Today in Mandolin History - February 18, 1896, Giovanni Battista
February 18, 1896, Giovanni Battista Maldura awarded U.S. Patent #554828 for improvements in mandolin bridge design.
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Re: Today in Mandolin History - February 18, 1896, Giovanni Batti
Pretty interesting, although it takes a while to get to the gist of it. GB Maldura was a maker/virtuoso in Rome (died in 1905) and is known as the father of the Roman mandolin. Not sure exactly what that means but I'm guessing Graham McDonald can fill us in.
Wondering if this patent marks the beginning of the radiused fingerboard. Probably not, since Maldura notes the hollow underside - not the curved top - of the fingerboard as one of his improvements. The other improvement, the graduated string height (higher on the bass side), seems to be one of the earliest ergonomically inspired designs.
Jim Garber started a thread on this in 2007...
https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/t...atented-bridge
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