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OK, just checked the Didone thread and while it doesn't mention the Naples Labor Exhibition on the label itself, it was reported in an Italian newspaper of the time:


SCUOLA DI MANDOLiNO
Il...

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There have been a couple of posts recently about Neapolitan bowlbacks - the Didone 10-string and my Agara and DiSanto - that sported labels making reference to the luthiers’ medals...

:)) I can only imagine what they thought about the term "Florentine" in this context. Someone might well correct me, but I believe, after much discussion hereabouts, that the term is assumed to have...

The latest mandolin off my 'Barn Cat Mandolins' bench is something a little different for me. I've given it a slightly wider, rounder body shape than my usual Moggy model mandolin, and its ribs and...

This discussion is indeed time-worn, but there are always some interesting new views - particularly the comparisons to language in this thread.

If you want to learn by ear to speak Italian, for...

Hey, good for you and all the best!

Sue, what you describe about your school music experience is what I complain about...music ed that never addresses the basic issues of the inner ear.

Instead...

There have been a number of ways and methods of reading/writing music that have come and gone over the years. Some of these are still used today. “Shaped notes” immediately comes to mind, but there...

That depends on how you were taught to read standard notation...which in the Italian tradition was a way to sing before you were ever given an instrument.

So I disagree, learning to sight-sing...

Vinaccia Mandolin from 1903 on auction at Catawiki:

https://www.catawiki.com/en/l/82781147-vinaccia-neapolitan-mandolin-mandolin-italy-1903

Your "as received" photo gives me hope that this old Brambilla might be salvageable should my ship ever come in. This was dropped from a shelf in my grandfather's closet by his butterfingered heirs....

Wow, nice job so far!

My opinion of Stridente's is that they sound nice, but have a quite profound tendency to self-destruct :(

Traditionally these had "shelf" bridges like this:

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...

Thanks Mick, yes the neck is relatively straight and despite refretting it, i think I may yet replace the board with some built in relief. I added extra stiffening just forward of the sound hole....

I wanted to share my wonderful experience with purchasing a bowl back Mandola from Ikegaku in Japan

I've been wanting to dip my toe into GDAE Mandola for a while, after reading Robert Margo's many...

Here's an example of a Stridente restored by Lucas Sobieranski.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlaeT3Z_AZU

That bridge solo is great. Bassist is killing it too.

Here's another one for OP. To make it even better, he starts out the video by calling an eight-string Harley Benton mandocaster "the world's...

Mick, you have won the prize for the cryptic label challenge!

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It is a waltz composed by Nino Rota for Visconti's film Il Gattopardo (1963). :mandosmiley:
...

The Naples Exhibition where he won the gold medal could refer to the big Labour Exhibition for the opening of Galleria Umberto 1 in 1890.



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Hi all,

Bought this a few days ago on Ebay, unusual design with its 5 courses. Seems to be a short lived and not sucessful design. The name Nicola Didone is new to me, couldn't find any...

Just occured to me that photos are better as a record here than videos which can later disappear.

Here are some pics of it as it is, though I do still need to clean the soundboard.
I believe...

No, I'm not rolling my eyes about your Gibson....but I'd rather play your other mandolins!;) :grin:

Fisoma "Consort" strings are good; I' somewhat surprised to see the G string is 0.035, though.

Dogal makes a "Calace" set that's quite nice, and long-lasting. I think the lightweight set is "Dolce...

From my experience, pretty much all bowlbacks should be strung with extra-light strings, with 1st string at .009.

I have no problems with the GHS A240 Ultra Light Gauge: L09 (2) -L13 (2) -LB20 (2)...

In the "Bowlbacks of Note" thread, Jan. 7, 2014, posting #6216, Jim Garber mentions a Tartaglia:

Default Re: Bowlbacks of Note
Speaking of Roman instruments... this is a Giulio Tartaglia model...

I just stumbled upon the archives of the Banjo Mandolin and Guitar that folded in the 70s.https://classic-banjo.ning.com/page/bmg-magazines

A treasure house of interesting material - who knew that...