Vincenzo Adamo / Luigi Borelli

VINCENZO ADAMO MANDOLINS

After having purchased the second mandolin

presented here I was very curious about another

instrument of this Naples based builder.

This instrument is in fact the second Adamo.

The back has 15 ribs but no caps glued

on it's sides which is quite remarkable.

The sound of this instrument is very loud,

maybe because of this feature.

I've added a new ebony fingerboard and a compensated

bridge on this instrument. Apart from the usual

loose ribs on the back, it's soundboard and the

neck alignement proved to be absolutely perfect.

A good instrument but it lacks a bit the warmth of

the following instrument represented here

though it's balance is very good.

This Naples situated builder used a fairly wide grained top

on this simple instrument. However the sound was very surprising!

A very musical and warm sound with lots of volume and sustain.

The satin finished back of this furthermore quite plain mandolin.

Comparing these two instruments was quite remarkable as

these instrument seemed to be built by different luthiers to me.

In order to keep up with the demand for the then very

popular mandolins it was not uncommon to have

more instruments produced under license.

As can be clearly seen this label has the Paul Beuscher

addition. In a 1900 catalogue of this firm is proudly stated

they directly import the instruments of Vincente Adamo

and Guiseppe Venzana. On top of the label the year and

number of manufacturing should be visible but alas

the writing has fainted.

N. LUIGI BORELLI

Though sometimes one must keep in mind that instruments

only branded on the soundboard tend to be just dealers,

not luthiers, I found a Luigi Borelli on E-bay that had a label 

inside as well. So it could have been the other way round:

Someone else built this instrument for Borelli.

In those times it was not uncommon luthiers

supplied each other with parts and even instruments.

Anyway, a nicely decorated  instrument with a very loud voice

and apart from that simply a good sound as well.

I think the cristal clear tones from this instrument can

be contributed partly to the use of a brass bridgesaddle.

I've added a new fingerboard (and frets of course)

in order to get a comfortable playability and a

possibility for the higher notes (2 octave neck.)
As the new fingerboard has been held thicker, the
mandolin has a better resistance against string
pressure and there is more space for picking as the
strings are a bit higher from the soundboard.