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

  1. #26
    Full Grown and Cussin' brunello97'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 Steve VandeWater View Post
    I think it says Carlo Alabiso
    I think Steve has it: Carlo Alabiso.

    But likely not the same CA who is author of Problemi di Meccanica Quantistica Non Relativistica.

    Maybe, though.

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  3. #27
    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: Seen a lot of bowl backs but never one with machines like thi

    I am assuming those are stickers on the fretboard, indicating the notes. Kind of weird, kind of cool.
    A talent for trivializin' the momentous and complicatin' the obvious.

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    funny....

  4. #28

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

    Quote Originally Posted by brunello97 View Post
    I think Steve has it: Carlo Alabiso.
    Hm... you sure it's not a l'abisso? The outcome of tuning unison courses by this machinery must surely be abysmal...
    It is not man that lives but his work. (Ioannis Kapodistrias)

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  6. #29
    MandolaViola bratsche'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 brunello97 View Post
    I think Steve has it: Carlo Alabiso.

    But likely not the same CA who is author of Problemi di Meccanica Quantistica Non Relativistica.

    Maybe, though.

    Mick
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    Full Grown and Cussin' brunello97'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 vkioulaphides View Post
    Hm... you sure it's not a l'abisso? The outcome of tuning unison courses by this machinery must surely be abysmal...
    Ouch.....Too funny, V.

    Mick
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  8. #31

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

    Intonation abyss gapes at every step...
    It is not man that lives but his work. (Ioannis Kapodistrias)

  9. #32
    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 vkioulaphides View Post
    Intonation abyss gapes at every step...
    That is the title of my next science fiction book. A group of intrepid explorers travel to the far reaches of our galaxy only armed with oddly made bowlback mandolins.
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  10. #33
    Mandolin tragic Graham McDonald's Avatar
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    Default Re: Seen a lot of bowl backs but never one with machines like thi

    I came across the Alabisa patent when I was working on the book, but I didn't include it. Here is the drawing from the patent application as well as pictures of a bridge and tailpieces. It takes the whole double loop end string idea of the Portuguese guitarra and adds another level of complication. Someone must have sent me the photos but I can't remember who! In theory, it should actually work and play in tune, but there is a lot of tension on those little rollers on the tailpiece and it would not take much for tuning catastrophes.

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  12. #34
    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

    This fits right into the tradition of Leonardo Da Vinci's war machine design.
    the world is better off without bad ideas, good ideas are better off without the world

  13. #35

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

    Or that of headlines in The Onion.
    It is not man that lives but his work. (Ioannis Kapodistrias)

  14. #36
    I may be old but I'm ugly billhay4's Avatar
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    Default Re: Seen a lot of bowl backs but never one with machines like thi

    Pretty darn clever. Wonder if it works.
    Bill
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    Registered User Jairo Ramos's Avatar
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    Default Re: Seen a lot of bowl backs but never one with machines like thi

    Inventions often turn a simple and functional design in something more complicate than how astronauts poop...

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  17. #38
    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

    As Graham notes, the Preston tuners add the complication of double looping but this adds even more complication using strings twice the needed length thereby solving a problem (?) that really didn't exist.

    Graham, do you have the patentee's description of what he was trying to do or at least a summation of that?
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  19. #39
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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
    As Graham notes, the Preston tuners add the complication of double looping but this adds even more complication using strings twice the needed length thereby solving a problem (?) that really didn't exist.
    I guess the designer thought it was too hard to tune each string in a pair individually.

  20. #40
    Mandolin tragic Graham McDonald's Avatar
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    Default Re: Seen a lot of bowl backs but never one with machines like thi

    Jim, the drawing page is the only one I have. Here is the back of the tuners assembly, a picture of the tuning key and another image of the bridge. They might be ivory rollers in the solid brass bridge?

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  22. #41
    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

    Graham: do you have any clue of when this was patented? I don't see any dates on the patent you attached.
    Jim

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  24. #42
    Mandolin tragic Graham McDonald's Avatar
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    Default Re: Seen a lot of bowl backs but never one with machines like thi

    Jim, No idea about the date. That one page with the drawings was all I was sent along with the photos. I think I did spend an hour or two trying to penetrate the Italian patent registration system on-line but it was all too hard and I went on to other things.

    cheers

  25. #43

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

    Indeed, David. They look functionally similar to those on Portuguese guitarra/English guittar. There is one early Neapolitan I've seen with similar. I'll look for reference.

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    Full Grown and Cussin' brunello97's Avatar
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    Default Re: Seen a lot of bowl backs but never one with machines like thi

    Ever tried, ever failed? No matter. Try again, fail again. Fail better.--Samuel Beckett
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