Re: Ditson Victory
Originally Posted by
Eugene
(1) the North American tradition of building Neapolitan-type mandolins essentially died in the mid '20s; (2) Relatively few survive in a functional state; (3) Most of the instruments made were built to appeal to the cheap tastes of a fickle, amateur population.
Excellent post, Eugene. That's definitely Cafe-Hall-of-Fame-worthy. Especially your point #3, that by far most of the American bowlbacks produced were low-quality to begin with.
To those points, accounting for today's near-invisibility of the bowlback mandolin in America, I'll add the following obstacles:
1) lack of easy availability of ideal picks and strings;
2) lack of contact and thus awareness of the state of the art amongst European and Asian bowlback luthiers;
3) shortage of skilled, specialized luthiers to restore the few good instruments left.
As a result of Eugene's points, and mine, here are some of the results:
1) Most American mandolinists have formed an opinion about bowlback mandolin, without ever having seen or heard a good one;
2) The old Gibson advertising hype often goes unquestioned: that the carved design is inherently better, thus we don't need older designs;
3) Low-end Pac Rim manufacturers copy only the carved designs, sending these around the world and displacing other traditions.
I've heard criticism that some of the old American bowlbacks were good, but none was good enough. I think that is a point we are just beginning to reevaluate, and at any rate, it's worth doing the research. Especially for anyone who is not a professional player, and might well be able to get along with something less than a modern, state-of-the-art, concert bowlback.
Exploring Classical Mandolin (Berklee Press, 2015)
Progressive Melodies for Mandocello (KDP, 2019) (2nd ed. 2022)
New Solos for Classical Mandolin (Hal Leonard Press, 2020)
2021 guest artist, mandocello: Classical Mandolin Society of America
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