c.1920 Victoria Mandolin

Here's a nice little Victoria, possibly made by Oscar Schmidt? (though it lacks the typical square kerfing you'd expect under the top of an OS)... flatback mandolin. Top is spruce, with "tortoise" inlaid pickguard, back and sides of birch. Bone nut, original ebony/bone bridge, and after cleaning and oiling some just-dandy functional brass-plate tuners with bakelite buttons. It's bound along the top and soundhole with an inlaid backstrip. MOP dots inlaid on an ebony fretboard.

Work done included brace reglues, cleaning, multiple hairline crack repairs to the back, setup, etc. It's a real easy player with a nice direct, but rich tone. It actually sounds a lot like the Washburn bowlback I posted a few entries earlier... which is to say: precise, sweet, with no harshness in the treble or sloppiness in the bass. I like.

The neck is dead straight with frets that have a little playwear but nothing major, lending to a cleanly-playing 1/16" to under 1/8" action... cozy.

Brass-plate tuners w/bakelite knobs. Working great after a bit of cleaning and oiling.

Here you can see those filled/repaired cracks catching some edgewise light.

Tailpiece sans cover, but plenty functional.