1940s Strad-O-Lin (United) Archtop A-Stye Mandolin

Overview: By the look of the tuners and general build, this is an early-'40s Strad-O-Lin. These guys were made by United in New Jersey for the Sorkin brand and are well-loved for being affordable, great-sounding, great-playing bluegrass-style mandolins once they're fixed-up and setup properly. This one has a solid spruce top over ply maple back and sides and, post-repairs, has a ton of volume, punch, and cut, and feels great.

Interesting features: The "natural" finish looks excellent and the violin-like faux-purfling on the top edge is a cool style that Strads tend to have. Mix that with the deco-style headstock stencil, deco-style segmented f-holes, and a Gibson-like cut, and you have the classic Strad-O-Lin -- a little cheesy but so cool.

Repairs included: Tim repaired a badly-mucked neck joint, reset the neck, gave it a level/dress of the frets, added side dots, fit a new adjustable bridge, repaired some seams, and set it all up. It's playing bang-on, has plenty of adjustment room at the saddle, and is ready to roar.

• Weight: 1 lb 14 oz
• Scale length: 13 3/4"
• Nut width: 1 1/8"
• Neck shape: medium C
• Board radius: flat
• Body width: 10"
• Body depth: 2"
• Top wood: solid spruce
• Back & sides wood: ply maple
• Bracing type: tonebar
• Bridge: new adjustable rosewood
• Fretboard: rosewood
• Neck wood: maple
• Action height at 12th fret: 1/16" overall (fast, spot-on)
• String gauges: 34w-10
• Neck relief: straight
• Fret style: low/small

Condition notes: There's weather-check to the finish throughout. The neck joint has a little slop in its looks from previous funky repairs being re-repaired. There's a plug in the back of the heel which hides a bolt reinforcement we added when the reset was done (these have tenon joints and this can help if the joint is finicky). The side dots and bridge are new but the rest is original.

It comes with: It's got a chip case.

Consignor tag: RHIS