I posted an ad on a popular website asking if anyone had a free old monitor they could give me, for a Linux box I'm building. A lady responded, and I made arrangements to go by her house. She asked one favor in return, asked if I could please carry a heavy box from her garage to her house since she and her elderly mother were all that lived there. We talked a little while in the garage, and I noticed an old mandolin hanging from a couple pegs on the wall. I asked if I could look at it, and she said sure. While I was checking it out, her mom said "That was my husband's, you can have it. It's at least 80 years old, brought here from Puerto Rico."
I thanked them and took it home. I was a little bit surprised that when I took the old strings off (the few that were left), and strung it up, it didn't break, and it stayed in tune reasonably well. It's actually fairly playable, too, although the intonation is bad past the 5th fret.
It looks to me to be a cheapie. The label says it's from Spain I think (Espana?). It's got a hideous formica overlay over the headstock, that I don't think is original . The tuners work fine but they are missing bushings. The nut is bone I believe, but the slots are way too wide for all but the G strings, all the slots look like they are wide enough for 40s. The neck is surprisingly straight, but the action is pretty high past about the 7th fret. The neck joins the body at the 10th fret instead of the 12th. The bridge is glued on, and has a metal saddle piece, maybe brass? The tailpiece is riveted in and has open string hooks.
The back is separated from the rim a good bit, and the top has a crack on the left side, but the body is stable. I think I could easily repair the crack and separation. Do you all think I could put a new fretboard on this little thing and actually make it a playable instrument? It has a surprisingly nice tone, and like I said, it seems stable. No truss rod but like I said, the neck is straight. Even if it's not worth anything, I like that it has a cool history, and as a newbie builder, it might be a good learning experience. Here are some pics.
Bookmarks