c.1938 Supro by National Resonator Mandolin
Heck, yeah. Been looking for a nice resonator mandolin for a long time. That means -- sorry my friends, this here's taken. Serial places this Supro-branded National reso mandolin at 1938... and you know what? Being a kid used to antique aircraft... this paint job and pickguard material look like they were taken right out of a landing gear assembly from the same time!
That said -- this mandolin is awesome. Loud, strident, warm, sweet, sustained, rich. Etc. And it's totally original and as close as "mint" can be. I've reset the neck, given it a light fret dress, cleaned it up, and set it up. Plays like butter. And did I mention you can sit all night around a campfire and not worry about going out of tune? Eat that, wood mandolins!
That said -- this mandolin is awesome. Loud, strident, warm, sweet, sustained, rich. Etc. And it's totally original and as close as "mint" can be. I've reset the neck, given it a light fret dress, cleaned it up, and set it up. Plays like butter. And did I mention you can sit all night around a campfire and not worry about going out of tune? Eat that, wood mandolins!
Rosewood fretboard, ivoroid dots, brass body (methinks), biscuit reso.
Orig. bone nut, Kluson tuners.
...and that Supro badge! Rockin!
Can't believe how clean this one is.
Here's the only wear save slight bridge cover rub.
Yeah!!!
Comments
A) I didn't know Supro resonators were Nationals so, once again, I learned something from your most excellent blog
B) What an awesome mando! You lucky dog
C) Have you given up on updating your total inventory website?
Ben
A -- There was a transition period in the late 30s and early 40s that the Supro reso instruments were more or less identical to Nationals
B -- SERIOUSLY LUCKY!!!
C -- More or less. I'm always so darned busy and things move so fast that it's hard to keep it updated in realtime. I have a plan to find a nice script so that I can simply post photos and a writeup without having to get into FTP uploading and HTML editing. I think if I had it automated like that I'd update far more often.