Hidden messages from your builder?

[F5G WIZ]

A couple years back I had access to a jet engine borescope which is a fiber optic inspection instrument used to look at the inside of an engine for defects. I snaked it inside the f-hole on my Poe #5 and found the following message written on the inside of the sound board under where the bridge is mounted. "With passion were you created, with passion let your voice be heard." Was wondering if anyone else has found one of these hidden messages inside their Mandolin? And to any of the builders reading this, do you put written messages inside any of your instruments?

[MandoNicity]

That is so cool!

JR

[RobAlan]

That is cool.

I know Bob Givens used to sometimes write stuff on the underside of his mandolin tops.
I owned an 1986 A6 built by Bob with a sentence scribbled in pencil, but could never quite make out enough to read it without proper lighting and just a simple dental mirror.

Rob

[Bertram Henze]

In computer programs, this is an established custom known as easter eggs. I didn't know builders do that, too. Can't wait to get home and find the hidden voodoo...

[D C Blood]

Ken Ratcliff names most of his F-model Silverangel mandolins. Women's names, inside of the back, near the middle...He doesn't even mention them unless asked...

[billkilpatrick]

if there's a message in mine (2 of mine) it'll be in chinese ...

[F5G WIZ]

if there's a message in mine (2 of mine) it'll be in chinese ...

HAHA, funny!

[Fred Keller]

if there's a message in mine (2 of mine) it'll be in chinese ...

Maybe it'll be a fortune, though!

[Dan Margolis]

Mine should say, "Why aren't you practicing?"

[CES]

Ken Ratcliff names most of his F-model Silverangel mandolins. Women's names, inside of the back, near the middle...He doesn't even mention them unless asked...

Hmmm...will have to check that out. Of course, if I don't like the name then it'll bug me, so maybe I won't look (b/c I sure do love the mandolin)...

[Mark Walker]

In addition to the names (my Silver Angel's name is 'Oliva') Ken Ratcliff often pencils in a line or two about what the mandolin is 'speaking' to him when he's assembling it. There is something written in mine additional to the name, but it appears to be in Spanish - which Ken is fluent in as well. I'll have to have my daughter (who teaches English at the University of Cuenca, in Ecuador) to interpret it for me. I can't read it backwards with the tiny mirror at all!

[mandopete]

Mine says "#39", signed Bill Collings.

Kinda wierd, huh?

[joec]

Yes, they're in there. As an apprentice, Lawrence Smart let me inscribe a few special mandolins in completely hidden locations with a line or two of verse. When I was making violins for John Moroz, I studied Jean-Baptiste Vuillame's signature flourish and John let me practice it inside some violins. Kinda like a birthday wish, better off discovered than revealed, I'll leave them to their owners (or their heirs) to find.
Are instruments more than the sum of their parts or marks? I say absolutely...and I completely believe in the intention of the luthier being borne out in the music that is created. Know too, that no small amount of sweat and blood (sometimes tears) goes into each instrument as well...

Joe
(who enjoys a good easter egg)

[Jim Garber]

This is enough for me.

[Bill Snyder]

I have noticed in some builder's construction photos that they jot down a line of scripture in their mandolins.

[Mandoviol]

Mine has my name in it, but that's because I put it there (in case some twit decides to make off with it). Either that, or I can lie through my teeth and claim that I built it....

[Pen]

Mine says "Killroy was here". I never knew he was that small - or still around.

[Galileo]

While mine doesn't say this, I always liked this one. I've heard this was scribed in violins of old...

Dum vixi tacui, mortua dulce cano.

Translation: “Living, I was mute, dead, I sweetly sing.” (Found written on some musical instruments - especially keyboard ones. Refers to the tree the wood of which was used to make the instrument.)

[Mattg]

My Eastman had a thin white label that said "you will meet a tall dark stranger" and some lotto numbers

[twhitemando]

Mine would say "Happiness be mine when thou doth upgrade!"

[Brent Hutto]

I saw a guitar in the Old Town Pickin' Parlor in Arvada, CO which had a builder's label stating the builder's name and with the inscription "Please Play the Hell Out of This Guitar". Honest.

I gave it my best shot!

[Mattg]

I saw a guitar in the Old Town Pickin' Parlor in Arvada, CO which had a builder's label stating the builder's name and with the inscription "Please Play the Hell Out of This Guitar". Honest.

I gave it my best shot!

Do you remember the builder?

[Chris Biorkman]

4 8 15 16 23 42

[Markus]

Dum vixi tacui, mortua dulce cano.

Translation: “Living, I was mute, dead, I sweetly sing.”

I love the respect given to the tree from which it came.

"With passion were you created, with passion let your voice be heard."

Just lovely. What a beautiful thing to write inside.

I love this sort of thing.

[JeffD]

I have noticed in some builder's construction photos that they jot down a line of scripture in their mandolins.

I just took delivery of a violin made for me by a local luthier, and though I haven't seen it, he told me there is a line of scripture up in there, visible only when looking up through hole where the end pin goes.