Before 1922, the most popular mandolins had oval-shaped sound holes. They gave a distinctive sound which played a significant role in shaping up the sound of popular music of the day.
The small size, along with relative affordability made the instrument perfect for a wide variety of musical styles. To date, popular A-style instruments of the past are still played by expert musicians and remain coveted by collectors all around the world.
The Kentucky KM-270 mandolin incorporates classic design features, and uses the best quality tonewoods. Specifications are listed below:
- The back and side material is made of solid maple
- The binding is made of Ivoroid
- The material used for a bridge is Rosewood carrying Adjustment Wheels
- The Fingerboard Binding contains White ABS
- The Fingerboard Inlay contains M-O-P dots
- Rosewood is the material used in fingerboard
- The instrument does come in natural blonde version (KM-272)
- There is a dovetail body joint
- One-piece maple is the material used for the neck
- The peghead inlay contains a vintage wreath white pearl along with a pearl Kentucky script
- Snakehead rosewood is used for peghead overlay
- The tailpiece is nickel-plated with cover plate and leather insert
- The top of this instrument is solid spruce