Eye Candy Bowlbacks

[Jim Garber]

I was just looking on the Eye Candy bowlback (http://www.mandolincafe.com/archives/builders/bowlback.html) page and realized that there were a few makers who I was curious about:

Gabrielli
Miroglio
Frignani
De Jaco -- is that a Gelas clone? (no web site for this maker)
Tumiati
Franc Huber

Has anyone played any of these makers' instruments? Comments?

Jim

[Martin Jonas]

My mother has a Miroglio and the photos I took of it are still up here (http://www.mandolincafe.net/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=15;t=16450;hl=miroglio). #She bought it used in the 1950s, and I'd guess it's 1930s (no date). #Miroglio are (were?) a workshop in Catania and I don't think one of the more reputable ones. #My mother's is a sort-of Embergher imitation, with the typical Roman-style headstock and narrow radiussed fretboard. #However, from Miroglio's web site (recently disappeared, possibly together with the workshop), I noticed that most of their confusingly large number of models were more Neapolitan-inspired. They did, however, still offer the design of my mother's as a current model.

It's a very tidy mandolin, nicely playable, but with a very thin nasal tone. #I don't like the tone much, but my mother does and I have to admit she gets a much better tone out of it than I do, light and airy rather than thin and nasal (but then she'd had fifty years to get used to it). #My mother had played very little in recent years, but has rekindled her love affair with the mandolin in the last couple of years, since she retired, and since I've taken up the instrument and she's been able to talk shop with me. #Unfortunately, the Miroglio wasn't up to the sudden revival of playing intensity -- it has developed a crack between bridge and tailpiece (you can see it in the photos) and has become impossible to intonate without moving the bridge behind the cant. #I suspect it may be because she removed the fretboard extension. #The extension reached the far side of the soundhole and fitted into a groove in the soundboard there. #I suspect that it played a part in the bracing of the top and that removing it has weakened the structure. #That's the reason why I bought the de Meglio for her (I'll deliver it in early November) as a replacement of the Miroglio.

Great hard case with the Miroglio, by the way -- they used to know how to make them!

Martin

[Jim Garber]

Is that the same Miroglio and are they still in business? I thought that the Eye Candy pages were of contemporary makers.

Jim

[Martin Jonas]

Yes, the same Miroglio. I think your post crossed with me adding a line to my post: up to (I think) a month or two ago, Miroglio had a web site that was linked from the Eye Candy page. It didn't have much text, but it had the address of the workshop and the full company name, which were the same as on the label of my mother's. Also, it still had a model that was virtually identical to my mother's (I think the only difference was that the neck was exposed wood, not painted black).

Of course, I know nothing about the quality of their new mandolins.

Martin

[Jim Garber]

The two makers unknown to me on that page that seem the most interesting are Gabrielli and Frignani. Anybody know of these?

Jim

[Eugene]

Gabrielli and Tumiati are both better known for their early instruments. I personally have not handled work by either of these makers, but they have decent reputations. Neapolitan mandolins by Tumiati are used by Dorina Frati and Ensemble Baschenis. Neil Gladd also has fine Neapolitan by Tumiati. Marco Capucci of Ensemble Baschenis also uses a mandolino and Cremonese mandolin by Gebrielli. Mandolini by Gabrielli are played by Duilio Galfetti and Wolfgang Paul with Il Gillardino Armonico. Duilio Galfetti and Dorina Frati also play Cremonese and Neapolitan mandolins by Gabrielli on their accompanied solo CDs.

I know nothing more of Gabrielli's work than it looks mighty fine in images and appears on a number of CDs. I have heard praise for Tumiati's work, but also have heard of several problems with a few pieces: top distortion, lute bridges popping off, etc. To his credit, I have heard he takes care of his customers and sets instruments right when such stuff occurs. Again, I haven't personally handled work by either of these guys, so weigh these stories appropriately.

[Bob A]

I (very briefly) handled Neil Gladd's Tumiati. It was shockingly light, and seemed to be having a hard time with the strings it came from the shop with. Probably needs spider-silk.

[Jim Garber]

I would imagine that the strings would be Calaces, no?

Jim

[Eugene]

I would imagine that the strings would be Calaces, no?
Not on an early Neapolitan patterned after 18th-c. Vinaccias. I don't know exactly what Tumiati ships on his stuff other than he uses a very fine wire e" rather than historic gut.

[Jim Garber]

Sorry I assumed that it was a modern style neapolitan.

Jim

[Eugene]

I had really thought Frignani was a restorer of old instruments. I'm not certain he builds mandolins from the ground up. In my own internet bookmarks, he lives in my "instruments for sale" not my "luthiers" folder.

[vkioulaphides]

Well, Jim, here is the little I know:

Gabrielli: Yes, fine looking instruments, played by a few but discerning performers; I cannot recall the tone-quality off hand, though.

Miroglio: A mass-producer akin to Musikalia. In Italy and Greece, Miroglios are as common as cicadas in the summer. I have played several ones and have not bought one; I say no more. (To give them the benefit of the doubt, there may well be higher-end Miroglios, which presumably work and sound better than the $150 instruments I have seen in such abundance.)

Frignani: As Eugene writes, I don't know of any instruments BY Frignani, just some for sale by the company. Again, there is an awful lot I do not know...

Tumiati: A very impressive shop, with a good website. If I ever contracted the Early Instrument Replica Acquisition Syndrome *shudders!* , I would probably look into Tumiati's products. But, again, as Eugene writes, I too have heard stories of structural problems with these instruments.