Electric mandola
Alternate name(s)
- Solid-body electric mandola
- Hollow-body electric mandola
- Electric (magneto-acoustic) mandola
Maker
Vivi-Tone Company
Date1932-1933 ca.
Place MadeKalamazoo, Michigan, United States, North America
ModelMandola
Serial No.39
SignedLight blue paper label with single-line border and cut corners, affixed to top under tailpiece, the model and serial number written in black ink: Vivi Tone Mandola / PATENT APPLIED FOR / No. 39 / Manufactured By / Vivi Tone Company / Kalamazoo, MichiganSpray painted in black ink on head: ViVi / =Tone
MarkingsIn raised lettering on cord connector: BIRNBACH / BAKELITE / CORD CONNECTOR
DescriptionElectric (magneto-acoustic) mandola with pear-shaped body. Bridge fit in to slot in top, resting (over a white and black celluloid platform made from binding material) on a paramagnetic metal bar-armature, the vibration of which varies the intensity of the magnetic field between two pole pieces (each attached to opposite polar ends of a U-shaped permanent magnet), inducing an electric current in a wire coil-winding surrounding one of the pole pieces. The bar-armature is divided into two sections with unfriendly resonances (pitched at G and E) using either a notch or a dividing block to prevent its own natural frequency vibrations from overwhelming other frequencies. Through differing divisions of the bar-armature, its total length, its thickness and width, and stiffness or elasticity, it is possible for the manufacturer to pre-determine the tonal qualities of the instrument. The electrical output of the magneto-acoustic unit is sufficient for use with headphones for practice, or it can be fed into an amplified loud-speaker
Stringing: eight steel strings
Soundboard: one-piece mahogany plywood; black spray-painted f-holes and soundhole trim
Back: one-piece three-ply birch plywood; hole in back for access to screw adjustment on pickup
Ribs: brown-finished synthetic material; panel on bass side for access to pickup unit
Head: mahogany veneered with white celluloid on both faces
Neck: mahogany; integral with head; white celluloid stripe
Heel cap: ebony
Binding: white celluloid; black and white celluloid strips on inside edge of binding
Fingerboard: ebony bound in white celluloid; 20 nickel-silver frets; single mother-of-pearl dots behind 3rd, 5th, 7th, 10th, and 15th frets; double mother-of-pearl dots behind 11th fret
Nut: bone
Bridge: ebony; every other set of string notches offset (compensated)
Tailpiece: engraved nickel-plated steel attached with nickel-plated steel dome-headed screw to decoratively-cut maple block with central ridge glued to top
Pegs: eight nickel-plated steel worm-gear machine tuners with white ivoroid convex heads and engraved plates
Endpin: none
Cord: covered with brown cloth; exits guitar at to bass side of endpin position through ebony grommet; cord ends in brown bakelite cord connector
Soundhole: oval opening in top where bridge feet rest on bar-armature
Pick guard: imitation tortoise shell plastic raised on wood brace affixed to top with two steel dome-headed screws
Lacquer: clear with prominent craqulure
DimensionsTotal mandola length: 683 mm (26-29/32″)
Back length: 351 mm (13-13/16″)
Upper bout width: 19 mm (3/4″)
Waist width: 208 mm (8-3/16″)
Lower bout width: 335 mm (13-3/16″)
Rib height (including edging) at heel: 44 mm (1-3/4″)
Rib height, at waist: 58 mm (2-1/4″)
Rib height, at end block: 62 mm (2-7/16″)
Head length: 160 mm (6-9/32″)
Head width, top: 49 mm (1-15/16″)
Head width, bottom: 57 mm (2-7/32″)
Neck length (nut to ribs): 178 mm (7″)
Neck width, nut: 34 mm (1-11/32″)
Neck width, heel: 38 mm (1-15/32″)
Soundhole height: 12 mm (15/32”)
Soundhole width: 104 mm (4-3/32″)
Vibrating string length (nut to bridge edge): A: 351 mm (13-13/16″); C: 355 mm (13-31/32″)
ProvenanceUsed by Dennis Hartnett, teacher, Gibson dealer, Vivi Tone representative, and performer in New York.
Published ReferencesArian Sheets, “Lloyd Loar’s Other Instruments…Four Rarities for the Workshop of an Electroacoustic Pioneer” National Music Museum Newsletter, Vol. 32, No. 1, (February 2005), pp. 1-3.
Lynn Wheelwright, The Pinecaster, The Pioneers Vol 1. (Valencia, Spain: Manfredo Music SL, 2021) p. 26.
Credit LineArne B. and Jeanne F. Larson Fund, 2004
Object number10809
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