1910s Favilla Mandolin
The late 19th and
early 20th centuries saw the founding of many instrument
manufacturing companies by immigrants. There were Swedes in Boston (Vega),
Slovaks in California (National/Dobro), and Germans in New Jersey (Oscar
Schmidt), to name just a few. New York City was the center of a large
Italian-American community from which emerged a number of respected builders
such as Puntolillo and Favilla.
Like many of their contemporaries, brothers Giovanni and
Joseph Favilla learned the craft of instrument building from their family; their
father had previously built instruments in Italy. The brothers started their own
business in 1890. It moved around several times between lower Manhattan and
Brooklyn, but the company found success building mandolins, guitars, banjos and
the occasional violin. The Favilla brand is primarily remembered for its
ukuleles, but its other instruments were constructed to similarly high
standards.
Favilla Brothers instruments were interesting but rarely
revolutionary. Like most of the builders in New York, their mandolins were
almost exclusively bowl-back instruments whose design had changed little in
several centuries. Orville Gibson and the company that bears his name redesigned
the fundamentals of the mandolin but their approach took several decades to
foster imitations. Meanwhile, flat-backed mandolins existed in the 1890s as
mandolinettos, but the classic flat teardrop body
only began to gain traction after 1910.
By 1915, however, such instruments were becoming
commonplace in manufacturers’ and distributors’ catalogs. They were frequently
described as “lute mandolins”, which can be confusing since lutes typically
feature a bowl back similar to Neapolitan mandolins. The Favilla Brothers
followed the prevailing trends and began to build flat backs as well as bowl
backs. Alas, very little documentation on the company’s products has survived
from any era. However, surviving instruments from the pre-War era show that the
company was willing and able to customize instruments for customers. This was
common among builders of all sizes at the time, and sure enough there are a
number of early Favilla instruments around with players’ initials inlayed into
headstocks. It’s likely that the company welcomed walk-in customers; after they
opened a store around the corner from their factory, both addresses were
included in advertisements.
This mandolin may be the result
of a player’s quest for personalization. Not only does the headstock bear the
initials GM, but the shape of the body is most unusual as well. However, I have
found one Favilla mandobass that features a similarly lumpy double-cutaway
shape, so it’s possible that this was a company trademark used on more expensive
instruments. The canted top and 10th-fret neck joint are common for
early flat-back mandolins, and they jive with the pre-1920 label. Although the
back and neck are made of mahogany – and the neck is a single piece – the
custom-inlayed pickguard, purfling, center stripe and headstock decoration
indicate that this was an expensive instrument. The overall decoration is
reminiscent of bowl-back mandolins, and is among the most lavish I have seen on
a Favilla mandolin. Unfortunately, there are no surviving catalogs to compare
with; in fact, it appears that no Favilla model names or numbers are known from
before World War II.
The instrument is all original except for the bridge and in excellent condition. It's remarkably loud, but despite the extra-deep body it has a clear, bright sound.
