Results 1 to 17 of 17

Thread: it's been three days ...

  1. #1

    Default it's been three days ...

    ... since i said anything about my new bowlback - anybody want to ask me any questions?

  2. #2
    Registered User Mike Snyder's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Neosho, Mo
    Posts
    2,320

    Default Re: it's been three days ...

    How do you like your new bowlback, bill?
    Mike Snyder

  3. #3

    Default Re: it's been three days ...

    You have a new bowlback?

  4. #4

    Default Re: it's been three days ...

    (thanks mike - 5'er's in the post)

    well ... since you ask - i'm nuts about it - can't put it down. there's a definite "bowlback" tonality" and i don't know why it never appealed to me before. i don't imagine it's suitable for a lot of music but for playing ethnic and early music "ditties" it's absolutely great.

    one thing i've noticed is the way - the angle - at which i place my fingers between the frets to make the notes - they sound better if the very top of the finger-tips are used - closest to the nail - instead of a bit further down towards the pads of the fingers.

  5. #5
    Moderator JEStanek's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Location
    Pottstown, Pennsylvania, United States
    Posts
    14,284
    Blog Entries
    2

    Default Re: it's been three days ...

    Welcome to the Order of the Bowl. They have very interesting voices. Remind us, here, what kind did you get?

    Jamie
    There are two things to aim at in life: first, to get what you want; and, after that, to enjoy it. Only the wisest of mankind achieve the second. Logan Pearsall Smith, 1865 - 1946

    + Give Blood, Save a Life +

  6. #6
    Registered User wildpikr's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Louisiana, USA
    Posts
    703

    Default Re: it's been three days ...

    Some pictures would be nice...
    Mike

    Those who think they should think, like they think others think they should think, need to think out their thinking, I think.

    No envejecemos, maduramos. -Pablo Picasso

  7. #7
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    Westchester, NY
    Posts
    30,753

    Default Re: it's been three days ...

    Quote Originally Posted by billkilpatrick View Post
    i don't imagine it's suitable for a lot of music but for playing ethnic and early music "ditties" it's absolutely great.
    I dunno... sometimes I pick up whatever mandolin is at hand and often it is a bowlback. I have even played old time music, swing and a Swedish tune or two on my Embergher. The tonality is different and puts a different accent on whatever music you play on it. Hey, I would even try some bluegrass, in spite of what everyone says.
    Jim

    My Stream on Soundcloud
    Facebook
    19th Century Tunes
    Playing lately:
    1924 Gibson A4 - 2018 Campanella A-5 - 2007 Brentrup A4C - 1915 Frank Merwin Ashley violin - Huss & Dalton DS - 1923 Gibson A2 black snakehead - '83 Flatiron A5-2 - 1939 Gibson L-00 - 1936 Epiphone Deluxe - 1928 Gibson L-5 - ca. 1890s Fairbanks Senator Banjo - ca. 1923 Vega Style M tenor banjo - ca. 1920 Weymann Style 25 Mandolin-Banjo - National RM-1

  8. #8

    Default Re: it's been three days ...

    i've seen it played for blues ... a tad eccentric, however. here's my flavor of the month:

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	IMG_1082.jpg 
Views:	164 
Size:	202.7 KB 
ID:	85706Click image for larger version. 

Name:	IMG_1083.jpg 
Views:	154 
Size:	178.9 KB 
ID:	85707Click image for larger version. 

Name:	IMG_1084.jpg 
Views:	145 
Size:	180.1 KB 
ID:	85708Click image for larger version. 

Name:	IMG_1085.jpg 
Views:	158 
Size:	181.7 KB 
ID:	85709

  9. #9
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Location
    Wisconsin
    Posts
    61

    Default Re: it's been three days ...

    It's a beauty. Do you have to adjust your overall playing position for the larger body?
    ----------------------------------------
    2018 Collings MT2
    2014 Collings MT2

  10. #10

    Default Re: it's been three days ...

    the bowl is a little deeper than "normal" but no, not much - once you get used to the bowl (any bowl) it's easy to adapt

  11. #11

    Default Re: it's been three days ...

    ...And some of us started on the bowl and have much greater difficulty adapting to those skinnier mandolin formats. Enjoy, Bill!

  12. #12
    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Upstate New York
    Posts
    24,807
    Blog Entries
    56

    Default Re: it's been three days ...

    Ah, that is the one you got off of ebay a bit ago. Post 747 of

    http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/sh...others)/page30

    I am really glad you got a good one. It is lovely. Sort of a gypsy jazz version of a bowlback.

    I would love someone to sus out who makes that one and what else they make.
    A talent for trivializin' the momentous and complicatin' the obvious.

    The entire staff
    funny....

  13. #13
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    Westchester, NY
    Posts
    30,753

    Default Re: it's been three days ...

    Quote Originally Posted by JeffD View Post
    I would love someone to sus out who makes that one and what else they make.
    It is possible that whoever made it for Wunderlich is no longer in existence. In fact, I am not sure if Wunderlich is in existence. if they are, there is a slight chance they would have records, but I would not count on it. Markneukrichen was the Chicago of Germany and there prob were hundreds of makers and distributors and it was prob as tangled and incestuous as Chicago was in the musical instrument heydays.
    Jim

    My Stream on Soundcloud
    Facebook
    19th Century Tunes
    Playing lately:
    1924 Gibson A4 - 2018 Campanella A-5 - 2007 Brentrup A4C - 1915 Frank Merwin Ashley violin - Huss & Dalton DS - 1923 Gibson A2 black snakehead - '83 Flatiron A5-2 - 1939 Gibson L-00 - 1936 Epiphone Deluxe - 1928 Gibson L-5 - ca. 1890s Fairbanks Senator Banjo - ca. 1923 Vega Style M tenor banjo - ca. 1920 Weymann Style 25 Mandolin-Banjo - National RM-1

  14. #14

    Default Re: it's been three days ...

    there's nothing inside the bowl to indicate where or by whom it was made.

    the position of the oval sound hole is interesting (unique?) as is the absence of a "girdle" around the rim of the bowl - feels much lighter.

  15. #15
    Registered User Martin Jonas's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2003
    Location
    North Wales
    Posts
    6,431

    Default Re: it's been three days ...

    It's entirely typical of these Markneukirchen instruments that there is no mark of the individual luthier in them. I don't think Wunderlich are in existence anymore either -- keep in mind that the Vogtland region was part of East Germany for forty years, and that the instrument making industry was nationalised and small workshops amalgamated into factory-type manufactures under the control of centrally-appointed bureaucrats. While some of these kept their name, they did not keep their identity, and the only surviving outfits are either individual-craftsman lutherie shops (which were never fully nationalised, or which had enough individual skill to set up on their own after 1990 from the wreckage of the state-owned industry) or companies that were big enough and nimble enough to relocate to or reincorporate in the West after the War, sometimes in greatly diminished form. The latter category includes Framus, Hoyer, Optima, Zimmermann and a few others. I don't think it includes Wunderlich. So, your chances of finding records are slim.

    Martin

  16. #16
    Full Grown and Cussin' brunello97's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    Ann Arbor/Austin
    Posts
    6,281

    Default Re: it's been three days ...

    Quote Originally Posted by billkilpatrick View Post
    there's nothing inside the bowl to indicate where or by whom it was made.

    the position of the oval sound hole is interesting (unique?) as is the absence of a "girdle" around the rim of the bowl - feels much lighter.
    Bill, does your picking position vary with the longitudinal oval hole? Is there a 'sweet spot' in the expected place or elsewhere?

    Mick
    Ever tried, ever failed? No matter. Try again, fail again. Fail better.--Samuel Beckett
    ______________________

    '05 Cuisinart Toaster
    '93 Chuck Taylor lowtops
    '12 Stetson Open Road
    '06 Bialetti expresso maker
    '14 Irish Linen Ramon Puig

  17. #17

    Default Re: it's been three days ...

    martin - graziemille! - love those inconclusive, dr. zhivago stories from the old soviet bloc - grainy, b/w photos of the mandolin workshop with airbrushed gaps in the line-up of craftsmen after the latest purge - adds to the mystery.

    mick - sweet spot (for me) is at the base of the soundhole, just after the extension but i generally pick over the base of the fingerboard - more comfortable that way with my little finger stretched out and anchored to the rim below.

    interesting thing is i had to swop the strips of tuners around as the guy who repaired/refurbished it had the tuners turning counterclockwise to tighten the strings - very annoying.

Bookmarks

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •