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Thread: Seen a lot of bowl backs but never one with machines like this...

  1. #1
    Registered User Marc Woodward's Avatar
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    Default Seen a lot of bowl backs but never one with machines like this...

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    Any thought?!

    Marc
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    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Seen a lot of bowl backs but never one with machines like thi

    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"
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  4. #3
    Carpe Mandolinium
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    Default Re: Seen a lot of bowl backs but never one with machines like thi

    ...and the fret markers! The fret markers!!!
    == JOHN ==



    Music washes away from the soul the dust of every day life.

    --Berthold Auerbach



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    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: Seen a lot of bowl backs but never one with machines like thi

    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

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  6. #5
    Barn Cat Mandolins Bob Clark's Avatar
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    Default Re: Seen a lot of bowl backs but never one with machines like thi

    Odd bridge, too. Could we please see a close-up shot of the bridge?
    Purr more, hiss less. Barn Cat Mandolins Photo Album

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    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: Seen a lot of bowl backs but never one with machines like thi

    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.

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    Last edited by Jim Garber; Oct-09-2017 at 10:35pm.
    Jim

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  9. #7
    Registered User Marc Woodward's Avatar
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    Default Re: Seen a lot of bowl backs but never one with machines like thi

    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..?Click image for larger version. 

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    http://www.youtube.com/marcowoodward


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    Registered User Martin Jonas's Avatar
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    Default Re: Seen a lot of bowl backs but never one with machines like thi

    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

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  13. #9
    but that's just me Bertram Henze's Avatar
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    Default Re: Seen a lot of bowl backs but never one with machines like thi

    Quote Originally Posted by Martin Jonas View Post
    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?
    ...the answer may be hidden here:

    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Garber View Post
    It looks like there may be some small wheels where the strings ride over the bridge.
    I suspect there are also wheels under the tailpiece cover, providing each string of a pair with equal tension - in theory. It's a pulley system. One sound sample would explain why this idea is not more widely recognized, I'll say.

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    the world is better off without bad ideas, good ideas are better off without the world

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    Default Re: Seen a lot of bowl backs but never one with machines like thi

    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



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    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Seen a lot of bowl backs but never one with machines like thi

    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

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    Registered User Frankdolin's Avatar
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    Default Re: Seen a lot of bowl backs but never one with machines like thi

    That is way cool!!! Yea ,I'm seeing thru old 1/2 Italian eyes.

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    Default Re: Seen a lot of bowl backs but never one with machines like thi

    Whats that stuff some people are into "steampunk" ? That is the mando for that type of person for sure!

  20. #14
    but that's just me Bertram Henze's Avatar
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    Default Re: Seen a lot of bowl backs but never one with machines like thi

    Quote Originally Posted by bluegrasser78 View Post
    Whats that stuff some people are into "steampunk" ? That is the mando for that type of person for sure!
    Yes, exactly what Captain Nemo would play.
    the world is better off without bad ideas, good ideas are better off without the world

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    Default Re: Seen a lot of bowl backs but never one with machines like thi

    Quote Originally Posted by MikeEdgerton View Post
    I've tried expanding the back of the headstock and still can't make out the name in script.
    I think it’s Malbiso
    Eoin



    "Forget that anyone is listening to you and always listen to yourself" - Fryderyk Chopin

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    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: Seen a lot of bowl backs but never one with machines like thi

    Quote Originally Posted by Beanzy View Post
    I think it’s Malbiso
    Maybe Mabiso (no "L" in there). Still, I am not sure. Here is a Photoshop-enhanced version.

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    Default Re: Seen a lot of bowl backs but never one with machines like thi

    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)

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    Registered User Tavy's Avatar
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    Default Re: Seen a lot of bowl backs but never one with machines like thi

    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?

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    Default Re: Seen a lot of bowl backs but never one with machines like thi

    Apparently Ned Steinberger was experimenting with time-travel at some point and left one of those behind.
    PJ Doland
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    Registered User Steve VandeWater's Avatar
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    Default Re: Seen a lot of bowl backs but never one with machines like thi

    I think it says Carlo Alabiso
    It ain't gotta be perfect, as long as it's perfect enough!

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  30. #21
    Registered User Marc Woodward's Avatar
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    Default Re: Seen a lot of bowl backs but never one with machines like thi

    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
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    Vega Guiseppe Pettine Special;
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    derbex 

  32. #22
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Seen a lot of bowl backs but never one with machines like thi

    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."
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    Default Re: Seen a lot of bowl backs but never one with machines like thi

    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

  34. #24
    but that's just me Bertram Henze's Avatar
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    Default Re: Seen a lot of bowl backs but never one with machines like thi

    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Garber View Post
    Maybe Mabiso (no "L" in there). Still, I am not sure. Here is a Photoshop-enhanced version.

    Click image for larger version. 

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    I doubt if there is an "i" in the last name. That looks like just another accidental black spot, as there are many on the plate, e.g. beside the "L" in Carlo.
    the world is better off without bad ideas, good ideas are better off without the world

  35. #25
    Registered User DavidKOS's Avatar
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    Default Re: Seen a lot of bowl backs but never one with machines like thi

    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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