Mandolin Brothers roundbacks

[margora]

Mandolin Brothers on Staten Island, www.mandoweb.com, currently has (on its website) three new listings, a Vega Pettine model (at least that is my intepretation), an 1883 Calace, and a 1930s Italian. The Calace looks spectacular. Comments anyone?

[Jim Garber]

Well, it looks like even Mandolin Brothers has succumbed to bowlback fever. Seriously, those are three pretty nice-looking ones. I imagine they were contacted by some estate of a mandolinist. I wonder who it was.

I am not familiar with Gardelli but it looks like it may be a sleeper. Looks like a Calace-inspired model, but with his own eccentricities.

The Pettine looks like most of the Pettine's i have seen photos of. Sim to Richard's I think.

I will leave the comments on the Calace for those who really know. Interesting that Mando bros waxes almost more eloquent on the case.

I am about 1.5 hours from them. Makes me want to take a ride to see these babies. Of course, if I am able to do so I will report back.
Jim

[Alex Timmerman]

Hello Margora,


The Pettine Vega looks really nice. Very special!

Thanks for informing us!


Greetings,

Alex

[Jim Garber]

Alex:
I think you do need one of those, right?

Jim

[RSW]

Calace is the instrument that looks exceptional even though it has a short fingerboard, the workmanship and decoration is very beautiful. The Vega is probably quite nice but I'm somewhat concerned about the condition (Vegas do suffer from top sinkage around the bridge). How I wish most makers would adopt the Embergher approach to crowning the top, it would give a lot more useful life to the majority of otherwise fine instruments.

[Jim Garber]

How I wish most makers would adopt the Embergher approach to crowning the top, it would give a lot more useful life to the majority of otherwise fine instruments.
Richard:
Please explain what exactly you mean by "crowning" the top. Are you referring to internal bracing or something else?

Jim

[RSW]

Crowning is a term used in the piano trade in which the top is given a certain amount of outward arching achieved by the internal braces pushing upwards. When you look at the top from the tailpiece end of most Embergher's, you see this crown or arch. This allows the top to better resist the tension of the strings (one of the reasons the Embergher mandolins can be strung more heavily than other round backs) and it also probably enhances the acoustic properties as well. Unfortunately, Vegas, Vinaccias, and most Calaces were set flat and almost all suffer some sinkage or depression around the bridge. I am sure Alex can tell you more about this and other interesting aspects of the Embergher design.

[Jim Garber]

I see. I believe that the Larson Brothers also did that certainly in their guitars. They called it building under tension, that the tops and backs were curved and braced with that outward convexity you mention. Makes #a lot of sense. I know that they did it on their flattop guitars. I wonder if they used that technique on their mandolins as well.

Jim

[Martin Jonas]

The top of my Ceccherini has a very pronounced arch, indeed the arch of the bridge has a similar radius to that of my carved F5 clone. When I take the bridge off and stand it upright on a flat surface, there's about a 4mm clearance in the centre. It seems to do the trick: there's no sign of top sinkage around the bridge after well over a century. There's some arching as well on my mother's Roman-style Miroglio, but much less pronounced.

Martin

[vkioulaphides]

Ditto, albeit to a lesser extent, on my Ceccherini— and de Meglio, of course; a wise design.

By curious coincidence, I was only recently translating the verbal instructions accompanying the blueprints/designs for a Greek folk-lute, at the request of MC-contributor Alekos. There, too, I came across a paragraph on the arching/crowning of the soundboard, as "pushed" upwards by soft, elastic wooden braces from inside. It makes a lot of sense.

[Bob A]

The top of my Stahl bowlback, attributed to the Larson brothers, has a very slight appearance of crowning. I'm not sure that it is intentional, given the age of the instrument. The Pecoraro Embergher clone has a bit more, as would be expected.

It's unusual to see many high-end bowlbacks at MandoBros; I must say that I'd be tempted seriously by the Calace, if it were slightly less ornate, and with perhaps an early 20th century date. (This attitude is brought on by my recent very ornate Ceccherini: not only did it deplete the exchequer, but the very fancy decoration has an inhibiting effect on the player. One does not wish to mangle a work of art, alas).

Would anyone care to comment on the question of quality vs age in the early Calace instruments? Can we expect, generally, a better instrument from any given period in the atelier's history, or can we assume a uniform output during the lifetime of the great Raffaele?

I wonder if there's any significance to the fact that the sound and playability of these instruments is barely mentioned in the otherwise effusive purple prose.

[Jim Garber]

I wonder if there's any significance to the fact that the sound and playability of these instruments is barely mentioned in the otherwise effusive purple prose.
Yes, I would say significance. Stan is not all that familiar with bowlbacks as playing instruments. I imagine that he figures that a collector will buy these. #I find it interesting that there is a small growing interest of the mainstream American dealers like Stan and Lark Street in these instruments, no doubt because of the rising prices as witnessed on eBay.

Jim

[Eugene]

...But those mandoweb prices...Yikes!

[Bob A]

Jim, I greatly suspect that the folks on this little section of board have done their part to boost prices on ebay; I can think of a household that now owns eight or nine more bowlbacks than it did a couple years ago, not so very far from where I sit. Seems surprising that a dozen folks can influence a market, but it's a small market, at least on these shores.

[Jim Garber]

More than a dozen folks I am sure. There are some folks on eBay who are rabid about these things. I am mystified by a buyer named coast2coastbooks who bids on almost every bowlback worth having and wins quite a few. Either he/she is a serious collector or works for one. I had emailed that person but never heard back.

There is also the market in Japan in which buyers are interested in the high end italian mandolins.

Jim

[Bob A]

BTW, a call to Staten Island finds that the Calace was sold on Wenesday (6/9).

I dunno about the prices. The Pettine is in the ballpark with what I had to pay for mine off Ebay last year - admittedly influenced by the excitement of the chase. The Calace seems cheap in terms of what would be asked in, say, Japan. I know nothing about the Gardelli, with its little problems like replaced tuners, (and what tuners they are! Possibly a little on the heavy side for any mandolin, to say nothing of a bowlback), but perhaps it is priced a little optimistically. Pretty back, though I can't agree with pearl slab position markers either.

Still, bring on the bowls!

[Eugene]

I think you're right, Bob. I'm just remembering how it was.

[Bob A]

Eugene my friend, you are too young to be nostalgic, and too much of an influence on the contemporary American bowlback scene not to bear partial responsibility for the enthusiasm which has sprung from the fertile ground you've prepared, and the seeds you've planted in impressionable young minds.

[pklima]

I remember my Stahl had a visibly radiused top, as did the Larson-built flatback mandolin I once owned.