Mandolin/Ukulele

I found this at a local shop here in Kansas City. They guy didn't know much about it and asked me (since he knew I play uke) if I had heard of the brand because they weren't turning anything up in their research. The brand name is Victoria. They have it for $350 (no case) if you are interested.

It is setup and tuned like a mandolin. Judging by the construction, it was intended for the steel strings it has, so it isn't just an 8 string suprano/concert. I can't tell if it is a concert length or a suprano (I didn't have a tape measure with me.

If anyone has some details on this maker or on this type of instrument, that would be helpful.






~DB

One last pic:

That's a mandolinetto, a flat top, guitar-shaped (or uke-shaped, if you prefer) mandolin. They had a brief run at popularity from the early 1900's through the mid 1920's. Here are a couple of pages about them:

http://www.minermusic.com/mandolinetto.htm
http://musicaviva.com/encyclopedia/display.html?phrase=mandolinetto


By the way, my first post here!

I know a few of these have recently popped up on eBay. I don't recall if they were Victoria's or not, but they all went for around 150.