1919 Vega Cylinder-Back Mandolin Excellent, Original Hard, $1,035.00

Here is a gorgeous mandolin that’s almost a hundred years old, from a major maker, in beautiful condition save for one aspect, and we’re offering it “as is” at an extremely low price. It is of the style known today as the “Vega cylinder-back” due to the unique shape of it’s back, and is one of their fancier, higher-grade ones at that. Its fingerboard inlays have been hand-engvraved in the style of all the wonderful Vega banjos of the day, and its pickguard is inlaid in abalone with a tulip-and-vine pattern, with the inlay itself having come from the same people, Handel, who did all the pearl work for the Martin Guitar Company for the entire first half of the 20th century. This is the identical inlay found on the pickguards of Martin’s ultra-rare OM-45 Deluxe models of the 1930s; I got to meet the owner of that company in the early 1960s and still have some unused inlays he gave me that were made for Martin in the pre-war decades. The back, sides, and neck of this instrument are of beautiful flamed maple, and the back plate of the tuning machines is quite elaborately hand engraved, and also silver-plated. The issue with this mandolin is that there is a slight warp to the neck, making the action a bit high, though not terribly so; an experienced luthier will be able to make it perfect if one wants it to be. Still has its original hard shell case of course. $1035 w/ohsc

Use discount code THIRTY