Official Luthiers Forum!

I am working on an EMPIRE bowlback mandolin, it has a creamcolored plastic round disc, about 2 in dia set in the tuning head. can anyone tell me any thing about it? it has an inlayed mop butterfly for a pick guard and mop set in the binding around the soundboard. its zitka spruce and rosewood i think. I'm looking on line now but would appreciate some help. sorry i don't have pictures. maybe i can get my daughter to take some and put them on later. thanks jim

Pics might help . There were alot of those bowlbacks around , ive redone a couple myself .

_________________
The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

Empire was a brand sold by the Oliver Ditson company if you didn't know that. They actually didn't produce any instruments that I know of. They were all made by other manufacturers for them. Martin made some instruments for them including guitars and even mandolins under the empire brand but that doesn't mean that yours is a martin though. Other companies made them for that same brand. That could help you do more research on google. I have seen a few of these but can't remember ever seeing a white round thing on the head stock.

_________________
Another day, another dollar.

here is the button on the turning head

this is empire state button

I dont remember seeing this one before either . looks like some google research is gonna be needed . what kind of shape is the mando in? sorry i couldnt be more help .

_________________
The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

You didn't say Empire state you just said Empire so I assumed it was a Ditson Empire mandolin. Empire state is a different brand made by Viohl company. I'll assume the medallion is probably cellulose plastic. Not that I'm trying to sway people away from the OLF but the Mandolin Cafe has a great forum that can provide you with probably more answers related to mandolins. There are a lot of members there who are builders and repairmen that specialize in mandolins. I love both forums. I mainly come here for guitar building and there for mandolin building. here is an old post on the mandolin your talking about...Mike
http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/showthread.php?18539-Unknown-Mandolins

_________________
Another day, another dollar.