Nagoya Mandolin

[theschwarz1]

I have read a bit about theses here and there from some superb members on here with an abundance of mandolin making history. But, most refernces to Nagoya are about a geographic place rather than a brand. I am assuming, that the mandolin pictured below is a form of Suzuki?
Any info anyone can give me about the item I have pictured below would be of great value to me. Age? Quality?

[mandotopia]

It is my understanding that the Nagoya brand was the in house brand of guitars for Venaman Music (Spelling?) music which is/was a small chain in the DC area. I assume the mandolin is also from them They were made in Japan in the 70's 80's and were decent and inexpensive compared to US made instruments.

[Clement Barrera-Ng]

Very cool mandolin indeed and I love the fact that it's a two point. I've also found references from other sites that the Nagoya brand instruments were indeed made by Suzuki for Veneman Music. Enjoy

[Rocklikeastone]

Just bought this sunburst Nagoya mandolin and was wondering if anyone had any info on the woods used to make this mandolin or anything else about it. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I also created a quick youtube video of me playing it if anyone is interested http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=872zEH9RFoo

[CES]

I'm not an expert and am often incorrect on these matters (so wait on someone who really knows what they're talking about), but the one in post 4 looks like spruce/rosewood, though perhaps a figured walnut would be possible for that back as well...very cool looking mandolins, indeed!!

[Willie Poole]

Veneman music also had a house brand named "Bradley", so I assume instruments of those two names were made in the same plant...I had a Nagoya guitar come to me for some small repairs and after shaving the tone bars down some (Like a Martin herringbone) it sounded great and was a fine duitar....Can`t recall if the top was plywood or not but it was agood sounding guitar and the owner played it for many years in a bluegrass band.....I have never played a Nagoya mandolin so I can`t comment on how they sounded or were made, I have played Bradleys though and wasn`t too impressed by them, top was way too thick on all that I have seen...

Willie

[jim simpson]

I once owned a Nagoya F-5 style as a project. It had top cracks and a detached tone bar. After an unsatisfactory repair effort, I retopped it and made it an oval hole. I ended up selling it to a friend. I thought Nagoya had a connection to Ibanez but found out that the two were never connected. The Nagoya was a budget mandolin.

[Rocklikeastone]

Funny story... so i was browsing youtube mandolin videos and i came across an excellent video of a guy playing an aria mandolin, which i quickly realized looked exactly like my Nagoya mandolin, so after some quick searching on these awesome forums, i found a thread about a picture of a mandolin on a cover of a Jethro Burns instructional book, which was deemed an aria. Come to find out that that mandolin is almost exactly the same as my Nagoya, right down to the inlay on the headstock and the model number (m-300). The only difference is a slightly different headstock shape. All in All pretty cool, i guess aria was the maker of nagoya mandolins in the 70's... Here's some pictures of the aria