preactor
Tele-Afflicted
Found this old girl at a yard sale for cheap. Some splitting on the back but it seems all the parts are there. Brilliantone Mando. 16.5" scale. Any info would be appreciated. 
New Old Mandola Day
- Thread starter preactor
- Start date
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chezdeluxe
Doctor of Teleocity
Nice score
preactor
Tele-Afflicted
Thanks
Toadtele
Friend of Leo's
That is so cool. Congratulations. Unfortunately I don’t have any info but I am curious.
I have run into a number of old Neapolitan bowl back mandolins and been asked to fix them up and make them playable. They often need neck resets and have very small dovetails that are tricky to work on, they have small frets which are tricky to dress and they frequently have that little bend in the top like a gypsy jazz guitar. Tuners can be hard to find as are bridges if it is missing,
They are cool and kind of funky old instruments but frankly often don't sound all that great. Yours might be Brazilian, the crack will be hard to cleat working thru the sound hole. Have fun.
They are cool and kind of funky old instruments but frankly often don't sound all that great. Yours might be Brazilian, the crack will be hard to cleat working thru the sound hole. Have fun.
preactor
Tele-Afflicted
Have not tried to put strings on it yet. No cracks between neck and body.
Not familiar with Brilliantone, but I'm not expert in anything. Did find this online piece of a Brilliantone with some historical info. Don't know if it's reliable or not, but it's at least a place to start.
c.1910 Leland "Brilliantone" Mandolin
While it's labeled "L.H. Leland Brilliantone Mando" this was sold by Lyon & Healy, though much evidence (and more rumor?) has been collected...
jakewildwood.blogspot.com Also, one of our colleagues here, @mandoloony is knowledgeable and helpful in many facets of all kinds of mandolins and hopefully, he'll show up in this thread.
preactor
Tele-Afflicted
Thank you for the info.
trapdoor2
Poster Extraordinaire
I've seen one of their mandolins, not a mandola. As part of an antique instrument collector's group (banjo collectors), discovering who actually built what can be a nightmare. Many, many labels (like Leland) were outsourced to jobbers. You would have to find the Leland order books to discover who actually made them. I've seen Larson, Lyon & Healy, Ditson and others named. AFAIK, the documentation is simply missing...therefore guesswork prevails. Sometimes you get lucky and find advertisements in period trade publications that mention, "so-and-so is now building a new line of instruments for Xxx." Famous trademarks got traded around like so many baseball cards.
In any case, the Leland mandos appear to have a reputation as excellent instruments, well worth bringing back to life. They're flat-back, which was a response to Orville Gibson's designs at the turn of the 20th century. Vega, Martin, L&H, Leland and Weymann (others as well) all tried to cash in on the design, probably because it was cheap and quick to build.
I have a Flatiron Mandola that I ordered from the factory back in the 80s. It looks very close to your Leland. Plays great, sounds amazing. I hope you can get her up and running!
BTW, Flatiron recommended the following string sizes for my 17" scale mandola:
1st: .012"
2nd: .021"
3rd: .032"
4th: .049"
I might drop those down a couple of thou' due to age, etc. Tuning for mandola is CGDA, just in case.
In any case, the Leland mandos appear to have a reputation as excellent instruments, well worth bringing back to life. They're flat-back, which was a response to Orville Gibson's designs at the turn of the 20th century. Vega, Martin, L&H, Leland and Weymann (others as well) all tried to cash in on the design, probably because it was cheap and quick to build.
I have a Flatiron Mandola that I ordered from the factory back in the 80s. It looks very close to your Leland. Plays great, sounds amazing. I hope you can get her up and running!
BTW, Flatiron recommended the following string sizes for my 17" scale mandola:
1st: .012"
2nd: .021"
3rd: .032"
4th: .049"
I might drop those down a couple of thou' due to age, etc. Tuning for mandola is CGDA, just in case.
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howardlo
Friend of Leo's
My first electric guitar was a 1959 Danelectro Double Cut Deluxe with three pickups. I got it in 1959 from an older neighbor kid who had gotten a new Fender Strat.
A couple years later I dropped it and it fell down the basement stairs and broke the neck. I had heard of a man that was a Gary, Indiana fireman that built string instruments and did repairs. His name was Milan Opacich. I took the guitar to him and he repaired it in his basement workshop. Looked like new.
A year or so later I got a B-5 Bigsby and wanted it installed on the Dano, so took it back to Milan.
Twenty years later I had a Martin acoustic that needed some work so I again took it to Milan. By then he had moved to a neighboring town and his shop was in his attached two and a half car garage. I knew he was a master builder of Eastern European stringed instruments from my previous visits with him. This time I realized what a great builder he was. Not only did he build amazing very ornate Eastern European instruments he had pictures and letter on the wall of players he had built guitars for. Those pictures of the players with their guitars and letters of thanks were from players like Chet Atkins, Roy Clark and a number of other big names. He had also built a mandolin for Roy Clark and I believe another one for Ricky Skaggs.
A couple years later I was building an F-5 mandolin and got stumped a bit so took it over to him for some tips. He was happy to help.
Me with my Dano that had the neck repair and with the Bigsby installed by Milan in about 1964.
Here is an article about Milan. He was just great guy that loved to talk about instruments. I think that @Freeman Keller might appreciate this.
www.mastersoftraditionalarts.org
A couple years later I dropped it and it fell down the basement stairs and broke the neck. I had heard of a man that was a Gary, Indiana fireman that built string instruments and did repairs. His name was Milan Opacich. I took the guitar to him and he repaired it in his basement workshop. Looked like new.
A year or so later I got a B-5 Bigsby and wanted it installed on the Dano, so took it back to Milan.
Twenty years later I had a Martin acoustic that needed some work so I again took it to Milan. By then he had moved to a neighboring town and his shop was in his attached two and a half car garage. I knew he was a master builder of Eastern European stringed instruments from my previous visits with him. This time I realized what a great builder he was. Not only did he build amazing very ornate Eastern European instruments he had pictures and letter on the wall of players he had built guitars for. Those pictures of the players with their guitars and letters of thanks were from players like Chet Atkins, Roy Clark and a number of other big names. He had also built a mandolin for Roy Clark and I believe another one for Ricky Skaggs.
A couple years later I was building an F-5 mandolin and got stumped a bit so took it over to him for some tips. He was happy to help.
Me with my Dano that had the neck repair and with the Bigsby installed by Milan in about 1964.
Here is an article about Milan. He was just great guy that loved to talk about instruments. I think that @Freeman Keller might appreciate this.
Milan Opacich – Masters of Traditional Arts
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