Early Neapolitan Mandola:
Fabricatore-Reproduction from 1792

This mandola from Giovanni Battista Fabricatore (Napoli, anno 1792) is one of the few remaining mandolas from the 18th century. It belongs to the collection of the Germanisches National Museum in Nürnberg. Fabricatore´s instruments had larger bodies than his contemporary Neapolitan mandolin makers, which is very beneficial for the tone of a mandola.

The soundboard is of the highest grade German spruce. It is beautifully decorated with mother-of-pearl inlay patterns and has a tortoiseshell coloured scratch plate underlayed with gold leaf and surrounded by contrasting purfling. The body is made of either cyprees or maple and has 25 small and 2 broad scalloped ribs with a carved cap. The fingerboard is made from ebony and the neck and peg head are also delicately decorated with ivoroid strips, plates and bindings. Precisely fitting pegs of rosewood enable the accurate tuning of the nylon strings.

This mandola has all the features of the early Neapolitan mandolins and blends very well in an ensemble playing baroque music. The bass is remarkably sonorous, full and rich, with the trebles being bright and clear. All the strings are very well balanced and the mandola´s good response makes playing very easy.