Weber makes every carved family model in every voicing – mandolin, mandola, octave mandolin and mandocello. We commend them for their versatility and, as well, for the extremely high quality of their design and workmanship. This has a standard 17” scale length, a polished ebony headplate that bears the stylized “Weber” Victorian era typeface logo and a complicated Celtic knot thereunder – both in ivoroid. Tuners are open-gear, four-on-a-plate, with engraving on the plate and ebony buttons. The fingerboard is matte ebony having 21 full sized frets and then a 1 1/16th” recessed scoop and it is inlaid in 6 fret positions by 7 small pearl diamonds. The nut appears to be mother of pearl; the bridge is ebony and designed by Brekke so it has a proprietary height adjustment system and a deliberate ”twisted” shape that works extremely effectively to promote proper intonation.
The hinged and easy-open tailpiece is gold plated and is ringed by delicate filigree around its top surface. Each side is bound in single ply ivoroid; the back is made from two matched pieces of tiger stripe flame maple, as are the sides and the back of the neck, equally flamed, is one-piece. A prior owner has insinuated a pewter-colored strap button in the treble side of the neck heel; the factory provides a button at the bottom. At this moment this mandolin is equipped with an ebony arm rest held in place by two carpenter clamps like a violin chinrest. This mandola shows minor signs of use including some small dings, marks, light surface scratches that are barely there but need to be pointed out in order to achieve full disclosure. There is a larger ding/scrape on the back of the neck behind the first fret. There is some unevenness of the finish at the joint of the elevated fingerboard to the fingerboard shim on both sides, and some lines where the finish is sinking into the joint of the headplate overlay and the neck just above the nut. There are also some small chips and scuffs on the edges of the headstock in that area. There is a slight amount of sinkage into the back seam that is not any sort of problem and the only other thing we can say is that if a future owner wanted to remove the armrest there could be some marks in the surfaces where it has lain or under the carpenter clamps.