# Music by Genre > Orchestral, Classical, Italian, Medieval, Renaissance >  "the (something) charm of the bowlback mandolin"

## billkilpatrick

never quite understood what "discreet charm of the bourgeoisie" or "the incredible lightness of being" really meant but i always liked the images conveyed.

at long last, i've succumbed to the charm of the bowlback mandolin - can't put it down.

if you were asked (nicely) to describe its appeal, using just one word, how would you complete the following sentence: " the ___ charm of the bowlback mandolin?"

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## Mandolin Mick

Elegant  :Smile:

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## journeybear

Fidgety (ever try to hold one still?)



I'm subject to the fidgety charm of deciding amongst such terms as fidgety, slithery, slippery, peripatetic, perambulaTORY, squirmy, mobile, movable, unsettled, wandering, wayfaring, kinetic, mutable, unsteady, variable, restless, unstable, etc etc etc

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## vkioulaphides

Hmm... never found it in any way unstable; it just, uh... _sits_ there. Is it me? Nor have I ever used traction-pads, or anything else, to keep it from slip-sliding away. Most curious... 

---

But this thread is of course a call to _description_, not to _argument_. That being the case, I'd fill in the blank with "familiar/familial". Like a darling nephew or niece, the (bowlback) mandolin is something you sit on your lap, and lavish time and affection on. Invariably, it reciprocates the sentiment, warbling in delight.

That, at least, is my take. As in all such cases, YMMV.

Cheers,

Victor

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## Peter Kurtze

. . . ineffable . . .

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## Jim Garber

"Charm? ... what charm?" he says as he posts yet another photo of one of his treasures.

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## Matt DeBlass

Curvaceous? Mediterranean? Elegant?  (which also helps fill out the "looking for" section of any personal ads I might be writing in the future, now that I think of it  :Wink:  ). 
They are certainly lovely little critters, I've got my eye out for an affordable fixer-upper if the opportunity arises (because one, I'm on a severely tight budget, and two, I like fixing stuff).

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## brunello97

Glad to hear you have succumbed, Bill.  I am with Victor in thinking of the particular size and position of holding a bowlback to play invokes particular associations with other small, dear things. 

I might offer: the 'intimate' charm.  After years of playing electric bass,  all mandolins feel rather intimate to me, actually, but bowlbacks especially so.

Mick

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## Jim MacDaniel

Timeless

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## billkilpatrick

... nimble?

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## man dough nollij

Plump.

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## Shelagh Moore

Convex!

I really enjoyed playing the DeMeglio I had for around 20 years and rather regret selling it now.

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## Matt DeBlass

How about "callipygian" (as in "having a shapely backside")?

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## Bob A

I'd modify to "The charming chime of a bowlback mandolin"; I' not charmed by "the chiming charm" construction.

They are indeed callipygous; I think I prefer callipygian. Still, this is a family site. We may be treading close to the edge.

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## billkilpatrick

... carillon?

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## JEStanek

ethereal

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## Simen Kjaersdalen

"Ethereal", yes, my vote goes to that, put together with "Poetic, humble, spiritual." Four words for four strings.

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## Alex Timmerman

Hi all,

Although there are, because of their very own caracteristic sound, one or two exeptions (flat backed instruments),  I like the sound  of the bowlback mandolin and it's design so much ánd above all other "mandolin" kinds derived from it, that I would opt for: 

*the unsurpassed charm of the bowlback mandolin*.

Hope to have still some friends left now here at the café ...


Best,

Alex

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## billkilpatrick

> ... I would opt for: 
> 
> *the unsurpassed charm of the bowlback mandolin*.
> 
> Hope to have still some friends left now here at the café ...


flatist!

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## Alex Timmerman

:Grin:

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## JEStanek

Alex, I applaud a person who can take a stand for their beliefs.  I just wouldn't say that in the Bluegrass Subforum!  :Wink:   Ha!

Jamie

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## Jim MacDaniel

How about "classic" charm of the bowlback.  :Wink:

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## Jim Garber

My greatest pleasure would be to play a bowlback in a bluegrass band. I think to top it off I would opt for a tuba instead of a bass. Those folks need to be shaken up a little.

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## Plamen Ivanov

Well, this is something i really did for my colleagues. As far as most of them are lawyers, i had to use a latin term so that they can understand that is actually not the same as the charm of the guitar, tambura, etc. So, i had to explain it like: "the _sui generis_ charm of the bowlback mandolin", because of its unique appearance and sound.

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## JeffD

I would say, more seriously, the _innocent_ charm.

My other mandolins have the feeling of a guilty pleasure somehow. 

I guess I need therapy.   :Smile:

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## billkilpatrick

> 


actually ... considering the linear aspect of your lovely native land, i expect a bump of any sort would be wonderful indeed. (sherpa smiley symbol)

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## vkioulaphides

> How about "callipygian" (as in "having a shapely backside")?


I must congratulate you for unearthing such a _Belle Epoque_ urban upper-crust Greek word! It is, alas, effectively obsolete, absent even from the relevant... *ahem*... _directories_ where such solicitous verbiage might appear. This being a family forum, however, I hastily return to mando-topics.

---

Ever since early childhood, and to this day, I have found the bowl to be, well... simply a Beautiful Thing. I am at a loss for words, for once, and cannot argue this point any further. It's just beautiful, artful, arched like the hull of a ship —we _are_ a maritime nation, after all— or a magnification of a nutshell-_qua-objet-d'art._ 

Oh, and... the _sound_ is nice, too.  :Grin: 

Cheers,

Victor

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## journeybear

I am reconsidering my entry. Just because *I* have found bowlbacks to be a bit fidgety doesn't mean that this is generally true amongst players. And it really doesn't capture the essence of the instrument. I therefore submit, "resonant." I have found bowlbacks ring with a richness, volume, and duration unlike other body styles, and I think this is important to note.

Speaking of nutshells, I suppose its shape does resemble a pistachio shell. Perhaps that is on my mind due to the current massive TV ad campaign.  :Wink:

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## billkilpatrick

elegant
fidgety
familial
ineffable
("charm? ... what charm! - i don't got to show you charm!!")
curvaceous
mediterranean
intimate
timeless
nimble
plump
convex
callipygian
carillon ("charming chime")
ethereal
poetic 
humble
spiritual
unsurpassed
classic
sui generis (unique)
innocent
resonant

from the list so far i'd say "familial" works well as it evokes a cuddle and an olde-timey, musical family circle image.  "callipygian" works too - bowlbacks of all kinds being the classic symbol of voluptuous tavern wenches offering a quickie upstairs.  it's my suggestion but i think "carillon" describes its ringing, campanella-like peal.

"woody" is generally accepted as a description for the other mandolins ... are bowlbacks more difficult to pin down?

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## vkioulaphides

> I am reconsidering my entry.


Well, I certainly did not mean to sound argumentative; and you are hardly in the minority for finding bowls, ah... _slippery._  :Wink:  I was only speaking of my own experience, the only thing I am truly "qualified" to speak of.

On the other hand, perhaps Bill may reconsider _his_, lest the Morality Police  :Cool:   shackle him, in a lovely tint of orange. He went where I didn't.

Cheers,

Victor

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## Bob A

" My greatest pleasure would be to play a bowlback in a bluegrass band. I think to top it off I would opt for a tuba instead of a bass. Those folks need to be shaken up a little. "

An experience that even I, recluse that I am, would gladly have traveled 3000 miles to enjoy, the Hollywood funeral of a highly regarded tuba player (Tubist?) at which his passing was serenaded (if that's the word I want) by 99 of his fellow tubists. Earthshaking.

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## Schlegel

I submit  Cheerful.

And I must be going to the wrong taverns.  Roundest thing on offer is a bowl of chili, though in the current season that is not without some attraction.

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## JeffD

Someone told me that I played a bowlback because its shape most resembled my own.

Well I am happy to report that this particular trope can nolonger be used re me. Having lost 1% of a ton in the last several months, I can say with inordinate glee that the bowlback resembles my former shape.

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## catmandu2

"fast and bulbous"...

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## Brent Hutto

"supposed"

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## vkioulaphides

_De gustibus_, and all that... 

Cheers,

Victor

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## JeffD

There is something venerable about the bowlback. The venerable charm? 

I know when I pick one up and actually play music on it, its as if I am doing something very very ancient. Even though my oldest bowlback is probably not more than 113 years old, its the shape of the thing. Out of that ancient shape I am able to coax ancient sound. By clever placement of finger and hand I perform an incantation that raises long dead (but not unfriendly) spirits into singing. I somehow share an activity with the angels in heaven, which activity itself is very old.

Somebody stop me.

All I know is that while I enjoy my Gibson, I don't get these kinds of feelings playing it.

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## Simen Kjaersdalen

> I know when I pick one up and actually play music on it, its as if I am doing something very very ancient. Even though my oldest bowlback is probably not more than 113 years old, its the shape of the thing. Out of that ancient shape I am able to coax ancient sound. By clever placement of finger and hand I perform an incantation that raises long dead (but not unfriendly) spirits into singing. I somehow share an activity with the angels in heaven, which activity itself is very old.
> 
> Somebody stop me.


You win! I think and feel like you do about it, so thank you for the words. I actually started to write down music after dreaming that I heard angel's music. (I had to do something about it then, you know...) I tried the guitar first, but ended up with the mandolin and voice.

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## billkilpatrick

> "supposed"


 :Grin:

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## Eugene

Congrats, and no adjective required.  "Charm" suffices.

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## journeybear

Another enigmatic missive from our enigmatic mr. bill ... Hold on! Waitaminnit! Perhaps that could work: "the enigmatic charm of the bowlback." Hmmm ...

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## JeffD

> Perhaps that could work: "the enigmatic charm of the bowlback." Hmmm ...


When I was in high school a buddy of mine acquired a beat up car that he managed to make road worthy. I remember talking to him about the transmission, which wasn't manual, but after his handiwork it was not what we could call automatic. We called it an "enigmatic" transmission.

We made a joke far more sophisticated than our years, and nobody seemed to get it.

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## catmandu2

> I somehow share an activity with the angels in heaven, which activity itself is very old.


I too feel communion with the spirits when I'm playing my venerable contrabass...

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## billkilpatrick

... olde-fangled

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## Jim MacDaniel

> Originally Posted by Matt DeBlass
> 
> 
> How about "callipygian" (as in "having a shapely backside")?
> 
> 
> I must congratulate you for unearthing such a _Belle Epoque_ urban upper-crust Greek word! It is, alas, effectively obsolete, absent even from the relevant... *ahem*... _directories_ where such solicitous verbiage might appear...


Well, we _could_ go with a more modern, albeit less elegant, take on the concept: "Baby got back".

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## catmandu2

> Well, we _could_ go with a more modern, albeit less elegant, take on the concept: "Baby got back".


Babe possesseth ye fast and bulbous back?

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## MandoSquirrel

"journeybear" stole my entry; "resonant" is the word I had in mind as I finally perused this thread, as my Washburn bowler seems to most characteristically present a near reverb-like resonance.

JeffD, are you saying you lost *500 pounds*?!

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## journeybear

No, 1% of a ton is 20 lbs. And sorry if I beat you to your word. But, in truth, they're all everybody's.  :Smile:

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## JeffD

Yea 20 lbs in as many weeks. My goal is 100 lbs in two years, at which point I will look like an army navy pancake mandolin.

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## Jim Garber

Great, Jeff and congratulations and keep up the good work. i lost 35+ pounds in 30 weeks -- not so easy but the key is sticking with it, having patience, changing bad habits, getting support and (mandatory) mandolin playing. And, not, back to our regularly scheduled program.

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## Dan Hoover

following in the vein of weight loss,the only word that pop's into my mind now is  "Phat" but that's like so 80's.. :Grin: 
 congrats to you guy's on your weight loss though..keep it going,stay away from fast food..

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## billkilpatrick

> ... stay away from fast food ...


... cigarettes and wild, wild women.

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## JeffD

> ... cigarettes and wild, wild women.


faster horses, younger women, older whiskey, more money

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## journeybear

I applaud you on your achievements. I wish I could lose weight (I could try a bit harder, of course). I have mastered the knack of staying at roughly the same weight, have done so for years. I don't know if this is because I have achieved some sort of stasis or if I have just reached the limit of weight my body can sustain.  :Wink:  It would be nice to maintain a consistent weight, if only that weight were some 50 pounds less. OK, make that 75. I have more of a bowl belly than a bowl back!  :Laughing:

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## MandoSquirrel

> Yea 20 lbs in as many weeks. My goal is 100 lbs in two years, at which point I will look like an army navy pancake mandolin.


I see; my eyes read one quarter rather than one percent. Should have plastered my face to the screen to see it better before I asked.
Congratulations.

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