Re: Very thin fretboard on a bowlback
Originally Posted by
Richard500
Thanks! It was puzzling since my other older bowlbacks weren’t built this way. However, there’s some very good inlay, that I want to keep, and the current board is adequately flat, so I think I’ll just replace the fancy bridge with a simpler new one, maybe widening the base (fore and aft) to make up for any effect of structural strength. I suppose that these bridges generally have little or no strength of their own and depend on the underlying braces. So maybe an hour or two, versus a major project!
At first I wasn’t excited about how this one sounded compared with somewhat ‘richer’ tone from others, but I like it better after a bit of playing. This seems to be a pattern lately, where I don’t always prefer the same, or the best, instrument day to day. Not a sign that I’m turning into a musician in my old age though.
The above advice is right on.
I've done the above described fretboard replacement operation on numerous bowlbacks, and one of the major side benefits in starting with a pre-slotted fretboard blank is that you'll have proper intonation.
I've owned a few of the MOR Italian bowls such as this, my hunch made in Sicily to be branded in Naples, but that's another story.
They are very lightly built and with even just a little top sinkage north of the soundhole the neck can rotate out of position to make playing unlikely.
Since the neck and neckblock are one, resetting the neck is an ordeal.
From my experience the fretboards were slotted after attachment to the neck which often resulted in the slots cutting all the way throught the fretboard.
Hence the fretboard comes off in pieces, some of them very tiny.
A little gentle heat and the old (hide?) glue gives right away.
US made bowlbacks weren't made this way at all, though some old bowlbacks I've seen from the PA / NJ / NY / MA range show some very 'Italian' details in the fretboard craft.
I made a simple little jig to mount the (new) fretboard which allows for various degrees of taper as I sand it on a series of shooting boards.
Setting and dressing the frets are the fiddliest steps from my non-professional experience.
Maybe I've done this to a half a dozen bowls. I was into buying this inexpensive MOR Italian bowls for awhile: Stridente, DeMureda, Lanfranco, etc.
They are bright and cheerful and sound good, but the fret spacing is often erratic.
When I finally saved up and bought my first Vinaccia mandolin I was rather delightly shocked to find the intonation spot on...or about as good as one will get on a mandolin.
Once you've got the intonation and action sorted out, and some proper strings, even these MOR bowls can be sublime.
They aren't gong to sound like bowlbacks from Chicago, or Nazareth, PA. To my ear, Vega and Favilla have come the closest to that classic Italian sound.
"The shimmering sound of Italian bowlback mandolins...." as our friend, Martin Jonas, so delightfully put it.
Take your time and yours will shimmer as well.
Mick
Last edited by brunello97; Jun-25-2022 at 7:38pm.
Ever tried, ever failed? No matter. Try again, fail again. Fail better.--Samuel Beckett
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