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Please note this is an archived topic, so it is locked and unable to be replied to. You may, however, start a new topic and refer to this topic with a link: http://www.mandohangout.com/archive/37189
vintagegeorge - Posted - 03/30/2014: 17:59:39
I'm trying to find an age and a value for this mandolin. I bought it at a yard sale today. Any info would be appreciated.
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gibsoncello - Posted - 03/30/2014: 18:15:52
I have called gruhn guitar and talked them about stuff I've picked up you try that. gruhn.com Cool looking little guy looks like the case is original too(?) What's it sound like?
vintagegeorge - Posted - 03/30/2014: 18:20:46
I play 5 string banjo so this is very different. For me but I would say sounds good..thanks for the info
Ben Venuti - Posted - 03/31/2014: 13:57:52
It's a Kay ---I'd put money on that.. Any internal markings? Kay builtstuff often had a letter and a number rubber stamped inside. Headstock is pretty typically Kay. Kay built for a lot of others.Oahu etc. I had an Orpheum guitar once that was pretty nice, solid spruce top,super jumbo maple body( but laminated).. The top on that is pressed for sure put it could be solid wood or maybe not, could be laminated. Back and rids are laminate most likely.
Ben Venuti - Posted - 03/31/2014: 20:52:12
Doesn't matter ---it's still a Kay. If you look at the edge of the wood on the sound holes you'll be able to see if the top is solid or plywood.
Ben Venuti - Posted - 03/31/2014: 21:09:12
Oh yah you wondered about age and value. As to age ---1930's /40's is my guess. If it has no big issues and since the case looks kind of cool and is better than you usually find with things such as that ,and, since it says "Orpheum" and not Kay you might get (+ -) $400 for that. The same instrument but with Kay on the headstock would drop the value 25 to 50%.
vintagegeorge - Posted - 04/01/2014: 05:25:15
Hey Ben , thanks for the info.i did some searching and found out that Kay made some guitars for orpheum around the 1950s. I also had a friend tell me the same thing that you did. Not bad for a yard sale find. Thank you for your time. George
Ben Venuti - Posted - 04/01/2014: 08:56:21
That's the thing about those. They have all the look of a 30's instrument and the Kay brand started in 1932 so I called it "30's /40's" but like my old Orpheum guitar I always suspected it might be more recent than that --like maybe 50's-- but how do you tell? For sure though you can refer to it as 20th Century! Just remembered that I have in my pile of " fix these someday" instruments a Kay jumbo bodied guitar that is just like my old Orpheum.
Edited by - Ben Venuti on 04/01/2014 09:00:04
vintagegeorge - Posted - 04/01/2014: 16:55:15
It's just crazy to learn the history of a name. They get bought and sold and have other companies build instruments for them. I never would have thought..
Ben Venuti - Posted - 04/06/2014: 20:19:44
Seems quite a few old names have just been abandoned and are now being picked up by others to produce instruments --mostly from China. JB Player and Recording King have reemerged in recent years. Washburn a couple of decades ago but now they pretend that they have some kind of historical connection to the original Washburn Brand. Washburn was never a "brand" but a "line" of the Lyon and Healy Co.and there is no connection what so ever. There is nothing new about that ( -buying and selling of companies). Martin is an exception -1833 to now and in the same family. Zildjian has them beat by a few hundred years though. They are quite possibly the oldest musical instrument company in the world and maybe even the oldest company in the world and family owned to boot. It turns out that there are only a couple of string manufacturers and all those brands on the music store shelf are made to specification by those couple of companies. Companies like Regal and Kay had their own brands but the meat and potatoes of their companies was manufacturing for catalog companies like Sears Roebuck and Wards and for music stores to sell under their own name.. Kay for a time was probably the largest stringed instrument manufacturer in the world. Then like now there was a large market for budget instruments. Michael Holmes from Mugwamps fame compiled a list of early American stringed instrument companies from the pre Civil War era up until WWll and there are thousands of names in the catalog. I myself have probably penciled in close to a hundred names added to his list . Go to some vintage instrument shows if you ever get a chance. It's pretty fascinating. It's not like the old days when there was very little information on vintage instruments and those that did know stuff kept the information tight to their chests. You can now get a pretty good vintage instrument education surfing the net.
Edited by - Ben Venuti on 04/06/2014 20:25:04
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