Ugly but cheap Ebay mandola

[pklima]

Though I'll be leaving for Poland next week and won't see this thing in person till August, I couldn't pass this up for this cheap:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws....AB:US:6 (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3732765074&ssPageName=ADME:B:EOAB:US:6)

I didn't even notice the auction till yesterday. It looks more East German than Italian to me (especially the horrible pickguard), but I thought it's worth jumping on even if the label is fake. Can anyone tell me anything about the supposed maker? And the odd scalloped ribs?

At worst I figure I'll relist it in the States with a better description and photos, probably end up making a small profit...

[Martin Jonas]

No info, but I wonder if the pickguard and the soundhole shape are original. The radius at the bottom of the fretboard seems made for a normal oval or round soundhole and doesn't match the funky assymmetric shape of the pickguard and soundhole. There don't seem to be that many bowlback mandolas around, though, and this one might well be fun to play.

Martin

[Jim Garber]

Peter:
The only Borelli I have in my files is attached here, prob from an earlier eBay auction. Very little resemblance to yours, which looks like an eastern Euro one, I think. So you are the notorious Captain Brownbeard?

The scalloping is interesting tho. I also wonder about the term mandola in sol. Why sol? Does that mean that it is tuned one ocatve below the mandolin? Initially I thought it was a CGDA mandola. This confusion of terms between the US and Europe is driving me crazy. I think what we call a tenor mandola the Europeans call an alto, correct?

Jim

[pklima]

Yeah, if that's a Borelli I'm pretty sure that mandola is East German. Seems better-made than most, though, with the exception of that horrid pickguard. And after all, I never complain about my butt-ugly (but definitely well-crafted) East German bass.

Sure looks like a CGDA mandola to me, too. Guess I'll report on it in August...

[Unseen122]

Look at the seller info. Since when was Italy in the UK? http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif

[Jim Garber]

The seller is very active both selling and buying on eBay. I would not worry too much about the location. I have seen worse on many listings. I understand your concern for scamming tho.

Jim

[billkilpatrick]

aesthetic check...

i don't think it's a brute at all - you've bought a lovely instrument.

pity it's not a charango.

bon viaggio - bill

[Unseen122]

I just think that that is funny Italy is in the UK http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

[Dolamon]

Peter - Congratulations - I picked up an EdelKlang Mandola sometime last year and finally got it up and strummable - but there is always a major league fear when you get things shipped from Italy via the UK.

One thing which seemed odd on my "Lat Back" (Five Lats on the back - half bowl) and it seems as if this may be an issue on your new acquistion - the tailpiece was deliberately offset about 8mm towards the treble side. This seems to have been done to accomodate the huge C course strings. From the very well edited pix on the eBay offering, it looks as if this may be the case. It didn't make sense until I strung it up and began to play. The C course has a tendency of "rolling" off the fretboard on my other mandola's - it doesn't happen on the EdelKlang.

Are there any other "big Back" mandola players who can comment on the offset tailpiece?

[billkilpatrick]

but there is always a major league fear when you get things shipped from Italy via the UK

...to the united states?

for some mega-league angst, try it the other way round...

"free market's good...imports are bad!..."

- bill

[Jonathan]

Peter - As the owner of two bowlback dolas, I'd be curious to know how your "ugly duckling" turns out. Despite the seller's description of a "very large mandola in sol" the measurements indicate a smaller instrument than my small-to-medium Japanese "G" mandola, though larger than my Vega "C" mandola. Too bad the vibrating string length wasn't given. As for the offset tailpiece, none of the 4 or 5 other bowlback dolas I've handled had such.
Keep us posted -

Jonathan

[pklima]

Well I'm back and I got my hands on this beast. It does appear to be a tenor/octave/GDAE mandola, though - the mensure is around 445 mm, which I believe is consistent with European tenor mandolas, and all the strings are wound. More later... I haven't even unpacked my bags yet, just got home, went to sleep and then went to work.

[pklima]

So... where did everyone go? As soon as I came back and posted something the whole classical area went deathly silent.

In case anybody's still alive 'round here, I did get this thing tuned and the action is pretty high (though the neck is reasonably straight). I'm going to shave down the saddle or possibly make a new bridge (I'm not sure the one on it is original), but how high should the action at the 12th fret be? Any owners of tenor mandolas with a similar scale length care to give me some advice?

The good news is, it does appear much better-crafted than the typical junk German instruments. The few-but-fluted ribs are certainly its most strikingly odd feature. It also looks like it never had a tailpiece cover or anywhere to attach one. The tailpiece itself doesn't seem to be offset like Dion's mandola, but so far I haven't had any problems with the lower strings rolling off the fretboard (that could just be due to the high action at this time, though).

[Jim Garber]

Peter:
A few of us more verbose ones are on vacation or away from computers (or asleep). I will measure the scale of my tenor mandola and get back later.

Wound strings on all? I would think that the highest picthed string would not be wound. Hmmmm...

What set will you string it with?

Jim

[pklima]

Ah, yes, it is (as we say in Poland) cucumber season. Can't expect much activity anywhere.

I'll play with the existing strings and GDAE tuning for now, but if I decide to keep it I'll definitely try lighter strings (with a plain A course) and CGDA tuning.