La bella Annamaria

[vkioulaphides]

Surfing idly as I was, I revisited the website of the Calace shop, only to discover to my delight a model I was not familiar with: Annamaria, the lovely concert mandolin!

Take a look yourselves: go to the site, then under "Brochures", then "Annamaria". She's lurking somewhere in there...

I am no salesperson for Calace, of course; yet the fact that I'm not here to sell anything does not preclude my right to fantasize.

What a GORGEOUS instrument! A more delicately laced Classico A, in essence, but SO lovely in its design and proportions. The Roman scroll is a fitting match for the shapely bowl.

Mm-mmmmmmmmm..................

In my next Ponzi scheme (i.e. after I defraud all owners of those obnoxious boom-boxes, and convert the proceeds into mandolins), I will have to make sure I get one of these beauties-- so that I have something to keep me company in jail, that is.

Cheers,

Victor

[K. WONG]

I may be wrong, but I suspect that Annamaria has something to do with Maria Calace, the daughter of Raffaele Calace. The mandolin looks very similar to the one that Maria Calace holds in her photo in Bone's book. Besides, it seems that Orlandi and Frati use this model of mandolin in their recordings.

[Stefano]

I think to Annamaria Calace (1980), Raffaele junior's only child.

See these links
http://www.calace.it/Catalogo%20Parte%20Prima.pdf
http://www.calace.it/Catalogo%20Parte%20Seconda.pdf

Stefano

[JeffD]

In my next Ponzi scheme (i.e. after I defraud all owners of those obnoxious boom-boxes, and convert the proceeds into mandolins), I will have to make sure I get one of these beauties-- so that I have something to keep me company in jail, that is.

Yes. My own MAS has caused me to day dream up all kinds of schemes, but they all end up like yours, with me clutching my chosen mandolin in prison - hoping that the inmate everyone refers to as Cinderblock likes mandolin music.

[Jim Garber]

It looks like they added those instrument brochures in Word format. Here are a few pics of the Annamaria. The enlarged soundhole and the extended fretboard are the salient features. It also looks like ti comes with either a solid headstock (Napolitana) or slotted (Romana).

Here is the description is slightly broken English. Anyone know the price? As of 2007 the Classico A was 3450 euros. I would think this would be more.

Charateristics

Concert mandolin - diapason cm. 33,5 tuning E, A, D, G - The two sounding holes produce a prompt sound and a considerable wealth of harmonics - White maple channelled round bottom 33 ribs - oval soundinghole - engraved head with inside machine-head - extra fir armonic flat – wood ribbons around the harmonic flat - concert fingerboard with 29 frets under E – tortoise pick-plate, adorn with mother pearl decoration – Arm guard in palisander carved with hand - With an extra price is possible insert special inox frets, more unconfortable, but with a most long duration in the time.

[Jim Garber]

Those pics did not load for some reason. I will try again.

[Jim Garber]

Here is one more. I think I tried to upload more than the limit last time.

[vkioulaphides]

Ah, she's a BEAUTY!

Only... *ahem*... she's-a-gotta-BIIIIIIIIIIIIIG-mouth!!!

Cheers,

Victor

[Martin Jonas]

Only... *ahem*... she's-a-gotta-BIIIIIIIIIIIIIG-mouth!!!

I don't think they had a choice -- they've decided to cover the entire middle strip of the soundhole with a solid extension, (wisely) abandoning the creepy finger extensions of the Classico. That means there are now really two separate soundholes and in order to maintain overall soundhole size, they had to increase the radius.

It does look a touch unbalanced, I agree, and I think I would have chosen to have the more traditional extension on the top string only rather than across the board. That's an awful lot of frets on the G course here!

Martin

[vkioulaphides]

You are, of course, right. I must confess that I am a bit of a nut for symmetry --all that Greek classicism on a subconscious level, I guess-- and I would LOVE Calace's ENTIRE output unconditionally, if it weren't for those _#**$(#%%#$^%#%)#&#% crooked, lopsided, oversized, or otherwise wacked-out sound-holes.

Structurally, of course, I understand and totally agree with what you say, Martin. Still, it troubles me that SUCH an otherwise GORGEOUS instrument would have this bizarre imbalance, right on the face of it.

In short, I find asymmetry to be a prima facie offense to balance, thus ex hoc beauty. Then again, you can discount all this under the Sour Grapes clause of Mandolin Law.

Cheers,

Victor

[Bob A]

I can't imagine needing the extended board for the G & D strings; to the contrary, the elegantly beveled trimming of the end of my 1922 Calace is immensely appealing to my eye. Also lets out more noise.

[vkioulaphides]

From the desk of the Perfect Pedant:

In my own pursuit of some "systemic order" in bass-playing, I once went through all the possible permutations of fingerings on its fingerboard, based on "common practice" patterns based on scales and arpeggios-- in other words, the "stuff" of which the vast majority of so-called "classical" music is made. I do not care to bore you to insanity here, nor (quite frankly) do I actually remember the methodology of that exercise, decades ago.

What I do remember quite vividly, however, is my major, "core", cardinal finding: for just about ANY fingering pattern to work, each pitch must be available in TWO locations on the fingerboard. Needless to say, this excludes the very lowest notes on the lowest-pitched string (which obviously cannot be found on any other, yet lower string), and of course the very, very highest notes atop the highest-pitched string (ditto, which can't be found on any other, yet higher string).

I do not know for a fact that this also applies to the mandolin. That said, I am inclined, somewhat intuitively, to suspect that it does. In other (and hopefully more practical) words, the "standard" fingerboard of the (modern) mandolin is just fine! ALL everyday notes can be found TWICE, readily on adjacent strings, in the everyday positions we all play in. No problem!

I thus doubt that those super-super-SUPER high frets, way up Annamaria's G-string --gosh, that DOES sound awfully lewd! -- are of any real, practical value. Also judging fairly that our beloved instrument... *ahem*... sounds MUCH better lower on the fingerboard than in its stratosphere (unlike, say, the violin), I seriously doubt that those high frets on the G-course yield much musical, aesthetic value, either.

My $0.02. YMMV. If you can afford one of these beauties, go ahead, get one, and ~please~ report your findings to us all.

Cheers,

Victor

[vkioulaphides]

From the desk of the Perfect Pedant:

In my own pursuit of some "systemic order" in bass-playing, I once went through all the possible permutations of fingerings on its fingerboard, based on "common practice" patterns based on scales and arpeggios-- in other words, the "stuff" of which the vast majority of so-called "classical" music is made. I do not care to bore you to insanity here, nor (quite frankly) do I actually remember the methodology of that exercise, decades ago.

What I do remember quite vividly, however, is my major, "core", cardinal finding: for just about ANY fingering pattern to work, each pitch must be available on TWO locations on the fingerboard. Needless to say, this excludes the very lowest notes on the lowest-pitched string (which obviously cannot be found on any other string), and of course the very, very highest notes atop the highest-pitched string.

I do not know for a fact that this also applies to the mandolin. That said, I am inclined, somewhat intuitively, to suspect that it does. In other (and hopefully more practical) words, the "standard" fingerboard of the (modern) mandolin is just fine! ALL everyday notes can be found TWICE, readily on adjacent strings, in the everyday positions we all play in. No problem!

I thus doubt that those super-super-SUPER high frets, way up Annamaria's G-string --gosh, that DOES sound awfully lewd! -- are of any real, practical value. Also judging fairly that our beloved instrument... *ahem*... sounds MUCH better lower on the fingerboard than in its stratosphere (unlike, say, the violin), I seriously doubt that those high frets on the G-course yield much musical, aesthetic value, either.

My $0.02. YMMV. If you can afford one of these beauties, go ahead, get one, and ~please~ report your findings to us all.

Cheers,

Victor

[vkioulaphides]

OK, I confess to Sour Grapes.

[Bob A]

Oh dear, Victor, you've been infected with MAS. Could be terminal for a dweller in NYC. First the furniture goes, to make more room, then the family heads for more spacious territory.

As a committed (and perhaps committable) bibliophile, the only comfort I can offer you is that you will not end up crushed under a pile of bowlbacks; myself, I expect the flooring to collapse from the weight. I look forward to my end, fittingly pulped beneath a 50-year collection of weighty tomes, topped off with a bunch of mandolins. But there's still time for you: you must avoid this site and meditate on simplicity. And give the checkbook to the little woman.

[vkioulaphides]

For the record, Bob, my dainty Better Half ALREADY holds the checkbook!

Also for the record, I am not ~seriously~ tempted by MAS, at least not at this time. As you know, I have yet to come to terms with my latest acquisition.

The sad fate of the incurable bibliophile has left me worried about you, my friend...