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June 2004
Posts: 271
Location: Ft. Lauderdale, Florida | As posted recently (like today) I found a beater Kalamazoo (an inexpensive supplier of Gibson), circa 1925 or so Mandolin in the bedroom (I forgot I had rescued from the trash of one of my coworkers!!!) Seems it belonged to her grandfather and as often our idle chatter goes into instruments... (She, is cashier with our company and used to play in a bluegrass band travelling around south florida)
She mentioned to me a year ago or so that she thinks her grandmother "threw away" (I still can't believe it) her grandfathers 75 year old mandolin!!!
MY Grandfather had a higher end Mando a Lyon and Healy model A or F can't remember which looks a lot like this one:
http://www.chinatogalway.com/Lyon%20and%20Healy.htm
I recently saw it on a summer trip thru San Francisco this past summer, my cousin rescued it from the attic, from our grandparents estate... I remember seeing the case as a kid and thought it was a "baby" guitar... I don’t remember even opening it up!!!
Still has original case that is worn but all still working, strings and tortoise shell pics, from the last time my grandfather played it... (I never saw him pick it up and we lived next door to him since I was 5 years old and I am 51 now!!!
My research after seeing (just the case) for the first time in 40 years or so, revealed it’s brand name, model and heritage... It proved it to be valued at $2500-$3000. It is in perfect shape with aged finish... The history of that mando was fascinating to discover... Unfortunately the info and pics I took are in another computers hard drive that is sitting idle in my daughters bedroom, next to another computer she uses... I could get a copy from my cousin whom I researched it for…
It is unique in and of it's own right, not your Bill Monroe sort of instrument as I recall...Has a unique voice and which ever model it was (they made funny looking “script” letters back then I THINK it was a funny looking “A” Anyway it was the best one that company made… The story behind the music store was just as fascinating to read as the Mandolin itself… The company is no longer in business it has been swallowed up by a conglomerate, but in it’s day they were one of the largest music stores around and I think they had stores in Chicago and New York City… Family owned , father son deal I think…
Is there as Web Board anyone knows of where I can glean some tech info on Mandos???
Anyway back to the rescue of the Kalamazoo mando...
The arch top/round back Kalamazoo has a golf ball size dent in the back and a split on the front sound board... Missing 2 tuning keys, missing pick guard,only one string, wooden bridge/saddle missing one adjuster... you get the picture (that's why it was in the trash...)
Probably repairable, probably not 100% by me, probably playable... We may want to trade towards an Ovation Mando... so the daughter (and me) can learn to play it... and not worry about damaging it further (hard to imagine that…) But will probably put it back together on a budget, from Stew Mac parts etc as best I can and see what happens...
Anyone know how long Mando Strings are before they are trimmed at the peg head???
Do Mando strings come in regular guitar lengths and gauges and just trimmed shorter... or are they different in some way???
The Kalamazoo scale is normal @ 13-7/8" Can I use Acoustic guitar strings, in the right gauges or is that a no no ???
Are 1/2 the strings wound and 1/2 plain steel or what... I see that they are ALL paired with the same string, a little different than the 12 string guitar approach...
"NORMAL" Mando tuning is GDAE (bass-> treble) and I see on the D'Addario site what the string gauges are...
There is another tuning I am exploring... It is CGDA and from what I can gather from guitar tuning conversations with D'Addario and the string tension specs... I would need a whole new set of custom strings to achieve the CGDA tuning... That's why I asked if strings is strings or are Mandos different... For some reason I thought they were ALL wound strings, not sure... They have different part numbers than guitar strings...
Recently I went to pick up some single strings for another project and asked about any Ovation Mandos at one of the local music stores (NOT Guitarget)
They had a MM68 red cherry color w/used case for $700.00 Seemed EXPENSIVE till I got home and found they list for $1500 or so !!!
So you see I have NO CLUE what I am doing... and could use a board like this dedicated to Mandos to repair, play fix up, and to kibbutz with other newbies with the mando craze... AND eventually trade out the hopefully playable Kalamazoo, for an Ovation Mando to add to ME and MY daughters GAS ATTACKS...
(She does fart a lot lately, come to think of it...)
AB |
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Joined:
July 2003
Posts: 1922
Location: Canton (Detroit), MI | Ab, the Mandolin Cafe site is Mando Central. Go on the message board there and post your questions. A lot of mando knowledgable people there:
http://www.mandolincafe.com/
I asked questions about your mando in the "Ovations for Christmas" thread...I see the answers are here in your post.
Roger |
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 10582
Location: NJ | Kalamazoo was Gibson's student line which I believe the introduced in the thirties not twenties.
the Kalamazoo mandos that I have seen are flattops and good instruments but not stellar. Mando players and collectors are very fickel and they are rather narrow in their scope of collecting.
With that said although the "book value" maybe higher, I have seen several very good examples of Kalamazoo mandos being hard pressed to sell at $500, one like yours that needs help will severly alter the value.
mando strings are easy to get most music store carry them. |
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 10582
Location: NJ | Kalamazoo was Gibson's student line which I believe the introduced in the thirties not twenties.
the Kalamazoo mandos that I have seen are flattops and good instruments but not stellar. Mando players and collectors are very fickel and they are rather narrow in their scope of collecting.
With that said although the "book value" maybe higher, I have seen several very good examples of Kalamazoo mandos being hard pressed to sell at $500, one like yours that needs help will severly alter the value.
mando strings are easy to get most music store carry them. |
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Joined:
July 2003
Posts: 1922
Location: Canton (Detroit), MI | Ab, reading your post in detail, I can answer one of your questions.....mando strings are only different than guitar strings in that they are loop-end instead of ball-end. If you get strings in the same gauge and wound/unwound as needed with loop-ends, you should be OK. You can modify ball-end strings to loop-end by removing the balls from the ball-end, that leaves a loop.
I'd go with LIGHT strings (like .010"-.034") for this piece after fixing it, no need to stress that old top. I wouldn't mess with "alternate" tunings at this point, just go with GGDDAAEE. I haven't seen a strong "alternate tunings" group among mandolin players.
Looking at my Epiphone MM50, I'm reminded that the G strings and D strings are wound, so you should get .034" and .024" wound strings and .014" and .010" regular strings. I'd just get mando strings, though, they shouldn't be that hard to come by.
Roger |
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Joined:
February 2003
Posts: 2177
Location: the BIG Metropolis of TR | Abendicum,
Check out:
http://www.btinternet.com/~john.baldry/mando/index.html
Click on the "Extra links" and there are boo coo links (that means alot :) ) on mandolin repair,maintenance,parts,etc!!!!
* * * *
Mike :cool: |
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June 2004
Posts: 271
Location: Ft. Lauderdale, Florida | Muchas Gracias, I knew you guys could help... There's a whole new world over there... on just those 2 sites.
AB |
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Joined:
January 2004
Posts: 648
Location: Florida | Actually theres a Ernie Ball set thats lighter still - .009-.032 I think |
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Joined:
June 2004
Posts: 271
Location: Ft. Lauderdale, Florida | Cruised around there but seems they love to read posts but don't answer questions and when I asked for help, in a private message, the reply was-"why me..." (As in, why ask me (for help)... Seems that snob was the only ONE who even commented in a week... So I risked asking him to post some pics of my mando as my aol browser is not compatible with their explorer program...
I will send the pics to work and let one of the computer geniuses figure it out...
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AB |
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Joined:
February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | the CGDA tuning you referred to is mandola tuning. Mandola scale length is a couple of inches longer than mandolin so you'd need to increase the string gauge to use it on a mandolin and even then it'll be something of a compromise.
The only real difference between guitar strings & mando strings is that mandolin strings are usually loop-end and guitar strings are ball-end. |
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Joined:
June 2004
Posts: 271
Location: Ft. Lauderdale, Florida | The mando strings are also shorter, meaning they are shorter "out of the pkg", and will not fit a longer scale instrument...
AB |
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Web Board for Mandolins ???
