13 replies to this topic

[Brentastic]

Anyone ever hear of these instruments?  Not to be confused with the mandolin banjo.  There actually is a difference, which is basically head size

Well, I just bought one and it arrived today.  It's labeled "Cid" and was built in the 1920s by Gebruder Schuster of Germany.  While basically un-playable at the moment - it needs new frets and strings among other things - I was able to tune 3 (of 8) strings and this instrument has major potential and some major mojo (great tone from what I could excrete).  Anyways, here are some pics of this little beauty:

Cid1
Cid2
Cid3
Cid4
Cid5

[matt770]

Zoop zoop zoppity doop boop bee doop bop

[Yukon Cornelius]

looks cool

[delusions of grandeur]

Words cannot describe how much I'd like to restore that....

That's sweet man... Do you know if it's supposed to play good when it's back in shape? Because I've played a $3,000 Gibson mandolin that sounded like a dream, even though I had no clue what I was doing... But then I picked up a cheap one, and even after learning chords and scales (which are incredibly confusing with it upside down from a guitar) and couldn't get any sort of desirable sound out of it...

And yes, I know that a banjo mandolin is more akin to a banjo obviously, but just wondering if the quality affects their playability nearly as much?

[Brentastic]

delusions of granduer, on 19 April 2012 - 12:11 PM, said:

Words cannot describe how much I'd like to restore that....

That's sweet man... Do you know if it's supposed to play good when it's back in shape? Because I've played a $3,000 Gibson mandolin that sounded like a dream, even though I had no clue what I was doing... But then I picked up a cheap one, and even after learning chords and scales (which are incredibly confusing with it upside down from a guitar) and couldn't get any sort of desirable sound out of it...

And yes, I know that a banjo mandolin is more akin to a banjo obviously, but just wondering if the quality affects their playability nearly as much?

So are you offering to restore it for me?

I don't know much about the makers of this instrument but what little I did find seems to indicate they specialized in high-end wind instruments and other stringed instruments like violins.  I think it has a lot of potential from little I was able to play it.  While I agree that various models/brands/prices of instruments (mainly guitar for me) have a wide variety of tones, I still think the player makes up the majority of the tone.  I'm very hopeful that this is going to sound sweet I just need to have it re-fretted (that's the main issue).

[delusions of grandeur]

Brentastic, on 19 April 2012 - 01:45 PM, said:

So are you offering to restore it for me?

Man, honestly there's not much to that thing, because it looks like all you can really do to the metal is polish it as best you can (chroming obviously isn't going to work for an old model like that), and I don't think you could really do much with the staining unless you wanted to go darker. Not sure what you can do with the banjo skin-thing, other than find a cleaner that will work, or if it's easily replaced if it's really rough... (Though I'm by no means an expert here, but I'll post a picture of a Squier Tele I sanded down, stained, poly-coated and put back together with upgrades. I also blacked out all the chrome on my Fender strat, that I'll post)

But unless there's more than meets the eye there, it looks like it's actually in pretty nice shape already for it's age. Do you know how to refret yourself, or you gonna have to get someone to do that?

[Brentastic]

delusions of granduer, on 19 April 2012 - 02:09 PM, said:

Man, honestly there's not much to that thing, because it looks like all you can really do to the metal is polish it as best you can (chroming obviously isn't going to work for an old model like that), and I don't think you could really do much with the staining unless you wanted to go darker. Not sure what you can do with the banjo skin-thing, other than find a cleaner that will work, or if it's easily replaced if it's really rough... (Though I'm by no means an expert here, but I'll post a picture of a Squier Tele I sanded down, stained, poly-coated and put back together with upgrades. I also blacked out all the chrome on my Fender strat, that I'll post)

But unless there's more than meets the eye there, it looks like it's actually in pretty nice shape already for it's age. Do you know how to refret yourself, or you gonna have to get someone to do that?

Yeah, I wouldn't want to clean it up about the only thing it needs done to play it is a re-fret.  We have an excellent repair shop here in Chicago called "Third Coast' and I'm going to take it to them tomorrow since I have only a 1/2 day of work.  I'll let you know the diagnosis

[nuke'em ttg]

"oh death and grief and sorrow and murder"

[Brentastic]

nuke, on 22 April 2012 - 11:12 AM, said:

"oh death and grief and sorrow and murder"

What does this mean?  For the love of GOD!  WHAT.  DOES.  THIS.  MEAN???

[BillyBalata]

Brentastic, on 22 April 2012 - 11:50 AM, said:

What does this mean?  For the love of GOD!  WHAT.  DOES.  THIS.  MEAN???

I believe that is a Steve Martin reference.

[nuke'em ttg]

Brentastic, on 22 April 2012 - 11:50 AM, said:

What does this mean?  For the love of GOD!  WHAT.  DOES.  THIS.  MEAN???

Steve Martin -" Lets get small album"
He's talkin bout never being able to play bad news with a banjo, it's always happy
check it out, i can't find it

[nuke'em ttg]

BillyBalata, on 22 April 2012 - 05:23 PM, said:

I believe that is a Steve Martin reference.

mind if i smoke

[Brentastic]

Steve Martin plays a mean banjo, that's for sure.

[Chargerz]

matt770, on 18 April 2012 - 10:31 PM, said:

Zoop zoop zoppity doop boop bee doop bop

Exactly.