View Full Version : Bowlback Anyone?
Gregooch
Nov-07-2013, 9:59pm
Does anyone play a bowlback style mandolin? Do you play traitional or classical style with it and how do you like the bowlback compared to an A or F style mandolin?
btrott
Nov-07-2013, 10:34pm
Gregooch,
You might want to post your question in the Classical section of the forum as there are lots of folks there who play bowlbacks in a variety of musical styles.
Barry
JeffD
Nov-07-2013, 11:22pm
I have several bowl backs, and I play them all the time. My two favorites:
My Martin (http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/album.php?albumid=10&attachmentid=52267) is my travel mandolin. It has been with me to old time jams and open mikes all over the country. My Washburn (http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/album.php?albumid=10&attachmentid=50740) gets played a lot at home. When I am just hacking around the house. I take it out locally sometimes, but not as much. Both of them are extremely loud mandolins.
I don't use a bowlback for classical much. I have another (http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/album.php?albumid=10&attachmentid=79165) that fits better for that. But I love ragtime on the bowlback, fiddle tunes of all kinds, especially waltzes, and well, all the other stuff I put my mandolin to - some tango, Klezmer, Eastern European fiddle tunes, and even some Broadway show tunes.
I love my As, and my res, but there is something really magical just picking up a bowlback. Seeing my own hand on that iconic shape of an instrument instantly recognizable in art and history going back many hundreds of years, and across many continents. I become part of a really old old tradition, predating the guitar.
The tone is uniquely beautiful, and they can be as loud as you want. Just great fun.
Beanzy
Nov-07-2013, 11:28pm
I use a Calace 58A (modern equivalent is the 13)
As well as being the only convincing sound for playing traditional Italian tunes, it's a super instrument for Classical, Old time fiddle tunes, jazz and Irish tunes. I now use it for all my ensemble playing as it's more versatile for that and I don't like to swap out instruments between tunes in a group as it's tight enough without adding clutter and risking instruments on stands.
It's very loud and has very good sustain by comparison with many traditional mandolins.
I swapped from medium gauge wound to medium gauge flat-wound strings and that toned it down a little bit, as it could get quite boomy with the wound G courses.
The shorter scale is much easier for playing closed-position than my A type carved top.
I prefer the carved top for playing chords as I feel it is more suited to accompanying American styles such as BG and jamming OT tunes where a more percussive and less sparking sound is required. For singing I like the A type more as long as there's guitar accompaniment, if there isn't I swap to tenor guitar which suits me better for that.
Jim Garber
Nov-08-2013, 9:38am
I have quite a few bowlbacks and have bought and sold even more. My favorite is my 1904 Embergher which is an amazingly light, well-crafted and sonorous instrument. I am also quite fond of my Vega style 3. I have a whole closetful of others, mostly Italian- and American-made vintage ones. There are a few upper end ones that really need some luthier help to make them playable.
I do play classical on them as well as Italian and other ethnic music. I haven't played much old time in a jam -- I should try it one day -- but I rarely ever play mandolin in a jam... more fiddle or guitar or occasionally banjo.
Bowlbacks are yet another addition to the sonic palette. I also have other mandolins, but have a nice Flatiron A5-2 for the bluegrass sound and a few oval hole for other sound. I also (like Jeff) have a very nice Washburn/Lyon & Helay A Professional which I use for classical as well.
Randi Gormley
Nov-08-2013, 10:25am
I use my bowlback for classical, although since a bowlback is the instrument I learned on, I've played lots and lots of contemporary and Irish music on them. For years, I didn't even know there were other styles of mandolins and thought my bowlback was like a piano -- a way to make whatever music I wanted/needed to make. I've since diversified, but decided last year that if I was going to be playing more baroque music, which I planned, I needed to go back to a bowl. It just seemed like it needed to be. Of course, my bowl is in the luthier's shop right now so I'm playing baroque on my Eastman and waiting for the shop to call ...
brunello97
Nov-08-2013, 10:32am
Bowlbacks are yet another addition to the sonic palette.
That's what I know. Couldn't have made it more plain. They are musical instruments. What's more they are mandolins. If you like mandolins, play anything you like on them.
Mick
Pasha Alden
Nov-09-2013, 10:50am
If I am not mistaken, bowl backs can have a clear tone, needed for Classical music. I have two mandolins, and call it MAS, or whatever you want, butI am keeping an eye out for a bowl back.
Happy playing