Nomenclature

[David Lewis]

This came up in the mandolinetto thread, and I asked it there, but I think this is worthy of a new thread, just for arguments' sake.

I own two mandolins: a Crafter (which looks like an Ovation Guitar) and a Jbovier solidbody ELS (which looks like a cross between a Fender Stratocaster and a Paul Reed Smith solidbody). Now, the question is, since a mandolinetto is a mandolin that looks like a guitar, do my machines count as mandolinettos? Or is the term anachronistic? (I really don't mind either way - just interested...)

[JEStanek]

I wouldn't count them as Mandolinettos. Just me. When I think of a Mandolinetto I have a very specific shape and construction in mind. I wouldn't lump the Selmer styled guitar shaped mandolins as Mandolinettos, either.

Jamie

[allenhopkins]

I think the term "mandolinetto" has pretty much been defined as a small acoustic mandolin, shaped like a miniature acoustic guitar (or like a ukulele), and made somewhat popular in the early 20th century. The Elias Howe patent for such an instrument, with a curved top produced by heat-pressing, doesn't use the term "mandolinetto" but instead just calls it a "mandolin" (which, of course, it is -- mandolinettos [or mandolinetti?] are a sub-genre of mandolins).

The term "mandolinetto" was used in mail-order catalogs to describe the guitar-silhouette instruments, and now is in general usage, just as "mandriola" is for 12-string mandolins. There are a bunch of mandolin-family instruments designed with the general guitar silhouette -- e.g. Gibson's K-5 mandocellos (mandocelli?), quite a few of the Framus and Hofner German-made mandolins, miscellaneous others. Generally, they don't get called "mandolinettos;" the term seems limited to the Howe-Ormes and similar century-old instruments.

I have a Howe-Orme "mandolinetto" and it really is a distinct approach to the mandolin: very small body, small neck, trebly sound (I describe it as "chirping"), "cylinder" top, sounding and feeling quite unlike other contemporary instruments I own.