1928 National Style 2 Tricone Resonator Mandolin

Heart be still, oh rarest of rares! This is one of six (as I recall the owner telling me) tricone resonator mandolins made in the late '20s. The engraving looks like Style 2 to me and it's built much the same as the later, single-cone models but has its own, raised-lip coverplate design/encloser, screened holes, and of course an impressive soundwell construction and slightly more rugged "mushroom post" construction.

This one has some overspray on the neck, a replacement tuner screw, and a later tailpiece, but is otherwise completely original. It was in for a level/dress of the frets, compensation at the saddle, and setup work. It's now playing like a doggone champ and looks like a million bucks, too.

Per the usual, the scale length is just a hair shy of 15" and so extra-light strings are what I suggest for these if you're planning to tune to normal GDAE tuning. Alternately, I like to suggest heavy mandola strings and tuning to CGDA with these guys as well -- which is quite nice on them. It's currently setup for GDAE with a set of Thomastiks.