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Neapolitan mandolin

Trade Name Harwood (trade name of J. W. Jenkins Sons)

Manufacturer J. W. Jenkins Sons Music Company

Date1893-1900 ca.

Place MadeKansas City, Missouri, United States, North America

ModelNo. 46

Serial No.13070

SignedEngraved and filled in black ink on strip of ivory celluloid behind 16th fret: HARWOOD

Stamped on back of head: 130710 / [enclosed in oval] HARWOOD / NEW-YORK

Triangle-shaped brand on neck block: GENUINE / HARWOOD / REGISTERED / [inside inner triangle] TRADE MARK
MarkingsStamped around center screw hole in worm-gear tuner plates: PAT'D / DEC. 89 & AUG. 91
DescriptionModel appears in Jenkins catalog, ca. 1895
Stringing: eight steel strings, in pairs
Soundboard: two-piece spruce: medium grain
Bowl: 21 alternating mahogany and rosewood staves (smooth surface), no stringing
Clasp: light brown streaked tropical hardwood, tulipwood; similar cap along top edges and at neck joint with body; space between clasp and edge cap divided by ivoroid strip
Neck: mahogany; integral with head, which is veneered in tulipwood; intersection with head has volute
Binding: ivoroid; trim comprised of alternating diamonds and squares with cut sides made from abalone, set into black mastic; surrounded on each side by strip of alternating light and brown-stained hardwood rectangles, bound on either side by single strip of light hardwood (inside) and brown-stained hardwood strips (outside); outside edge bound in additional light hardwood and red-stained hardwood strips
Fingerboard: rosewood; 17 nickel-silver bar frets; decoratively cut mother-of-pearl pieces inlaid behind 5th and 12th frets; 10-sided mother-of-pearl stars with mother-of-pearl diamonds on each side inlaid behind 7th and 10th frets
Nut: ivory
Bridge: ebony with bone strip inlaid into top
Tuners: two sets of enclosed worm-gear machine tuners with nickel-plated steel plates, nickel-plated brass rollers, and ivoroid heads
Tailpiece: chrome-plated steel; later
Rosette: elliptical; trim the same as that found around soundboard edge, without extra outside strips; abalone inlay substitutes decoratively cut pieces for the diamonds on binding trim
Pick guard: imitation tortoiseshell celluloid with decorative vine ivoroid inlay
Lacquer: orange on top; golden elsewhere
Bowl lining: none
Blocks: neck block light hardwood, possibly basswood; end block dark brown hardwood
Top braces: spruce brace with tapered ends above soundhole; spruce brace with tapered ends below soundhole and at widest point of soundboard; three rounded, short braces with tapered ends (same material as glued linings) between two lower braces, perpendicular to them
Linings: rounded spruce
DimensionsTotal mandolin length: 620 mm (24-13/32”)
Top length: 307 mm (12-3/32”)
Maximum body width: 202 mm (7-15/16”)
Maximum bowl height: 122 mm (4-13/16”)
Head length: 165 mm (6-1/2”)
Head width, top: 63 mm (2-15/32”)
Head width, bottom: 46 mm (1-13/16”)
Neck length (nut to ribs): 150 mm (5-29/32”)
Neck width, nut: 28 mm (1-3/32”)
Neck width, heel: 36 mm (1-13/32”)
Soundhole height: 43 mm (1-11/16”)
Soundhole width: 65 mm (2-9/16”)
Vibrating string length (nut to bridge edge): 333 mm (13-1/8”)

Credit LineGift of Lynn Jenkins, in memory of Robert Jenkins, 2024

Object number15804

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