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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...

Mickey Mouse Ear scroll?

Gag me with a spoon.

Sometimes a handful of rice inside the instrument. shaken about and dumped out, would help. I'd follow up with some compressed air from a computer dust sprayer through the tailpiece strap hole (if...

Accuracy, like truth itself, is so last-century.

Fine, reputable business, fine instruments, and a fine moustache.

Bought my L&H style A from them decades ago.

I believe the Embergher atelier was understood to produce high-quality instruments to the extent that the Embergher label was sufficient to denote quality, actual hands-on maker notwithstanding. (My...

Yeah, the nut width is about 15/16" on mine. I don't think you'll find one much wider. Oddly enough, it doesn't seem to impact my playing.

I've toyed with the idea of selling, but it seems to be...

I have a nice Pecoraro, which is considered to be a true Embergher as he was the last master luthier to produce Emberghers until the shop closed and he continued building under his own name.

It's...

I have a Unicorn "Special Model" F5 style, #177, dated December 1985, signed by Dave Sinko, whom I believe bought the company from Mr Gerhard. He subsquently worked as a sound engineer in Nashville;...

I suspect they're both US-made.

The butterfly mandolin's fretboard inlays are charming, and its tuners and end piece may have some salvage value. Hard to say. Other than that. merely decorative,...

"Restored and enhanced"

An F4 was my first really good mandolin. (I still have it; it will be my last good mandolin). While the neck is thicker than the trussrodded models, it posed no problem for me, as I had nothing to...

My experience, from days long past, indicates, to my own mind and ears, at any rate, that Italian bowlbacks, excluding those made merely to serve as decrative objects for the tourist trade, were made...

It's pleasant to while away the hours trying a few dozen different picks on a bunch of different mandolins.

If you don't yet have a bunch of different pick, or a bunch of different mandolins,...

Both the Ceccherini mandos I've had came with the double soundboard. Delightful chime-like tone, unlike any other Italian mandolins I've had.

The curve of the bowlback limits the amount of contact with the player's body, and correspondingly the amount of possible interference with the vobrating structure. The dampening effect on a...

My first bowlback was Czech as well; bought in 1965, new, from a pawnshop for $39. It had brass frets which I wore out in about a year, and I was told it would be a lot cheaper to buy a new one than...

I was lucky to hear Avi Avital in a good-sized concert hall back in 2019. His Kerman stood up to the tasks of being heard over the orchestra, and his encore piece was clear as a bell, from ff to pp. ...

It looks like an Oriental, most likely Japanese, knockoff of a Calace instrument. The date corresponds to Calace's tour of Japan in 1924-5. The appearance supports the date.

Buy a set of (extra...

To augment the definition, the cant, or bend, in the top is constructed by removing a wedge of the top (belly) wood, with the point of the wedge at the cant/bridge area, widening toward the...

I'm not looking for anything; I have the original hard copies of Mugwumps, and I was wondering what I should do with them. I see them as primary source information from the period. It seemed to me...

Why not settle for an Italian bowlback? There are quality instruments available for far less than that Calace. I can attest to the tonality of Italian bowlbacks differing from the American bowls I've...

I'm unable to address this question as anyone near "master player" - even "player" might be an exaggeration, alas.
However, I have experimented with any number of mandolin types, which provides a...

I wonder that, too. Her name is lost somewhere in my memory file, but the circumstances you mention resonate within my somewhat hollow cranium.

I dunno about the pizza thing, but I have to ask...

I seem to recall that the onset of Fascism in Italy brought about a diminution, almost an elimination, of street music in the country; it was an image that did not please Il Duce, all this wasting of...