Dusepo
Jun-22-2012, 7:36am
I got two bowlbacks off ebay that were going cheap. One had a horrible neck break, but I managed to fix it with a lot of fiddly work and clamping. I was however unsure of whether it'd ever be able to handle the string tension of 8 steel strings, so I filled in 4 pegholes and turned it into a 4 string Brescian mandolin. I have it strung with nylon but it could probably take 4 steel strings too. It sounds great!
The other mandolin is currently still awaiting some restoration work but I will probably sell it on afterwards. I might keep the nice ivory or bone tuners it came with though! They are not only beautiful but much lighter than modern ones.
The other mandolin is currently still awaiting some restoration work but I will probably sell it on afterwards. I might keep the nice ivory or bone tuners it came with though! They are not only beautiful but much lighter than modern ones.