #6
    Puzzlesmith
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    Default Re: Gemtone Mandolins?

    I have decided not to go for it. If anyone else wants it, it's here ($250cdn + shipping) https://www.kijiji.ca/v-view-details...dId=1660806904

  7. #7
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Gemtone Mandolins?

    These were imported and sold under many brand names including Columbus. A guy named Ray Jackson played one on probably the most heard mandolin solo on the planet.

    https://www.mandolincafe.com/news/pu...ns_00938.shtml

    Watch for it to be sold shortly. By the way, NFI but I do own one of these that's in pieces.
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    "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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  9. #8
    The Amateur Mandolinist Mark Gunter's Avatar
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    Default Re: Gemtone Mandolins?

    In the first post I’d thought you’d already bought it. In that case, I would say any answers about quality should be answered by you. It’s not a high quality item, a pretty cheap solution (with some Ray Jackson fame), but my experience with such items is that if it feels good to play and sounds good enough to gig with then it’s all good. Not a bad price IMHO
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  10. #9
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    Default Re: Gemtone Mandolins?

    I have the same mandolin, with "westbrook" written on the headstock. cad$300 about 15 years ago. it is my main practice mandolin. FT74 strings (wound A strings). original aluminum bridge replaced with standard wooden bridge. it is quiet, it has very low action, good percussive tone and it records well. the electric pickup works, the four pole/gain adjustment screws work. I would not describe it is a low quality item.

  11. #10
    Puzzlesmith
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    Default Re: Gemtone Mandolins?

    Thank you everyone for the good information. I've thought about it some more and decided to buy it after all. Just waiting for my bank to finish processing him as an etransfer recipient so I can send the money over. Unlike the two point mandolin I got last time, this one should be in good shape, so I'll post some pictures when it gets here probably next week. I will soon be a person who owns a mandolin.

  12. #11
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Gemtone Mandolins?

    And to close things out complete with fake mandolin player:

    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

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

  13. #12
    Puzzlesmith
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    Default Re: Gemtone Mandolins?

    Well, the mando is here, a couple dings and such but that's to be expected for a 60 year instrument. The weird thing is two of the strings simply will not tune up. The adjacent G and D strings get to a certain point, and then I just cannot turn the machinehead any further, despite there still being plenty of slack in the string.

    I initially thought it was a problem with there being too many loops around the peg so there wasn't anywhere for the string to go if it kept turning. So I unwound it and pulled more of the string through and tried again, but the same thing happened. So it's not that. The hardware appears to be in good condition.

    Has anyone ever encountered anything like this before? Any advice?

  14. #13
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Gemtone Mandolins?

    Have a luthier look at it, it sounds like the strings are binding in the nut slots.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

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

  15. #14
    Puzzlesmith
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    Default Re: Gemtone Mandolins?

    I asked the luthier who sold it to me and he said "crank those old tuners put some muscle in it!" So I used my peg winder instead of my fingers and it worked. I was wary of stressing the old hardware, but I guess those two heads are just stiff in those positions. I'll have to disassemble them at some point and lubricate the motion. Could be there's just some guck in there that needs to be cleaned away.

    Anyway, the mandolin is now in tune and playable. I even got the position of the bridge right - the intonation at the octave is basically perfect except the G strings are a touch sharp compared to the harmonic. It almost sounds like a banjo with the metal bridge - Shipping Up To Boston sounds just like the recording

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  17. #15
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Gemtone Mandolins?

    Quote Originally Posted by DiMono View Post
    I asked the luthier who sold it to me and he said "crank those old tuners put some muscle in it!" So I used my peg winder instead of my fingers and it worked. I was wary of stressing the old hardware, but I guess those two heads are just stiff in those positions. I'll have to disassemble them at some point and lubricate the motion. Could be there's just some guck in there that needs to be cleaned away.

    Anyway, the mandolin is now in tune and playable. I even got the position of the bridge right - the intonation at the octave is basically perfect except the G strings are a touch sharp compared to the harmonic. It almost sounds like a banjo with the metal bridge - Shipping Up To Boston sounds just like the recording
    Take a look at the late Paul Hostetter's tuner maintenance page:

    http://www.lutherie.net/tuner.maintenance.html
    "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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    DiMono 

  19. #16
    Puzzlesmith
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    Default Re: Gemtone Mandolins?

    Fantastic, thanks!

    Anyway, here are some pictures. There's a bit of a swoop downward where the pickup is, but it seems to be by design - the height is consistent between the neck, pickup, and bridge, and the pickup has an angle to it that is fully compensated for by the swoop. Not like the two-point mandolin I got a couple years ago that was simply caved in - this one actually plays, and rather nicely.

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