http://www.youtube.com/marcowoodward
Andy Manson 3 point F5;
Gibson 1920 F2;
Vega Guiseppe Pettine Special;
Weber Abrasoka octave mandolin-
and various others!
Oh those crazy Italians!
I've never seen those either.
"It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
--M. Stillion
"Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
--J. Garber
...and the fret markers! The fret markers!!!
== JOHN ==
Music washes away from the soul the dust of every day life.
--Berthold Auerbach
Marc, can you read the name of the patentee on the tuner plate? Also, is there a label inside the mandolin? Maybe I am not seeing something here, but it looks like each string pair gets tuned by one tuner? Are there knobs to tighten? Similar to Preston tuners but with a key (as seen in the last photo). Can you post more photos?
Jim
My Stream on Soundcloud
19th Century Tunes
Playing lately:
1924 Gibson A4 - 2018 Campanella A-5 - 2007 Brentrup A4C - 1915 Frank Merwin Ashley violin - Huss & Dalton DS - 1923 Gibson A2 black snakehead - '83 Flatiron A5-2 - 1939 Gibson L-00 - 1936 Epiphone Deluxe - 1928 Gibson L-5 - ca. 1890s Fairbanks Senator Banjo - ca. 1923 Vega Style M tenor banjo - ca. 1920 Weymann Style 25 Mandolin-Banjo - National RM-1
Odd bridge, too. Could we please see a close-up shot of the bridge?
Purr more, hiss less. Barn Cat Mandolins Photo Album
We will have to wait until Marc wakes up in the morning. He is in the UK and it is about 3am right now.
You can sort of see the bridge details if you zoom in on the photo. It looks like there may be some small wheels where the strings ride over the bridge. I guess that is part of the patent concept.
Last edited by Jim Garber; Oct-09-2017 at 10:35pm.
Jim
My Stream on Soundcloud
19th Century Tunes
Playing lately:
1924 Gibson A4 - 2018 Campanella A-5 - 2007 Brentrup A4C - 1915 Frank Merwin Ashley violin - Huss & Dalton DS - 1923 Gibson A2 black snakehead - '83 Flatiron A5-2 - 1939 Gibson L-00 - 1936 Epiphone Deluxe - 1928 Gibson L-5 - ca. 1890s Fairbanks Senator Banjo - ca. 1923 Vega Style M tenor banjo - ca. 1920 Weymann Style 25 Mandolin-Banjo - National RM-1
Hi
More photos. I havent seen it in the flesh I was sent the photos by a friend who runs a local music shop.
It seems the strings may be one long double loop ended string for each pair the runs from the headstock over the rollers on the bridge round an end pin back over the roller to the tuner! He says it works... tuners are tightened with a key. No internal label, body looks standard De Meglio type but name looks something like Carlo Mabico or DiLabico maybe..?
http://www.youtube.com/marcowoodward
Andy Manson 3 point F5;
Gibson 1920 F2;
Vega Guiseppe Pettine Special;
Weber Abrasoka octave mandolin-
and various others!
Looks like there are only four tuning pegs (or whatever you want to call them) for eight strings, so how do they get the string to unison?
I was wondering whether this is some sort of retrofit onto a standard De Meglio, but then the exposed part of the wooden headstock would have to show some of the tuner holes and it doesn't. So, this seems to have been built this way.
Crazy.
Martin
the world is better off without bad ideas, good ideas are better off without the world
Wonderfully bonkers & fit for the industrial era.
I assume your wallet is having a hard time remaining closed.
You know you really really want it don’t you Marc?
Once you buy it you can post us a sound clip so we can hear if it really does sound like a trapdoor mechanism snapping shut.
Eoin
"Forget that anyone is listening to you and always listen to yourself" - Fryderyk Chopin
I've tried expanding the back of the headstock and still can't make out the name in script.
"It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
--M. Stillion
"Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
--J. Garber
That is way cool!!! Yea ,I'm seeing thru old 1/2 Italian eyes.
Whats that stuff some people are into "steampunk" ? That is the mando for that type of person for sure!
Jim
My Stream on Soundcloud
19th Century Tunes
Playing lately:
1924 Gibson A4 - 2018 Campanella A-5 - 2007 Brentrup A4C - 1915 Frank Merwin Ashley violin - Huss & Dalton DS - 1923 Gibson A2 black snakehead - '83 Flatiron A5-2 - 1939 Gibson L-00 - 1936 Epiphone Deluxe - 1928 Gibson L-5 - ca. 1890s Fairbanks Senator Banjo - ca. 1923 Vega Style M tenor banjo - ca. 1920 Weymann Style 25 Mandolin-Banjo - National RM-1
From the era of factory-tuned mandolins, no doubt. I'd hesitate to bestow the Steampunk honorific, though...
It is not man that lives but his work. (Ioannis Kapodistrias)
Well, one things for sure - top marks for originality in the patent application!
I assume the bridge is fixed to the top, so not much chance of fixing the intonation up?
Apparently Ned Steinberger was experimenting with time-travel at some point and left one of those behind.
PJ Doland
1923 Gibson Snakehead A
I think it says Carlo Alabiso
It ain't gotta be perfect, as long as it's perfect enough!
Thanks all, glad you find it as curious as I do! I’m going to try and see it in the flesh shortly and will report on sound/tuning etc
BW
Marc
http://www.youtube.com/marcowoodward
Andy Manson 3 point F5;
Gibson 1920 F2;
Vega Guiseppe Pettine Special;
Weber Abrasoka octave mandolin-
and various others!
I wasn't even sure that was an M. The only part I could make out with any certainty was abiso and even that could be wrong. It almost looks like Rhabiso. It has to be easier to read when you have it in your hands.
"It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
--M. Stillion
"Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
--J. Garber
It looks a bit like there is a / between the two names, so maybe it’s a joint patent?
Eoin
"Forget that anyone is listening to you and always listen to yourself" - Fryderyk Chopin
the world is better off without bad ideas, good ideas are better off without the world
That is a strange idea - assuming the strings will even out the tension and tune a pair off of one machine!
It reminds me a bit of the Portuguese guitar tuners, but those have individual string gears.
BTW, sistema brevettato just means it's patented.
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