# Instruments and Equipment > Builders and Repair >  Building a "Mandolino" A. Stradivari, Cremona 1680

## Yaron Naor

Hi All,
Just started building a replica of that instrument,
Enjoy the process...
Regards,
Yaron Naor

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## Pribar

Interesting choice, can't wait to see what you do with it. I always love to see the techniques you use cause I steal them shamelessly  :Grin:

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## Jim Garber

Very coo, Yaron. Is yours based on the one in South Dakota? It looks like the rosette is different.

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## sunburst

Looks good already! Those of us who see (and look for) lines can already appreciate what's happening here.

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## TijnBerends

I wonder though, why are there 9 holes in the headstock?

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## Tavy

> I wonder though, why are there 9 holes in the headstock?


Me too  :Smile: 

Nice looking work though.... I want to see more!

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## Tavy

> Very coo, Yaron. Is yours based on the one in South Dakota? It looks like the rosette is different.


And has 10 strings, to Yaron's 9.  The only other Stadivari is from 1706, and I haven't found an image on the Net  :Frown:

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## Yaron Naor

Thank you  all for your words of encouragement! appreciate it, the project is getting along very good!
I base my instrument on a Mandolino" Coristo" that A. Stradivari made in Cremona, and I do 5C (9 strings)
see the images, It is a bit different from the South Dakota (Mabe Alex can put some light on this issue)
More images soon
Take care
Yaron Naor

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## Yaron Naor

> Interesting choice, can't wait to see what you do with it. I always love to see the techniques you use cause I steal them shamelessly


Thanks! If you have the gut, come visit me at my studio (-:    (I have many more endemic techniques you can have without shame)
Cheers
Yaron

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## Yaron Naor

Another progress... the body is attached to the neck and the rosette...


Enjoy,
Yaron Naor

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## Jim Garber

wow, Yaron, your are zooming! Looking good! That rosette is lovely.

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## mrmando

So it's five courses but with a single bass string?

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## Marty Jacobson

Yaron,

Very nice craftsmanship. Clamping those staves must be a nightmare. 

Going off topic perhaps, but seeing this makes me want to ask a lot of questions. 
What is the bracing scheme? What are you aiming for when you are voicing it.. and do you use tap tuning?
Is the top completely flat, or do you thin it toward the edges somewhat? Catgut strings?

Nice glue pot, btw.. I need to get one like that.

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## Yaron Naor

> So it's five courses but with a single bass string?


No, It will be 5C with single treble string (Cantino), 1 and 4x2, this is like the other early musical instruments and the information I collect from musicians.
Yaron Naor.

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## Yaron Naor

Here are some more images - the case is not painted yet ...

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## Jim Garber

Very cool Yaron. Is this a commission or do you just build for fun or for yourself?

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## Yaron Naor

> Very cool Yaron. Is this a commission or do you just build for fun or for yourself?


Thanks Jim!
I build instruments for musicians, this one is not ordered but there are some people interested...
Yaron Naor

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## Tavy

> Here are some more images - the case is not painted yet ...


Yaron, even the case is a work of art - very cool!

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## Matt the Mead Maker

Beautiful work, Yaron! Thanks for sharing and keep at it!

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## Eugene

Lovely!  I believe the original was the same piece that inspired Barber & Harris' "Own design", although they also build more faithful reproductions of the original.  The couple Stradivari mandolins remaining are interesting, but just so small and quirky compared to later pieces to have survived.  I'm keen to read more of this build as it develops, Yaron.

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## Jim Garber

I wonder if  these surviving mandolins are playable at all and if anyone has played them. I believe Richard Walz has been out to the National Museum in SD and has at least looked at that one.

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## Eugene

I believe Richard has played the "Cutler-Challen" mandolin by Stradivari at one time or another too.  I even believe he tried to arrange a tour with the piece that never came together.  It's been a while, but I think the issue was that the bridge had popped off, which alarmed the curator.  The one in SD is pretty extensively restored.  The only pre-restoration photos I've seen of the "Cutler-Challen" mandolin were in Tyler (1981).  It did not originally have a shield-shaped finial:


(Tyler, J. 1981. The Italian Mandolin and Mandola 1589 -1800. Early Music 9(4):438 - 446).


I don't know if the other Strad, the one discussed here, is playable.  I believe this is the one that originally came to light when bought at auction by Peter Biddulph some decades ago.

Even if not the Strads, others are in playable condition.  For example, there was an early 18th-c., 5-course Smorsone restored to playability by UK luthier Bruce Brook; you can still see a couple unlabeled before and after shots here.  However, I don't know of any original 18th-c. pieces that are routinely played.  All the recordings of which I'm aware, e.g., are on reproduction instruments.

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## Eugene

...And hopefully Richard will happen by here to add a little clarification as well.

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## Graham McDonald

> The only pre-restoration photos I've seen of the "Cutler-Challen" mandolin were in Tyler (1981).  It did not originally have a shield-shaped finial:
> 
> .


I have a couple of photos taken by Stephen Morey in 1988, before the mandolin was bought by the SD museum and restored. I will post this evening (my time)

cheers

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## Graham McDonald

The Challen Strad mandolin in 1988

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## billkilpatrick

beautiful looking instrument.  tuned in 4ths, right? ... and in terms of tone, i imagine it will sound something like a charango.  mega complimenti

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## Stephen Perry

I must be insane.  That looks like a BLAST to build!  Must restrain myself!  Is it built over a form?  Lined with anything?  Simply wonderful!!!

Thank you so much for posting the images.

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## Eugene

Big thanks, Graham.

Yes, tuned in fourths, b to g'', Bill.  Reproductions make occasional appearances on recording.  For example, Orlandi recorded just one of the Scarlatti sonatas on a faithful reproduction of the Cutler-Challen mandolino coristo pictured here.  The general type (if not specifically the small-bodied Strad copies) are very frequently recorded.

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## Yaron Naor

> beautiful looking instrument.  tuned in 4ths, right? ... and in terms of tone, i imagine it will sound something like a charango.  mega complimenti


Thanks for your reply! and Yes, tuned in 4ths, as Eugege replayed earlier, it will sound like a very small mandolin with a surprisingly strong output, here is a sample i found on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPIZbBH-FNY
More images tomorrow of the bridge and the hard case finished...
Yaron Naor

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## billkilpatrick

that's exquisite! wonderful and bravo!!

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## JeffD

You that know, help me understand. Is there a template for those staves? Or is there a formula for their shape that you calculate and then draw out?

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## Eugene

I don't know from experience because I hire other folks to do my building repairing, but yes, Jeff.  Many modern luthiers are pretty good computer modelers too and can vary number of ribs spanning a given bowl's size and shape to arrive at rib templates in a way Stradivari never could.

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## Graham McDonald

Here is a mould for one of these little mandolins as used by Carlo Cecconi in Italy

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## roady43

> Here are some more images - the case is not painted yet ...


This is so beautifull. Will you fit it with gut strings or Nylgut and what will the tuning be? (What does 5C exactly mean?).

BTW: For fun I recently bought this funny "Baroque Ukulele" which slightly reminds at the "real stuff". I put Aquila strings on (GDAE, not very authentic but practical for me) which sounds really lovely and nearly clean. But I will have to adapt the bridge for some compensation for better intonation of the "higher regions". Preferably tuned A=415Hz at the moment (which is fine because I almost exclusively play Bach on it).

This boy gives a quite convincing demonstration of it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...v=cwM3IgtZVEM#!

roady43

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billkilpatrick

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## billkilpatrick

i must be getting old - even as recently as a few years ago i would have bought that baroque-uke in a thrice.  yep'.  but as it is, i'm merely going to take advantage of scott's clever little adjunct to the wonderful communication tools made available to us here at the cafe and click the "thanks" button located on the bottom left of your reply.  is this what maturity is all about?  has MAS past?

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## Tavy

> This boy gives a quite convincing demonstration of it:
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...v=cwM3IgtZVEM#!


Very convincing, that was some lovely playing!

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## Jim Garber

I am not sure but it seems that that Matt Dahlberg is not roady43 -- is that so? -- and that he is playing in std uke tuning not mandolin tuning. Still, very nice playing.

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## Eugene

Everything old is new again.  In fifth tuning (g-d'-a'-e'') the "baroq-ulele" is pretty much the same as mandolino cremonese/bresciano of the late 1700s or the mandolino toscano of the late 1800s.  Those instruments wood have been played with plectra fashioned from slivers of cherry.  In fourth tuning, all ukulele's are pretty closely akin to the renaissance guitar for which characters like Mudarra, Le Roy, etc. wrote in the mid 1500s.

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## Eugene

I'm guessing "5C" (I'm not sure where in this thread that was typed) is shorthand for "5-course" (five sets of strings in contrast to modern types with four), roady.  Standard tuning for 5-course mandolins of that era was b-e'-a'-d''-g''.  Six-course instruments usually added a low g.

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## Eugene

By the way, I have a photo somewhere of a mandolin from Vienna's Stauffer shop of the 1830s that could be passed off as the "baroq-ulele" (without the decorative rose).

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## billkilpatrick

> By the way, I have a photo somewhere of a mandolin from Vienna's Stauffer shop of the 1830s that could be passed off as the "baroq-ulele" (without the decorative rose).


ooo ... monday (or sooner) is "show and tell"

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## Eugene

Orlandi and Vartolo play Scarlatti.  The one on which Orlandi plays a reproduction of the 5-course "Cutler-Challen" Stradivari (K 81: I. Grave - II. Allegro - III. Grave - IV. Allegro) begins at 34:10 and runs to the end.

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## billkilpatrick

thanks eugune - youtube has got to be the best juke-box in the world

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## Yaron Naor

Some more images - thank you all for your comments and feedback, enjoy
Gluing the bridge right now, the hard case is ready...

Regards,
Yaron Naor

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## Eugene

I love the old-fashioned Strad-repro case, Yaron.  What material is the "hinge."

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## pjlama

Simply beautiful.

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## Yaron Naor

> I love the old-fashioned Strad-repro case, Yaron.  What material is the "hinge."


Thanks Eugene, the "Hinge" is a black Cordora fabric, 
Thanks,
Yaron Naor
https://picasaweb.google.com/116712080015313073524

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## Yaron Naor

Some more images...

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## Pribar

Simply beautiful

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## Yaron Naor

Coloring the finished body...

Thanks
Yaron Naor

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## Jim Garber

That is beautifully subtle, Yaron.

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## Yaron Naor

The Project is now finished... I will put the frets today...


Enjoy and thanks all
Luthier, Yaron Naor

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ides1056, 

James Sanford

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## Tavy

Lovely!  And boy that thing is small, all we need now is the sound clips  :Wink:

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## billkilpatrick

what a beauty! - bravo!

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## Jim Garber

Nice, Yaron. I assume those will be tied-on frets?

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## Grommet

Amazing work Yaron! This is a facinating example of dedication to the craft.

Scott

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## Yaron Naor

> Nice, Yaron. I assume those will be tied-on frets?


Thank YOU all for your replays and good feedback! I appreciate it, Those will be tied=on frets of course (I was too exited so I shoot the images before the frets... (-:  I will make a video clip soon as a mandolin master player will come to visit...
Regards, that was a fantastic joy to build and to share
Yaron Naor

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## Chris Challen

Fascinating how much interest there is around this 1680 instrument. As for the originals playability, I played it every day for 23 years in its unrestored state, without the slightest problem, including performing the Vivaldi concerto for duo mandolini several times with James Tyler. We built several copies of this instrument (and its companion) at West Dean during the early 80s. Its possible that this instrument is one of the two mandolini mentioned in the inventory of in the Ospedale della Pietà.




> I believe Richard has played the "Cutler-Challen" mandolin by Stradivari at one time or another too.  I even believe he tried to arrange a tour with the piece that never came together.  It's been a while, but I think the issue was that the bridge had popped off, which alarmed the curator.  The one in SD is pretty extensively restored.  The only pre-restoration photos I've seen of the "Cutler-Challen" mandolin were in Tyler (1981).  It did not originally have a shield-shaped finial:
> 
> 
> (Tyler, J. 1981. The Italian Mandolin and Mandola 1589 -1800. Early Music 9(4):438 - 446).
> 
> 
> I don't know if the other Strad, the one discussed here, is playable.  I believe this is the one that originally came to light when bought at auction by Peter Biddulph some decades ago.
> 
> Even if not the Strads, others are in playable condition.  For example, there was an early 18th-c., 5-course Smorsone restored to playability by UK luthier Bruce Brook; you can still see a couple unlabeled before and after shots here.  However, I don't know of any original 18th-c. pieces that are routinely played.  All the recordings of which I'm aware, e.g., are on reproduction instruments.

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