National Silvo Tenor!!!

[mrmando]

Well, at long last I've found relief for my bad case of extraterrestrial flatulence (a/k/a ETGAS).

Took a while to track this one down, starting from a seven-year-old post on the Notecannons guestbook, leading to a defunct e-mail address for a person I'd never met.

It'll be nice to have a match to my Silvo mandolin. There are several of the mandolins floating around, and I have seen two Silvo lap steels, but I have never, never seen another Silvo tenor.

This could be the only one of its kind.

I received notice that it has shipped today. Can't wait till it gets here.

[Charles E.]

Martin, that is KILLER! Congratulations.

[SincereCorgi]

We demand sound files.

[delsbrother]

Couldn't you put the Silvo stuff in any National body?

[mrmando]

I dunno, Darrell ... I think it would depend on the cone size. What I hear is that only the "factory" pickup plates have the Silvo logo ... the "retrofit" pickup plates are plain black. The two Silvo lap steels (one was just on eBay last week) have the same body as this tenor; all the other Silvo instruments I know about are mandolins. Don't those all have the same cone size, and isn't it smaller than a 6-string guitar cone? I don't know that I've ever seen a Silvo plate for the bigger cone.

So AFAIK Silvo plates were used only on mandolin, tenor and lap steel. I could've grabbed the third member of the trinity on eBay, but (a) it went out of my price range; (b) I have no idea how to play lap steel.

[flatt]

I've gone a strange hue of seaweed-green ...... it must be all that ENVY that's seeping through me!!!!! Yes! We need sound files .. I would LOVE to hear what this baby sounds like. Congratulations (he spits through clenched teeth)!

Well, at long last I've found relief for my bad case of extraterrestrial flatulence (a/k/a ETGAS).

Took a while to track this one down, starting from a seven-year-old post on the Notecannons guestbook, leading to a defunct e-mail address for a person I'd never met.

It'll be nice to have a match to my Silvo mandolin. There are several of the mandolins floating around, and I have seen two Silvo lap steels, but I have never, never seen another Silvo tenor.

This could be the only one of its kind.

I received notice that it has shipped today. Can't wait till it gets here.

[bluesmandolinman]

looks sweet no doubt

but haven´t been your Silvo mandolin for sale in the classifieds only a few weeks ago and now you are buying a tenor to match the mandolin ....

this really proofs what a mad disease MAS can be

and yes I want to hear soundfiles too, thanks !

[mrmando]

Er, ah, no, Rene ... my Silvo mandolin was not in the classifieds a few weeks ago.

I have two Silvo mandolins: one is a keeper, one is with a luthier having some work done. When I get that one back, it may well go in the classifieds. I don't need two of them on a permanent basis.

If there was a Silvo mandolin in the classifieds a few weeks ago, I missed it.

[bluesmandolinman]

maybe it was on your website ( the second Silvo ) ???

I swear I have seen one for sale that I associated to mr.mando

come on please don´t tell me I have hallucinations aaaaarrgghhhh

[JeffD]

That tenor looks great. If I were a trout and someone put that out on a line, I would be a gonner.

Just beautiful.

Hows it sound?

[bmac]

Oh my goodness... That is beautiful!!!

[Bluegrassnate]

Congrats on this Great looking old National Tenor.

[mrmando]

Here are some new photos.

The pickguard is shot ... a little piece of it has already fallen out. Going to go to a local custom plastics fabricator to see about getting a repro made (out of acrylic rather than celluloid). Green is not the original color ... I think it is supposed to be clear. (In my archive I have a photo of a Silvo mandolin with a clear pickguard in better shape than this one.) I am pretty sure it began to outgas from sitting in the case for years, and picked up some discoloration from the green case lining.

As for a recording ... it sounds great, but I have to be careful about playing it with the pickguard in such delicate condition. I may have to postpone the recording until I have addressed the pickguard problem.

[John Eischen]

Too cool!