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Or it's time to change those strings: I use EFW74's - also long lasting, but I change the plain strings every few months as they loose some sweetness after that.

Good luck with that - last time I had to do that, I bought appropriate thickness strip and cut it down... it took ages!

Yes absolutely. What I was trying to say, was that once you have some measure of asymmetry, either in the top construction (bracing) or soundhole placement (side port), then that cancellation *may*...

So much subtlety, and so much we don't understand yet, but... the defining difference between the instruments you mention is generally the width of the top, as well as the level of activity of the...

+1 on that.

The "thicker" sound from US style archtop mandolins comes from their construction method - relatively thick strong and ached tops with much heavier strings. Flattop mandolins -...

If only I could remember what I said I might be amused - my apologies for any inadvertent offence!

<Sorry... that UK usage has a different meaning in the U.S.>

All good advice, but this is a 6 year old thread ;)

For me the biggest issue is tuner buttons that turn the "wrong way" that just really bugs me. Back in the day though they weren't too fussy about these things, I've seen original tuners in all 4...

Interesting to find a US made bowl over this side of the pond, our American colleagues will no doubt have a better idea about the maker. Lovely looking instrument though!

What Randi said about...

From what I can tell from internet photos there's no truss rod, and the fretboard is flat not radiused? You may need the frets levelling and dressing (and no, the "box shifters" do NOT do that...

Afterwards for me, though I don't have "floating" fretboard extensions to worry about. I feel it's easier to get a good level fretboard that way - so less fret levelling afterwards. The thing is...

As far as the acoustic of the instrument goes, the shape of the bowl matters very little compared to it's overall volume. There's also some good research that shows bowlback backs participate very...

I think it depends - certainly that is a "mode of failure" for Neapolitans, this is not to say there isn't downward pressure on the top though, and of course US bowls with their less arched tops tend...

A few ideas here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlnUGKXjWJE&t=28s

Thanks Tom: they do sound good, but mostly I can't help but think that I'm hearing the room as much as the mandolin. I also just flat out disagree with the line that "Most mandolins play sharp on...

+1 on what others have said, you're going to need a ships cable on that low G. Good luck with the fingering!

In addition to what Dave said, I would say that the paper is strong on measuring, and short on conclusions ;)

They did note that the bowl has effectively no contribution to the resonances, that...

I'd reiterate what others have said - plug the instrument and preamp into a recording interface, and either monitor directly via headphones, or record and playback. You could even compare directly...

Interesting to see someone investigating the science of bowlbacks https://brill.com/view/journals/ijwc/2/1-3/article-p1_1.xml

From someone sitting on the selling side of the fence this is all good interesting stuff, so thanks for the tips ;)

Seriously though, some of us do worry about how to adequately demonstrate stuff...

Not sure if this works when driving... but I'd give a shout out for FolkAlley and indeed the many other "curated" services out there, if only because they do force you to listen to new stuff from...

Me neither, and I'm in the "nut enough data" range as well.

I was moderately surprised (and somewhat pleased) that "How to Hold a Bowlback Mandolin" is my most viewed though.

Other way around, the older 24 fret one has the English label with the serial number, the Italian label without the number is on the newer 22 fret one.



Yes same size.



Haha, I've had a...

One of these I've been playing for while, the other is newly restored, not often you get two of these in the same place at the same time!

In addition to the level of decoration, the main...