Washburn Cremonatone; is this worth pursuing?

[Barry Canada]

Hi, I am looking for a bowl back to play!
Is this worthwhile pursuing? The asking price is $670.
The owner describes it as follows: Washburn Cremonatone Bowl-Back Mandolin in museum quality condition100 years old

~ Spruce Soundboard
~ Brazilian Rosewood Back ribs
~ Spanish Cedar possibly Mahogany neck
~ Ebony Fingerboard
~ Tortoise Celluloid pickguard
~ MOP position markers

Thanks for your feedback, Barry

[Bob A]

I can't answer your question . . . and yet, here I am.

It looks clean, but I can't see if there's fret wear on the upper part of the board. I can't see the condition of the bowl. I can't see if there's any sinkage at the bridge, or how high the action is, or if there's any issues with the neck.

Assuming it's in playable, even pristine, condition, once you start using it, signs of wear will develop. Then it will no longer be in museum-quality condition. Is this important? I don't know.

It's an American bowlback, so its only real market is America. The Europeans and Japanese are not interested, and those places are where the bowlback action is. Is that important? I don't know. As an American instrument, it will have a somewhat different tonality from the European instruments. Is that important? I don't know.

Is the price high? I'm not sure, as I have no experience with the brand. Offhand, I'd say it might be on the high side, but that's just an uninformed opinion. You might compare it to some Italian instruments of the period, and see how it stands up. It's not highly ornamented, which is not a problem for me, although it might reflect having been made to a lower price point. This may actually matter more in a US instrument than in an Italian one; my experience with older Italian bowlbacks is that the tonal qualities and playability generally do not suffer as the price goes down, if it comes from a respected maker. US instruments were more mass-produced, with perhaps a different underlying concept or philosophy.

Are you interested as a collector, or more from the standpoint of a player? If the latter, you would be well advised to try it in hand before making a decision. You would be aided by having some experience with other bowlbacks, for comparison purposes.

So, how's that for a non-answer? My personal inclination is toward the Italian makers, though I have a couple US bowlbacks, so that preference will have skewed my response.

[brunello97]

The Washburn line was the flagship bowlback series from Lyon and Healy. The Cremonatone was a mid range Washburn--which spanned quite a range of finesse, i.e. number of staves on the bowl, amount of MOP inlay, etc. The Chicago makers did not indulge in the amount of bling that one might see on some Italian bowls of the era, some of which, no doubt, was used to mask an otherwise mediocre product.

I have played and owned numerous Washburns and they are very good instruments. The quality of the wood itself--particularly the rosewood--far outstrips what was coming out of Italy at the time. They are noticeable heftier in build--you get a stiffer stronger neck but a weightier bowl and top. Which distinctly effects the sound: the bright shimmering sound of Italian bowls is not there. But good balance across the strings and good mid range, I have found. The rosewood is lickable, but that doesn't effect the sound much.

Lyon and Healy made many of these mandolins and the production quality is exceptionally high. Much neater and tidier building and detailing than can be found on the MOR production Italian mandolins: DeMureda, Ferrari, Lanfranco, Stridente, etc. which are often fairly shoddy bits of work tricked out with some bling. But they are lighter in build and do shimmer when you play.

Would the Washburn stack up against the upper tier of Italian mandolins from the era? Of course, no. Not against a good De Meglio or Ceccherini or Cristofaro, either. I feel that the price for the Cremonatone is a bit high, maybe by ~$200. You should be able to get nice De Meglio from the UK for $670, shipping included.

US built mandolins from the East Coast tend to be a bit lighter on the build and have a more Italian sound yet keep the quality of wood and craft found in the US makers of the era. Vega, in particular is a good source. They built mandolins for other people and this Ditson looks like a good option, currently at less than half the price of the Washburn. These Empire bowlbacks were probably made by Vega for Ditson. I have one, and it is an excellent mandolin. The necks are a bit chunky if you are comping it to an Italian bowl, but they are strongly built without adding the weight as in a Washburn. They play and sound great.

Will a Ditson give you the snob appeal of an Italian bowlback? Only if you're in the know.

Mick

[Barry Canada]

Thanks for the advice!
Barry