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I've seen a picture or two of your shelving, Mike. Very impressive. Actually inspired a (uh, slightly smaller) unit of my own.

Mick

This caught my eye, too, Jim. The top must be very strong to not have distorted with the bridge bearing so close to the F holes.

Here's a Waldo for the sake of comparison, however different. ...

Here it is, once again, for posteriority.

Mick

Maybe we could pitch in and ship John over here for awhile? ;) We could load him down with work. (And beer, maybe?)

Mick

Yes. Sort of.

Mick

While some continue to use the colloquial name of "reverse scroll" the Encyclopedia Mandolica cites the proper name for this style mandolin as "Papa Smurf".

Mick

Joe, when you get the Vinaccia back all set up and ready to go, would you mind checking back in? Such a beautiful maple bowl on that mandolin.
I play a Vinaccia from this era and it's always great...

I posted some photos of another (similar, but nicer) Valente in your other post, Patti. Maybe Mike can merge these two?

Definitely a Roman style mandolin with the slope fretboard and bridge....

Fair play to you, George.
Thanks for sharing.
I also have the good fortune to have Gibson and Martin oval hole mandolins from this era and enjoy them both for all that they offer.
Play on in...

Hello, Patti....a lot of questions there and I'm not sure if I can answer many of them for you...but Valente certainly made some very nice mandolins, if the example I have in my files is any...

Yes, I've seen DeMegio-ish La Foleys, Jim, and others with somewhat odd floating pickguards. Seems like another British make (JE Dallas?) sometimes used a similar approach to the oddly shaped...

If you look closer, I think you'll find that it closely resembles the shape of a fromage with a few small nibbles.
Or a map of the Acquitaine region.
One more reason to suspect a French...

Whenever I think about sticking something on a mando or accordion case I think about this photo from a Ry Cooder album I listened to relentlessly in my youth.

Atta Issacs and his BudMan sticker on...

Has it really been April since we've had a flatback of note?

This handsome mandolin from George La Foley crossed my radar this morning.

I've never played one, but appreciate this mandolin's...

Right you are. Once you dig into the Club system, you can really understand why folks thought it was a good idea to begin with.

I play PA as well, but really dig the diatonic boxes for their...

Well....I played and played with it as a "Club" and got to the point where I thought: "What's the point?" and de clubbed and flipped a reed to get myself a G# where I wanted it. Along with the...

Well....I can't recommend enough our friend Sheri Mignano's book "Mandolins Like Salami" about the mandolin culture and players in early 1900s San Francisco.
Sheri is a great storyteller and there...

Sounds like you've peeked into our living room....:whistling: The boxes do stack up.

I know our friend Sheri doesn't think much of them, but I do tend to like Hohner boxes. The $$/sound value...

From the site:
".... Henry was a lumberjack and carpenter, and made the first guitar as a gift to his wife Dagny...."

Mick

Well put, Bob. I feel that way about horns, too. I enjoy sitting close in a small jazz bar and hearing and feeling the honk.

I recall being in tiny bars in NO and the air pressure from the...

Well put, Eug. Sometimes less is, indeed, more.

Sometimes more is, indeed, more. Puglisi and Cristofaro are the ones, to my eye, who can go over the top (way over the top) and keep an 'organic...

Beautiful summer day!

Mick

I don't know the correct translation into English, but the technical term for these mandolins is "Papa Smurf".

Mick

That image caught my eye, too, Mike, for a couple reasons. I zoomed in and in to try and figure out those jigs at the foot of the workbench which look like they are for gluing the tops onto...

No worries about duplication, Jim. This material is worth linking and relinking as websites come and go. Some of the images on this site show up also on a footnote link from the Made in Chicago...