Need opinion on my restored Vincenzo Valluci Mandolin 1922

[szunino]

Hey All,

Would appreciate some insight into this Valluci 1922 mandolin I picked up on Ebay and restored. My understanding is that he was a student of Embergher and made some higher quality mandolins. This one has some aspects that make it seem high quality and other that don't. For example, the machine heads don't seem to fit as seamlessly as you would think in a higher end mandolin. Based on the screw holes and other markings from the machine heads, they seem original. Also, the frets seems pretty high initially. On the other hand, the neck looks like figured maple. Any opinions? Attached are some before and after pictures. Still waiting for the strings to come in.

Thanks!

Steven

[NickR]

Where was Valluci's workshop? The tuners appear to be American Waverly units for a solid headstock mandolin- but I cannot see them properly- but suggests they are not original. I would expect to see a fluted bowl on a high quality instrument. I think some Italian mandolins did have a slot head after a certain date but it is more typical of central Europe.

[Jim Garber]

His workshop was also in Arpino (like Embergher) according to the label on this mandolin (I had downloaded the photos from this eBay sale). I agree with NickR that the tuners are likely not original (also clipped off at the bottom) and also that the tailpiece is not original either and of American mandufacture. This is a standard Roman-style bowlback and would correspond to an Embergher No. 1. Roman-style mandolins were somewhat different from the ones made in Napoli (Calace, Vinaccia, etc.) The neck profile is triangular, the width of the neck is very narrow with radiused fretboard and bar frets. Are these frets bar frets? Embergher shop and its disciples used bar frets even into the 1960s. Emberghers also had a zero fret that butted very closely against the nut.

As for fluting: most makers did that for only for the upper level instruments. Embergher style 3 and above have fluted bowls. Student models and lower orchestra models 1 &2 have plain bowls. Fluting is very labor intensive and would add a lot to the cost of the instrument.

Obviously some amateur did some work on this. Note the sloppy work on the bowl in the before photos. Szunino: perhaps you can post the a few of the post restoration photos. I only see the one of the bowl.

Here's a label from a 1928 5bis (soloist) Vallucci

[szunino]

Thanks for the info. Kind of what I thought. Any idea where I could find some more authentic tuners or a tail piece?
Yes, brass (?) bar frets.

Here is a picture of the label:

[szunino]

Here are some progress photos of the front:

[brunello97]

Muy coolioso. I'm very interested to get a report back on how this sounds post-repair. The LE influence is obvious, but the body profile appears much stouter....or maybe that is a consequence of the photos. The bowl on some appears wide and stubby, others more sleek om the Embergherian mode.
Admittedly, I'm not a huge fan of the prickly LE tone but am interested in Roman mandolins in general, so knowing more about this will help broaden my (limited) understanding.
Mick