Re: 1796 Giovanni Battista Fabricatore mandolin
Hi Marijan,
Welcome to the Cafe!
Thanks for posting photos of your instrument here. There is some (growing?) interest in the early instruments, stringing, and techniques, and I'm sure people will enjoy seeing this instrument. I tried to send you an e-mail over the weekend, but I don't know if you received it. You seem to have found the files on my 1793 Fabricatore, so that was the goal in any case. I certainly agree that yours is a perfectly legitimate and lovely Fabricatore.
Interestingly, the photos of your instrument have helped me to establish the likely builder of another 18th-century mandolin under my care. I had long strongly suspected Fabricatore, but the label on my instrument had been torn out. As it happens, the inlay around the soundhole of your instrument is identical to mine. I had seen that inlay pattern used on another Fabricatore instrument, but it is very nice to see so direct a match! So, thank you again for sharing.
As for restoration, having been through this process a couple of times, I would advise caution. As a violinist and a mandolinist, I can attest to the fact that mandolins are not violins. This seems obvious, of course, but there are many structural aspects of the violin family of instruments that make them ready to resist the forces we subject them to. Violins and their ilk also almost seem ready-made to be taken apart, adjusted, and put back together. Plucked instruments, in contrast, work differently... Mind you, I'm not saying it can't be done, much the contrary, only that in my view, it takes a very competent restorer ready to understand some new issues, and a good candidate instrument.
In particular, I would say that existing neck angle more than anything else should govern the choice of whether to attempt a restoration. These instruments were all built *very* lightly, with a design point around low-tension brass (and gut) strings. Unless they have sat quietly in a closet, most older mandolins were eventually subjected to later higher-tension steel strings... and that often caused changes to the neck. In many cases, the mandolin simply gave way in other areas, and that somewhat protected the neck as the instrument simply became a wall hanger.
As a violin maker, I'm sure you can appreciate the common historical practice of nailing the neck to the neck block of old violins. This is almost certainly the case of your Fabricatore. Trust me when I tell you that your nail will be a "clench" nail that is larger in the middle. They were put in red hot, and *not* designed to be removed. The nail will also be made from the strongest, most amazing steel you've ever encountered! In violins, there are often ways of resetting a neck without disturbing the nail... This becomes very complex with a fluted mandolin body made of many strips of wood. The neck reset of my Fabricatore was extremely difficult. We had to cut the nail, and it took days and days of constant (and delicate) work. In my view, this was the area where the biggest compromises had to be made.
As Alex says, we are all willing to help with what information we can provide.
Thank you again for sharing the photos.
Best,
Eric
Last edited by etbarbaric; Feb-21-2011 at 12:26pm.
"The effect is pretty at first... It is disquieting to find that there are nineteen people in England who can play the mandolin; and I sincerely hope the number may not increase."
- George Bernard Shaw, Times of London, December 12, 1893
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