Is this a Fado?

[Scot63]

This is a very interesting "Martin," eh? I'm guessing a Fado, similar to the ones David Hynds's invaluable mandolinluthier.com displays, but sure has a narrow body. I'm also guessing not nearly as old as seller says. Thoughts?

https://reverb.com/item/2279855-1800...aid=criteo-ads

http://www.mandolinluthier.com/Gfado_mandolin.htm

[Jim Garber]

AFAIK fado is the name of the genre of Portuguese music. Mostly they play the guitarra which is the larger 12 string instruments shown on David's page. The mandolins are much less common but most have those Preston tuners which make them a bit of a pain since you have to create a loop on the non-looped end. I suppose you can call it a fado mandolin. Ron Fernandez has lots of info here.

[Ray(T)]

Portugese guitar on a "fado" recording. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jPjmBt6d4GE The whole thing is worth watching but for just the guitar start 26 minutes in.

[Jim Garber]

This Portuguese mandolin sold. Did anyone here buy it? I considered but then realized what a pain those tuners would be.

[ollaimh]

i played some fado and a lot ofceltic on portuguese guitars back a decades ago. i still love them. but yeah that was a fado mandolin. they have mandolin in that family of instruments. i have toronto portuguese friends who play fado mandolin in their ensemble playing. they also have a couple of other guitarras, the viola de terra and the brazillian viola de caprica, and several azori versions, even a few regional variants.

that went cheap. the older ones are very often well made and use great woods . newer ones can be tourist instruments of lower quality. they may look funky but they had a folk lutheir tradition of high quality.

the tuners are great. they are much lighter than modern ones. on the big instruments modern tuners would be way too heavy. moreover the loops are not hard to make. you can buy string winders, but for the first decade i used a nail and a pair of plyers, it just takes a little practice. a tiexiera from between the world wars.

[Jacob]

Portuguese mandolins (bandolims) currently available at FolkReps. (NFI)
Several have Preston tuners.

[ollaimh]

Portuguese mandolins (bandolims) currently available at FolkReps. (NFI)
Several have Preston tuners.

some of the folk reps instruments are nice. i prefer anything by antonio caravhalo, the braga lutheir. he has made for folk reps but his stuff comes up occasionally on ebay. the quality of woods and luthiery is top notch.,, aucoustomelo carries some a. caravhalo instruments from time to time. manuel caravhalo makes more touristy instruments so check the first name or initial. under his own label he uses his whole name, under others i have seen just the first initial.

[Kieron]

I bought the little fado............ so its on its way to China. Still 5 days in china customs ??

Actually I bought a mandola version from a canada a few years back and they are so lovely. The woods are always great quality. Very special tone that you can only find in a old instrument

Machine heads are stunning, and making strings to match are easy once you get used to the winder................love these things !

Thanks for the heads up !

[Kieron]

by the way, I bought 2 modern ones and was never pleased with the tone..............old ones sing !

[Jim Garber]

Kieron: what do you mean by mandola version? 8 strings only larger or are you talking about the 12 string guitarra? The latter are much more common than mandolins, I believe.

[Kieron]

8 strings of course, longer scale and bigger body. The mandola one has a very well carved scroll.............

[Jim Garber]

Can you post a photo? I don't think I have ever seen a Portuguese mandola. What is the scale length?

[Mandothing]

The mandolin arrive, sweetest thing you ever saw with its own handmade Wooden coffin case.

Sadly it received a crack on the back en route..... In a wooden case, really. The first time ever this has happened

But so sweet !

[Mandothing]

mandolin and mandola, as promised

[Jim Garber]

The photo may distort things a bit but it almost looks like the two instruments are about the same size. Assuming that perspective is correct tho the mandola has 12 strings and therefore would be some variant of guitarra. What is the scale length of the mandola?

Guitarras scale lengths range from "445 mm of free string length in Lisboa guitars and 470 mm in Coimbra guitars". More info here.

So, you are right, that would be about 17" more or less and would be same scale as a C-tuned mandola, but with 12 strings.

[Mark Gunter]

Very interesting. In the photo it appears that you are using nine strings on the Guitara - and from the comments, you tune it as a mandola. Also in the photo there is a mark on the finish - appears to be an area less affected by light and environment - in the shape of maybe a tailpiece on the top. Is there any other evidence that perhaps a different tailpiece had been installed at some point in its past?

Just curious about this beautiful old instrument.

[ollaimh]

the mandola appears to me to bea pre 1900 portuguese guitarra, that often has hat look and were more like mandolins. moreover they were made at various scale lengths. the semi standardization into, coimbra scale and lisboa scale didn't really take hold until the fifites, moreover there have been many variants and still are. however it's lovely and can be easily turned into a mandola so go for it. i count twelve tuners.

a agree many of the early ones have fantastic tone.

if you want good quality new ones you have to look for the better lutheirs such as antonio caravhalo--whom i have advocated many times. i had one of his guitarras untill recently, which was comparable to a martin guitar for quality.(and a lot cheaper). and i played a couple of his mandolas at a music store in oporto a few years ago, and they were great and around 500 euros--cheap--especially now.

acouto melo carries his instruments occasionally. he alsosells under his own label--they are the best. i have seen two or three under his own label on ebay over ten years. there must be a portuguese store that sell his label.