This is the mandolin that my brother bought in the Soviet Union/CIS in 1992 (right before it became not that any more -- as a matter of fact, if I recall correctly, he came home three days before Yeltsin's coup). So it's a piece of specific history. I don't know much about it. I will have to ask him exactly when and where he bought it, as it could have been anywhere along his route. He also bought some assorted Soviet-ish memorabilia, a very nice portrait of himself that my parents still have hanging up, a Gorbachev matrushka doll that has all the previous Soviet leaders inside (the tiniest one is the last czar!), and two of those bobbling wooden dolls that stand up when you tip them over.
I haven't looked at this mandolin in years, though I've been talking about doing something with it on and off for years, but my dad sent me photos at my request so I could think about whether it was playable, and my faithful friend Brent took a look and said he thinks it might be. A quick google tells me that the top wood, which you can't see but has a very straight grain, is quite probably beech or birch. The bridge is probably maple. In other words, it might not be the piece of crap I remember it being. It's a bowl-back, as you might guess. I'm going to take good strings and see what I can do with it in NJ. My real fear is that the tuners just won't hold tune. We'll see.
I've never been one to name inanimate objects other than stuffed animals when I was a child, but I almost feel like this one needs a name. Perestroika, maybe?
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