Stuart Walsh
Sun, 06 Apr 2008 09:02:06 -0700
Eugene C. Braig IV wrote:
I'm really into old mandolins. Feel free to send me a photo.
Eugene, did you see the photos of this mandolin? http://www.pluckedturkeys.co.uk/mandopics/
Either I or some of my mandolinny comrades should be able to identify a likely maker and perhaps ballpark value.From your initial description, it sounds like it may have been made by Giovanni de Meglio or an imitator. That shop exported great numbers of good quality mandolins, excellent players with good tone, from Naples to the UK in the late 19th c. (de Meglio's "vented" clasp predates Ruck's tone ports in guitars by ca. 100 years, eh?) I'm not sure what an "odd" bridge means in this case, but de Meglio bridges weren't that extraordinary in their place and time: typically a wooden frame with slots for spacing on the trailing edge and a brass-rod "saddle" set into the leading edge to set string height and functionally stop the vibrating string length. In addition, de Meglio's scratchplates were fixed to the surface of the soundboard rather than inlaid into it.Here is a very basic de Meglio model: <http://members.tripod.com/~Music_Treasures/978f.jpg> Much more pearl ornamentation is common.
Do you think this mando could be a de Meglio (or imitator)? This particular mandolin didn't really strike me as a good quality instrument - but I don't know anything about mandolins!
Did many mandolins have side vents? I've never seen them before. And teh wooden frame thing behind the bridge 'set into the leading edge' (do you mean the backward slope of the soundboard?).
Can you see the bridge itself in the photos, especially the fifth photo? Looks odd to me. Is there something missing from the nut?
I was asked to tune it but I looked at the neck-pegbox joint (photo 8) and I suspect the pegbox has broken off some time. I wouldn't have dared tuning it. Finally, are the plectra typical?
Thanks Stuart To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
