ahboncainri - Posted - 11/06/2014:  14:51:17

Hi, I am posting a few pictures of my grandfather's mandolin (I do not have any serial number) which has not been played in the past 40 yrs since his death and that my father has been storing (in France). My grandfather was Italian and might have received his Mandolin from relatives that were building instrument in the North of Italy. I am living in the US and I was wondering if somebody could give me some information about the instrument. I have not seen any of this style at music store around where I live with the round hole and pretty flat back. I would ultimately like to restore the instrument to play traditional Italian songs but I was hoping to practice and show my dad that I "deserve" to get this instrument. My original plan was to learn on a cheap instrument but I have not find anything looking similar around here. I was wondering if the best way for me to get started is to get a cheap guitar or a different type of mandolin to get the basics of cord playing

thanks for your help

Victor

 

mandoist - Posted - 11/08/2014:  02:08:26

Have no idea about this one. I will forward this to some colleagues in Verona (northern Italy).

The photos are not great quality. However the action appears to be fairly low, and the neck seems to be in good shape.

TIP: If you're not playing this instrument the strings should be lowered a couple of steps...better yet, release the tension completely -- one string at a time, beginning with the center pairs of strings (D and A strings).

ahboncainri - Posted - 11/08/2014:  08:05:47

My grandfather's family lived in Cerro which is really close to Verona. I am really interested to hear what your colleague has to say. Thank you

Ben Venuti - Posted - 11/08/2014:  16:10:36

If it didn't have the slotted headstock I would have thought that it was American made-- at least by looking at it in profile. From the front it has a lot of similarities to German made mandolins that I have seen. Are there any labels or markings on the mandolin? Finding a mandolin of similar style shouldn't be difficult and if you have a few hundred dollars to spend you can probably come up with a nice one. If you buy a Martin, Lyon and Healy , a Weymann Mandolute you could easily buy something like that sight unseen over the internet and likely end up with a good mandolin. I'd suggest a "Big Muddy" as far as a new mandolin goes for a flat top oval holed mandolin.--very playable good sounding mandolin. .and always , my favorite, are old Gibson A models--They can play any style -have stood the test of time and are a very good deal being this side of $1000 often and anything equivalent new today would cost maybe 3 thousand or more...Kentucky makes a decent playable mandolin at every one  of their price points and they have some that are in the $200 range. There are others out there but Kentucky seems to be able to be really consistent in the manufacture of their instruments. I have never owned one myself but in trying out instruments in stores I have never come across a Kentucky that I wouldn't recommend to a first time buyer. Gretsch has reissued the old New Yorker that seems interesting to me and is really pretty cheap.  Don't mess with junk starting out---too many people do trying to save a buck and often just frustrate themselves out of ever learning to play by trying to play a poorly made instrument.

 If you want to learn to play the mandolin --get a mandolin not a guitar--they are not the same although they both have strings---and all mandolins are basically the same and that is they are a fretted version of a violin...so if you get one that looks very different than the one that your family has it's still basically the same thing.

Edited by - Ben Venuti on 11/08/2014 16:36:38

Ben Venuti - Posted - 11/08/2014:  16:11:37

ahboncainri - Posted - 11/09/2014:  10:44:00

Thanks a lot for the information.
I have talked to my dad who brought the mandolin to a luthier to be restored. There was no marking in or on the mandolin which appears to be a little over 100 years old but of very good quality. My father believed it was made by my grandfather's father or grandfather who had a shop around Cerro Veronese (also making guitar).
I have research the different type of Mandolins, I will probably purchase a Gretsh New Yorker G9300 which seems a good instrument to first lean how to play without spending a lot of money to get started ( and that I can play with my two young children without being too afraid of them messing it up)
Once again thanks a lot for your help