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Thread: Lombardic mandolin

  1. #1
    Jo Dusepo, luthier Dusepo's Avatar
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    I am a luthier specialising in historical and world stringed instruments. You can see more info at my website.

  2. #2
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Lombardic mandolin

    I know it says it's a mandolin, I think it may actually be a lute. I'm sure one of the learned ones will set me straight.
    Last edited by MikeEdgerton; Oct-11-2019 at 3:25pm.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
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  3. #3
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: Lombardic mandolin

    We in the classical department here call them mandolinos. Really they are sort of a hybrid mandolin, sometimes regional. More info here on wikipedia.

    The original baroque mandolino had 6 courses of two strings each. The Lombard is similar but has single string courses.

    Here's photos of my 1896 by Serafino Casini.

    Click image for larger version. 

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  5. #4
    Mandolin tragic Graham McDonald's Avatar
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    Default Re: Lombardic mandolin

    I see them more as a separate evolutionary line of mandolins, a direct descendant of the early gut-strung Baroque mandolins which were really just a very small lute. They lost their double courses around the beginning of the 19th century and evolved into the late 19th century Lombardic or Milanese mandolin, still tuned in fourths. If you look at photos of northern Italian mandolin ensembles from that period there were often as many Lombardic mandolins as Neapolitan mandolins but they were rarely seen after the first world war. Gut strings and wooden tuning pegs would have made then a less attractive option beside a metal string Neapolitan mandolin with mechanical tuners.

  6. #5
    Jo Dusepo, luthier Dusepo's Avatar
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    Default Re: Lombardic mandolin

    Quote Originally Posted by MikeEdgerton View Post
    I know it says it's a mandolin, I think it may actually be a lute. I'm sure one of the learned ones will set me straight.
    They are the original type of mandolins, descended from the lute in the renaissance, rather than the modern, steel-stringed variety.
    I am a luthier specialising in historical and world stringed instruments. You can see more info at my website.

  7. #6

    Default Re: Lombardic mandolin

    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Garber View Post
    We in the classical department here call them mandolinos. Really they are sort of a hybrid mandolin, sometimes regional. More info here on wikipedia.

    The original baroque mandolino had 6 courses of two strings each. The Lombard is similar but has single string courses.

    Here's photos of my 1896 by Serafino Casini.

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	casini1.jpg 
Views:	137 
Size:	177.5 KB 
ID:	180502
    you have one of everything!!!

  8. #7

    Default Re: Lombardic mandolin

    pretty instrument. i doubt i'd play it. seems like a very short scale so i am guessing it was made for gut strings

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