What is it. Who where and when.

[billysunday]

Hi all,
New to your board and I'm seeking info on the mando pictured. I heard this was the place to start.
Hope I've got the file attached.

[billysunday]

Come on people.... Some comment. It's 60yrs+ flat back flattop. really crude looking. could have even been made by a realitve. Uncle's built gutiars. So any help. Pleeease...

[ShaneJ]

Um....looks like it's a pretty old, no-name mando. Probably made by somebody's uncle.

Sorry, for the smart@#$ comment. Couldn't resist....

Seriously, if that's what it truly is, I don't know if there's anybody that could tell you much more than that. If you had the name of the maker, or even the uncle that might have been the maker, someone might possibly have heard of him.

What kind of information are you wanting to find?

[billysunday]

Um....looks like it's a pretty old, no-name mando. #Probably made by somebody's uncle.

Sorry, for the smart@#$ comment. # # Couldn't resist....

Seriously, if that's what it truly is, I don't know if there's anybody that could tell you much more than that. # If you had the name of the maker, or even the uncle that might have been the maker, someone might possibly have heard of him. #

What kind of information are you wanting to find?

Well thanks for the look. I really dought the uncle made this one. His other work didn't look any thing like this. Maybe a first effort. They were the Osborne's in Oklahoma. Plenty of pickin goin on aroud the house. Don't remember if it would be H.D. or George. No noticabel marks was hoping someone would reconize the lack of style from somewhere. thanks
Bill

[ShaneJ]

Just about everybody on this board probably knows more than I do, so don't give up hope. Good luck!

[Strado Len]

Looks like a Regal.

[Bob DeVellis]

Regal certainly pumped out a lot of mandolins and several of them had a body shape roughly like this one. So it could be. Kay is another possibility. Many of the manufacturers in the 1930s were interconnected, with different companies sharing ownership at various times (kind of like media companies today). Any one of them might have produced an instrument of this type. Most would have put either a stenciled logo or a decal on the headstock or a label inside, but those don't always survive.

[Jim Garber]

it could be a Regal; could be a Kay but I would say likely it is neither. Kay's have a similar shape but more pronounced.

Also, you say the workmanship is crude. Kays and Regals might have been inexpensive instruments and not refined in workmanship but they have a factory look about them. This looks like a homemade job by someone who saw a Kaycraft and liked the shape but reproduced it from memory.

You say that your Uncle's work didn't look like this. What did he make and what did the instruments looks like?

Jim

[Bill Snyder]

Don't have a clue as to what it might be, but it almost looks like it could have inspired this slightly more refined mandolin.

[Jim Garber]

Here is a page from a 1950s catalog showing a Kay mandolin.

[jasona]

I was also thinking it looked liked a refinished Kay

[Bill Snyder]

Searching through the internet I don't find any Kays, Regals, or Harmony mandolins that look just like this one. The shape is similar to some, but not quite the same.
Perhaps it was made by your uncle as a copy of a Kay he had seen - after all I would not think he would build a mandolin to look like the guitars he built.

[Bob DeVellis]

I agree with Bill and Jim that, while Regal or Kay influenced, it really looks like a home-made instrument. Even low-end knock-offs have a certain look that this one lacks. This is not to say it can't be a decent instrument, just that it doesn't look like it came out of a factory, as Jim said.

[Igor The Cat]

Curious that is a breedlove www.breedloveguitars.com

[WireBoy]

go to the classifieds and find a Tom Flood posting and ask him. #He posts sales of similar mandolins like this all the time.

[Bill Snyder]

Igor The Cat,
I know it is a Breedlove. It is a Breedlove McKenzie. When I saw billysunday's post I thought that even though Breedloves #are much more "refined" and finished looking there's a similarity worth noting.
Personally (except for the peghead) I think the Breedloves are really neat looking. I would like to hear/play one someday.