Sunday, August 28, 2011

Unusual National Triolian Mandolin Paint Job


We bought this 1930s National Triolian resonator mandolin a little while ago. The unusual thing is the paint job: a solid pale yellow with custom pinstriping done by hand and a flower (?) design sprayed on the cover plate. I have never seen one exactly like it before. It's in great shape except for a spot where some of the paint is worn away from heavy playing. Wondering if maybe there was a set of them? Perhaps there was also a National Triolian guitar, plectrum guitar and tenor guitar painted to match. I can picture a hip 1930s band playing matching instruments.

P.S. The big instrument in the photo is a Gibson mandobass and the one on the wall is a Lyon and Healy Camp Uke.

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