Vintage Mandolin Help!

[keithmcclellan]

I found what appears to be a vintage Stetson Bowl-Back Mandolin and know nothing about it. I am really hoping that this forum will help as no one else seems to want to reply. I will send pics to anyone who replys. Thank you so much and I look forward to your reply.

Keith

[allenhopkins]

Robert Hartman, who is the authority on Larson Brothers instruments, writes on his website Larsons' Creations:

Stetson was the house [brand] used by W.J. Dyer and Bros. for their six-string guitars. The Larsons made the bulk of them but an occasional Washburn emerges. Harmony is said to have built some and C.F. Martin is attributed to building three of them.

So, assuming Hartman's correct, you have a "house brand" label for Dyer, a major distributor and sometime manufacturer of musical instruments from the late 19th century through the early 20th. Dyer harp-guitars are among the most widely distributed of this type of instrument, and there have been some interesting "harp-mandolins" with the Dyer label. Most of the Stetson instruments I've seen advertised have at least been attributed to the Larson brothers, which makes them attractive to collectors, but -- again quoting Hartman -- apparently several manufacturers made instruments for the Stetson label.

I would post your pictures down in the "Classical, Medieval, Renaissance" forum, where most of the bowl-back mavens gather. I couldn't look at a bowl-back and tell you who was likely to have built it, but there are those who can.

[Jim Garber]

You can post the pics here. I believe most of us bowlheads venture outside the classical section. I will check back. Or send them directly to me and I can post if there are difficulties.

[barney 59]

You should post the pictures. Although identifying a Larson from photos would be tricky business. Some Stetson instruments were definately Larson made- but not all. Vintage Guitar is somewhat responsible for some of the myths about Stetson instruments being built by the Larsons. They pretty much said that Stetson = Larson in some of their earlier price guides. They kind of did that with Stahl as well. They eventually fixed that in later publications but alot of instruments got passed off as Larsons based on that information..
There was a shop that sprung up near here -the owners had purchased the bulk of Scott Chinery's collection and filtered many of them through their store.I had for along while been interested in Larson instruments but actually seeing and touching them was a rare experiance. Chinery had a big collection of Larson's and some of the really best and rarest. I had the opportunity to see and examine quite a few Larsons and was getting to the point where I could recognize little details of their construction that are pretty unique to Larson. However, I do think that the Larsons were copied alot by other makers and that is why it can be sometimes really difficult to identify them positively, especially on their lower grade instruments.Id bet every guitar manufacturer in Chicago had dissected at least one Larson. I don't think it would have been physically possible for The Larson Bros. to have made all the instruments that get attributed to them.
Unfortunately the store didn't last long--I was in there one day and a few days later it was an empty building.