What is the cant?

[MandoBetsy]

I have a Suzuki bowl back built in the early 60s and have wondered what the slightly raised ridge is on top of the instrument close to the bridge and what purpose does it serve?

A friend loaned me a copy of The Mandolin: a History, there is a diagram that shows this labeled as the "cant," but there is no text that explains what this is.

Does anyone know??

[jim simpson]

As I understand it, the cant is the bent top at the location you have noted. If you look inside of a canted top, you will usually see that the inside surface has been cut into a bit to help facilitate a bend. I have seen canted tops in poor condition where the cant if fractured. You will sometimes see fracture marks on the sides of some F-5 mandolins where there are sharper bends in the maple. I'm not sure how the canted top design came about, I suspect the lute but just guessing.

[CarlM]

According to MacDonald's Mandolin Project book, it gives a greater break angle on the strings over the bridge and stiffens the top allowing more string tension and better volume. I think he said it started in the late 1700s or early 1800s.

[MandoBetsy]

Very interesting info!! Thanks!!!

[MandoBetsy]

Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge with me.

[Tavy]

It serves 2 purposes:

* Increases the break angle over the bridge for a more "definite" sound, without requiring an angled neck.
* Increases the rigidity and strength of the top - in effect you turn the top into a little pyramid shape with the bridge at the apex. Note however that US and Japanese made bowls typically have much less arching and a shallower cant than the Neapolitans, so this effect is less noticeable there.

[JeffD]

The cant is my complaining whine when I have trouble playing a tune.

I tutor high school math, and I keep track, on the white board, of how many times a student says "I can't do this". I call it the "cant count".

[MikeEdgerton]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cant_(architecture)

[Timbofood]

I thought it was "can't tune"!

[plinkey]

I thought it was "can't tune"!

That's a real good one, Timothy: can't tune & can't play.

[Eddie Sheehy]

"Remember The Cant"

The Expanse.

[Tom Haywood]

The opposite of the can.

Sorry, couldn't help it.

[JeffD]

The cant is the part of the music, usually towards the end, where it becomes unbelievably more difficult and showy.

[pops1]

Can't means Won't!!