mandolin guitar???

Ken Williams · From: Arkansas

Have any of you ever heard of a Mandolin-Guitar made by Felix Oscar Schmidt. This thing looks kinda like a autoharp. It comes with a little hammer for striking the strings. The hammer has a flexible handle. With the right touch, the hammer head will bounce quickly on the strings producing a mandolin type sound. Anyway, my mother-in- law owns this and was curious about how much it might be worth. I can't find a date on it but I think it dates at least beyond 1920. I haven't been able to find much about it on the internet.

Thanks,
Ken

[This message was edited by Ken Williams on 06 January 2003 at 12:49 PM.]

Tony Davis · From: Brisbane, QLD, Australia

Hey Ken!.....if its what I am thinking of......same shape as an autoharp but with out the chord bars going across.....and all single strings going up chromatically....well I had one given to me once...but it was in such a bad state that I threw it away......it was a Zither...that is what the one I had was called......I dont recall seeing the hammer used...I think I have only seen one played once on T.V by a Lady Called Shirley Abicair...an Australian........made a name for herself in the late '50's...early '60's.
I have no idea of the value.......I do have an old auto harp some where that I used to play either with a pick or with finger picks.......just not sure where it is at the moment!
Tony

Rainer Hackstaette · From: Bohmte, Germany

Ken,

does it look like this?
http://www.usd.edu/smm/mandogui.html

It seems to be a cross between a zither and a hackbrett. The hackbrett is played with two wooden hammers, however.

Rainer

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Ken Williams · From: Arkansas

Rainer, that looks like it except we don't have but one hammer and it's made of metal. Inside the hole it says Easy Method, Mandolin Guitar, Felix Schmidt Price $25.00. There's an eagle emblem below the strings. I read somewhere on the net about a liberty model that was made in 1919 but I can't find the term "liberty model" on it anywhere.

Ken

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