Bowlbacks of Note

**Jim Garber** · Jun-13-2007, 6:56pm

It is this one (on the right) sold (not to me!) on eBay in April of this year. It is a true basket case, tho. The back is scary and would be one for Mr. Hynds.

Jim

**brunello97** · Jun-13-2007, 7:32pm

That's the one, Jim. For some reason I wasn't able to snag a full Monty view. Interesting name, Gaetano Puntoillo. Kind of an infamous Italian moniker. My barber in Austin has the same name. We never talk politics, though.

Mick

**Eugene** · Jun-13-2007, 8:25pm

Originally Posted by (brunello97 @ June 13 2007, 10:03)

Jim - sorry for being so often obscure. #I've been busting our Eugene for about a year on his inflationary Martin comments. #Referencing the Hunt Bros. and their silver cabal is probably less accurate than linking Eugene to Alan Greenspan. #The price of used Martins seems to ebb and flow relative to Eugene's statements here at the MC.

Martin stinks! #(There, maybe I can afford to buy another now.) #One thing I really like about the mature Martin aesthetic is the shifting of the soundhole a couple cm toward the bridge to accommodate a full 20 frets. #I don't have a real explanation for why, I just really like that look.

**brunello97** · Jun-14-2007, 7:39am

Thanks, Eugene, it helps to have an insider's access to these pronouncements...maybe I'll be able to afford a Martin upgrade myself. Mine is a modest 00 but as you said it boasts a slightly longer fretboard than my GreatLakesRim reps-something I hadn't i.d.ed before but perhaps sensed, as someone in PA had the eye then to slightly taper the return curve of the bowl to the neckside of the soundhole. Very subtle but elegant even on the student models. Actually, someone had done an incomplete refret job on it before I got it. It was chewing up my hands and I finally sat down last month and reworked all the frets. Now it plays (and sounds) much more enjoyable. I'd love to upgrade if good fortune allows - or perhaps snake a Martin made-for X version, hence some of my ongoing interest in the intertwinings of US east coast makers.

Mick

**Eugene** · Jun-15-2007, 12:12am

Originally Posted by (jgarber @ June 13 2007, 19:56)

It is this one (on the right) sold (not to me!) on eBay in April of this year. It is a true basket case, tho. The back is scary and would be one for Mr. Hynds.

Out of curiosity, is the one on the left an early, entry-level Fairbanks?

**Jim Garber** · Jun-15-2007, 4:44am

Eugene:
You never fail to amaze me!! Yes, indeed!

Jim

**Jim Garber** · Jun-17-2007, 8:49am

Hmmm... what is Carlo Mazzacarra up to here? Some rejects from his workshop?

Jim

**Neil Gladd** · Jun-17-2007, 9:24am

Originally Posted by (jgarber @ June 17 2007, 09:49)

Hmmm... what is Carlo Mazzacarra up to here? Some rejects from his workshop?

That IS very strange. Some of those necks look a bit on the short side. I had never really thought about the order of construction, but it also looks very strange to have uncarved necks attached to a finished bowl. Having only built electric mandolins, myself, the neck was always fully carved before it was attached to the body.

**trebleclef528** · Jun-18-2007, 11:07am

<a href="http://cgi.ebay.it/MANDOLINO-A-DOGHE-SCANNELLATE-DEI-PRIMI-900-mandolin_W0QQitemZ150131780128QQihZ005QQcatego
ryZ10179QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem" target="_blank">this</a> is a strange one indeed. What looks to be like a very low end of the market mandolin... possibly German, and yet the luthier choose to make a fluted back. Looks from the photos like it may be an ebony fingerboard.... but apart from that it looks cheap from the front

**Bill Snyder** · Jun-18-2007, 9:33pm

Originally Posted by (trebleclef528 @ June 18 2007, 11:07)

<a href="http://cgi.ebay.it/MANDOLINO-A-DOGHE-SCANNELLATE-DEI-PRIMI-900-mandolin_W0QQitemZ150131780128QQihZ005QQcatego

ryZ10179QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem" target="_blank">this</a> is a strange one indeed. What looks to be like a very low end of the market mandolin... possibly German, and yet the luthier choose to make a fluted back. Looks from the photos like it may be an ebony fingerboard.... but apart from that it looks cheap from the front

What bothers me about that mandolin is the soundhole is off center.

**Jim Garber** · Jun-18-2007, 9:54pm

Not alone in that... check out this Cristofaro. Makes me very nervous.

Jim

**brunello97** · Jun-18-2007, 10:08pm

As the artist Donald Judd wrote in his book "Architektur":

'Symmetry is good. Asymmetry is bad.'

And he walked the walk.

Mick

**Jim Garber** · Jun-19-2007, 8:04pm

An interesting, rather plain no-name. The most fascinating part is the tuners. One-piece cover plate on the front with spool buttons.

Jim

**Fliss** · Jun-20-2007, 12:42pm

Something doesn't look right to me about this De Meglio - what do you folks think about the angle of the headstock?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws....ddle:uk #

The date is 1895 - could it just be an early variation?

Fliss

**Bob A** · Jun-20-2007, 1:49pm

I've not seen one with the string trees on the peghead before; I think the odd look is due to that arrangement (which looks original to the instrumenta). Perhaps the modification did not work as well as intended, and was changed for later examples.

I think a price in excess of 500 US is a little steep for De Meglio, but I'm no expert on the model.

**Martin Jonas** · Jun-20-2007, 2:32pm

Just a proof that there's nothing new in the world: this is precisely the same invention as Leo Fender was to have fifty-odd years later and is why a Stratocaster has a headstock that is in a straight line with the neck and a Les Paul has an angle backward. Putting string trees on the headstock means you don't need to angle the headstock back from the neck. This in turn makes headstock construction easier and cheaper: you can use a single straight piece of wood for neck and head, whereas with an angled headstock you either need a joint (a potential week point) or carve it out of a much larger piece of wood (more expensive and more work). The de Meglio looks odd because of the straight line of neck and head.

The price is about right for one in perfect condition, although few Ebay bowlbacks are.

Martin

**brunello97** · Jun-20-2007, 8:48pm

Forgive me if this is a repost but this Vinaccia looks pretty fabulous. The label looks hand-lettered, which I suppose if the date is correct would be the case.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws....=1&rd=1

Even when the world was going Roccoco, these guys had style.

Mick

**Bill Snyder** · Jun-21-2007, 7:45am

Here is a no name at shopgoodwill.com.

**Jim Garber** · Jun-21-2007, 11:11am

Originally Posted by (Curious @ June 21 2007, 08:45)

Here is a no name at shopgoodwill.com.

Ah yes... a CDU (collective decorative ukulele). Looks like the top has sunk. This too shall pass.

Jim

**Fliss** · Jun-21-2007, 12:36pm

Another De Meglio on ebay UK, not in such good condition as the previous one.

<a href="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Antique-Mandolin-Giovanni-de-Meglio-NAPLES-1897-NAPOLI_W0QQitemZ110141361297QQihZ001QQcate
goryZ10179QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem" target="_blank">http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Antique....iewItem</a>

Fliss

**Martin Jonas** · Jun-21-2007, 5:47pm

Ceccherini on Ebay UK. Very similar level of decoration to mine, and looking pretty clean, but there is a crack in the soundboard which isn't shown particularly well in any of the photos. Remarkably, this is the very first Ceccherini I've seen that does not have an Alban Voigt label, but instead a label listing a different UK distributor. It still appears, though, that Umberto was working exclusively for the British market, presumably satisfying the demand created by Leopoldo Francia's wild Society success in 1890s London.

Martin

**Alex Timmerman** · Jun-21-2007, 6:38pm

Hello friends,

A nice Orchestra Model No. 3 Embergher has come up for auction at E-bay Germany.

<a href="http://cgi.ebay.de/Mandoline-mandolin-Luigi-Embergher-Tipo-No-3-1926_W0QQitemZ130125917642QQihZ003QQcategoryZ

21591QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebaypho tohosting" target="_blank">Click this line to see it.</a>

It needs (as you can see) a good restorer but will, I am sure, eventually be again a very nice mandolin.

Best,

Alex

**brunello97** · Jun-21-2007, 6:43pm

Originally Posted by (Fliss @ June 21 2007, 13:36)

Another De Meglio on ebay UK, not in such good condition as the previous one.

<a href="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Antique-Mandolin-Giovanni-de-Meglio-NAPLES-1897-NAPOLI_W0QQitemZ110141361297QQihZ001QQcate

goryZ10179QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem" target="_blank">http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Antique....iewItem</a> #

Fliss

Relative to our recent conversation regarding shipping from the UK this seller says 18L shipping to the US. I'm properly perked.

I've never really understood English money. Farthing, quid, pence, sterling, etc. etc.

Right off, I'm in for a tuppence on this, I think, maybe more. (Or is it schilling?) Now, see what the Euro has wrought?

Mick

**Jim Garber** · Jun-21-2007, 7:48pm

Originally Posted by (Alex @ June 21 2007, 19:38)

A nice Orchestra Model No. 3 Embergher has come up for auction at E-bay Germany.

Oh, man, that is my dream Embergher. Hmmmm... I have 9 days to sell off a few things to afford the high price. Possible. It looks like the usual warped top etc. Could be worse.

I love the freetranslation.com translation of the first line of his description:

Originally Posted by

Crazy instrument of the instruments farmer best perhaps of the romantic mandolin era, Luigi Embergher out of the year 1926.

Yes, old Luigi was certainly a great instrument farmer. I can just see him plowing the fields of those Emberghers...

Jim

**Martin Jonas** · Jun-22-2007, 1:53am

Originally Posted by (brunello97 @ June 21 2007, 19:43)

Originally Posted by (Fliss @ June 21 2007, 13:36)

Another De Meglio on ebay UK, not in such good condition as the previous one.

Right off, I'm in for a tuppence on this, I think, maybe more. (Or is it schilling?) Now, see what the Euro has wrought?

Replacement bridge and replacement nut. Possibly more importantly, some reptile dentistry on the headstock joint. I'd be very concerned about the structural integrity of this one.

Martin