Well as you can find in some other threads on this great forum, it's a bit difficult to don't loose the tracks because Continental, Amistar, and what is called today "Continental" share something in common in their DNA.
Today some facts beggan to appear.
At first "Continental" began with a team of German National enthousiast, they have this great idea to bring back on the market those mysterious instruments.
As you know they started with the ambitious task of making a tricone without any one on hand, and Michael tracings was a very important step in this venture.
It seems they have connections with Japan for making their necks.
(it may be the case because some interactions exist between Continental and Sigma/Martin, but I won't trust anything untill more solid info will be found; when you start a research about Continental, you can read too many fantasy...perhaps because they appeared just before internet, at a time when very few persons know something valuable about the Nationals ? so funny legends can easely go around ).
They find Frantizek Javurek to build the bodies and metal parts in Czech, we have to remember that the Iron Wall just went to fall; in '92 in Czech it was a great blow of fresh air, and a big need to open for the west.
Necks and body are fitted in germany in a second time...but we can also think about just a set up and finishing, allowing the sticker to adorn "made in germany".
These 92/93 Continentals triplates aren't the first made after the war, but the first made in large batches and put on the market.
(I have an old Elderly catalog thundering this astounding new)
Then in '96 Frantizek choose to split with Continental and he start his own company "AMISTAR"...we can wonder if this name sound like a clever attempt to carry somewhat of the aura of "AMI Gmbh" who owned Continental ?
It seems that's when the venture began in Shangaï with Continental at first in AXL factory, folowed by a cheaper line named "Johnson" but you can find some "AXL" branded instruments very similar to Continental of this period.
It seems that they started mandolins in this period of time (under Johnson brand but still made in AXL factory), and many of these mandolins show a lovely flamed mapple neck with rosewood cap, absolutely similar to the ones made for the chinese Continental triplates.
(perhaps these necks still coming from Japan as their shape is very close to the first mahogany necks from the first period ?).
Ukuleles seems to appear here too, but they have a very special shape, wery close to the Beltonas...sized between big and small body National.
So when you want to know about the Amistar molds, they stayed in Czech and still producing Amistar bodies untill Franta passing.
And perhaps the same molds are now used by Leewald, an associate of Franta still producing resonator instruments carrying a lot of Amistar spirit.
The Shangaï molds are different in shape and size, and they are used now for every brand sourced from China.
I don't want to put on the table another fantasy, but I have some doubt about a certain picture found on the web, showing metal workers in a factory claimed to be the place where Amistar are made, but not any of this machinery and tools are useable in resonator guitar making, despite a worker posing with a body in front of a machine...all that look like acting...nothing has to do with guitar making in this factory.
Do they want to hide any componements by fear of copycats, or do they want to argue that they don't have nothing to do with China?...
That's around this time we heard about eventualy China made Amistars.
In the late years of Amistar, Fratizek proudly claimed at a NAMM show interview that they made a very big amount of instruments a year.
That's when some new designs appear in the Amistar line, some parts show a different shape than in the previous years, tailpieces, handrest... to my ears, perhaps they had some parts coming from China to allow this impressive number of production for such a small factory ?
(I never had an Amistar of this period in hand, so I can't bet if their bodies are stil made in the Czech mold)
That can't diminish none of the beauty of Amistars.
Oh and for the Amistar sound, it's difficult to say in words, but I always found them a bit dry.
Their bass aren't realy what you can hope from a really good tricone.
Perhaps their cones are a bit stiffer?
For the few I have in hands, I've seen a set up very strongly done around the neck stick, you can feel something very tied and rigid, the third mushrom comming very high under the fingerboard (normaly it sits closer from the soundwell), and from what I understand from repairing few cheap tricones, when too much tension is inside, the bass can't flourish well.
Also the neck angle seems a bit high, so the bridge saddle too, that give a powerfull sound but somewhat cold to my ears.
That said they are very comfortable to play and nicely detailed.
If we look at the first batch of 1993 tricones, their neckstick is too thin, and they was shapped in a weird design, perhaps inspired by the curved shape of some pre war metal body Dobro models ?
This neckstick aren't efficent, and the whole body get distorded under string tension.
It's perhaps for this reason they put a wild screw on the back, this long screw goes trough the stick and stop just under the top, a desesperate way to keep the neck in line with the neck ?
But it weaken the glueing area and many of these models have troubles.
(in National necks the neckstick is glued inside a pocket diged in the neck, like on banjoes, but in many import instrument the stick is glued face to face with the neck, with two dowels inside the joint, so you can imagine what's happen when a screw cross this fussy area....).
In Amistars also the stick don't come so close enough to the back, like in these early Continentals, and it goes trought the side by a smaller hole than standard.
When you think about the factors of lever and cissoring, the less perpendicular surface of wood allows more moving under tension.
Perhaps this plays a significant role in the way they set up their instruments and how they can sound, perhaps if Franta had an original triplate on hand things may be different ?
All that shared with humility, I maybe wrong (my memory's not always perfect) carrying false stories ...once again, but this is what you may found by yourself crossing researches and what this brilliant forum make appear in few other threads.
