This is not seriously over-ornamented but is pretty. I am assuming that the headstock flourish was probably nailed on when new. Quite a nice instrument and apparently in okay condition.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-A...4AAOSwagpgTKys
This is not seriously over-ornamented but is pretty. I am assuming that the headstock flourish was probably nailed on when new. Quite a nice instrument and apparently in okay condition.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-A...4AAOSwagpgTKys
De Meglio No 2 model clone
I am surprised at the price it made- not a fortune, but it appeared to be in good order and was an attractive looking instrument.
For posteriority.
We've held any number of inconclusive discussions on DeMeglio output here.
Some of the so-called "clones" look like really bad copies with a few DeMeglioid features.
I wonder if it is these bad copies that prompted the long-winded warning on the later (and longer) DeMeglio labels.
Others, like this ones really do look like DeMeglios....
Given their prodigious output, I wonder if they didn't also make mandolins for the 'trade' so to speak, like L+H, Martin, Vega, etc. did here in the US to be labeled by someone else.
If you could make this good of a copy of a DeMeglio mandolin....why not just make your own mandolins?
I realize that their are plenty of faux Gibson out there and the iconic F-5 design is straight out of the Gibson model...but there have been far fewer iconic (proto) types of high end mandolins in the US when compared with the Neapolitan and Roman bowlbacks (Calace, Embergher, Vinaccia, Cristafaro, Monzino etc. etc.)
I still find the DeMeglio mandolins fascinating.
Mick
Ever tried, ever failed? No matter. Try again, fail again. Fail better.--Samuel Beckett
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Hi Mick. Anything possible, but I guess lesser known makers would copy any popular style if that helped selling. De Meglio were popular, looked attractive and were often copied. There were very close nice Model 2 copies with fluted bodies, for example, one thing that De Meglio itself never done (or at least we have not seen one yet, perhaps). Another guess is that De Meglio allowed other makers using their "sistema" for a fee, like Gelas did, for example.
Do we know that this is not a DeMeglio? In any case it has the patent stamp so possibly design was licensed by DeMeglio. It has the behind bridge tensioner and the slotted side vents, same headstock shape and decorative metal piece.
Jim
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Playing lately:
1924 Gibson A4 - 2018 Campanella A-5 - 2007 Brentrup A4C - 1915 Frank Merwin Ashley violin - Huss & Dalton DS - 1923 Gibson A2 black snakehead - '83 Flatiron A5-2 - 1939 Gibson L-00 - 1936 Epiphone Deluxe - 1928 Gibson L-5 - ca. 1890s Fairbanks Senator Banjo - ca. 1923 Vega Style M tenor banjo - ca. 1920 Weymann Style 25 Mandolin-Banjo - National RM-1
Ever tried, ever failed? No matter. Try again, fail again. Fail better.--Samuel Beckett
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It could be a genuine non-DeMeglio Since it definitively has traits. On the other hand it also has some non-traits that could easily lead us to a genuine non-Larson.
Jim
My Stream on Soundcloud
19th Century Tunes
Playing lately:
1924 Gibson A4 - 2018 Campanella A-5 - 2007 Brentrup A4C - 1915 Frank Merwin Ashley violin - Huss & Dalton DS - 1923 Gibson A2 black snakehead - '83 Flatiron A5-2 - 1939 Gibson L-00 - 1936 Epiphone Deluxe - 1928 Gibson L-5 - ca. 1890s Fairbanks Senator Banjo - ca. 1923 Vega Style M tenor banjo - ca. 1920 Weymann Style 25 Mandolin-Banjo - National RM-1
It would be interesting to know more about how DeMeglio and 'DeMeglio clones' were made. I imagine a shared workshop with a lot of specialisms performed by highly skilled individuals, using common suppliers of hardwear, MoP, tortoiseshell, etc, some of which ended up with DeMeglio labels, some of which didn't. The similarities between the labelled and the 'clones' are too great to be explained by a copycat workshop setting up in another part of Naples. I don't imagine the artisan community of that city tolerating that behaviour. More likely is some kind of cooperative production to allow for economies of scale as well as common access to skills and supplies, such as economic geographers have noted since Victorian time in Italian cities. Any economic geographers out there looking for a PhD project?
Anglocelt
mainly Irish & Scottish but open to all dance-oriented melodic music.
Mandos: Gibson A2, Janish A5, Krishot F5, Taran Springwell, Shippey, Weber Elite A5; TM and OM by Dave Gregory, J E Dallas, Tobin & Davidson.
I think your post makes a lot of sense (and not just because I have often thought the same thing myself )
I think we toss the term "clone" around here a little too liberally. Some of the faux DeMeglios I've seen have just been poor copies. They wouldn't fool anyone and perhaps weren't designed too...just copying some overt DeMeglios details.
Then, of course, are the "Sistema DeMeglio" which often look like Grade B or Grade C DeMeglios.
Others, such as the one under discussion might properly be called a [I]clone[/I) as they seem nearly identical to a proper DeMeglio.
"Economies of Scale" is a good topic as well. Given the output from the DeMeglio shop one might think a larger facility might have been required...or perhaps a distributed means of production.
No PhD candidate am I but I've long fancied taking a trip to Napoli and asking around about the DeMeglios. Again, given their output, publishing and legacy in the pianoforte business, there could well be a trail to find and follow up on. Would make for a great walking tour of the city.
Mick
Ever tried, ever failed? No matter. Try again, fail again. Fail better.--Samuel Beckett
______________________
'05 Cuisinart Toaster
'93 Chuck Taylor lowtops
'12 Stetson Open Road
'06 Bialetti expresso maker
'14 Irish Linen Ramon Puig
Sounds like a fun thing to do! Actually, record collectors have had good luck making similar trips to small Southern towns where rockabilly records were produced. (Same with blues and garage records, as well..) Some of the rarer stuff can be $100-1000 per 45, with the occasional super-rare title bringing $5K or more. I never found a $5K record, but more than once loaded the car with $100-300 45's totaling that amount.....
Often I find people usually think records are worth very little, while the same people usually (and incorrectly) assume any old instrument is valuable.
Ever tried, ever failed? No matter. Try again, fail again. Fail better.--Samuel Beckett
______________________
'05 Cuisinart Toaster
'93 Chuck Taylor lowtops
'12 Stetson Open Road
'06 Bialetti expresso maker
'14 Irish Linen Ramon Puig
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