Eastwood Mandocaster. Beautiful electric mandolin for Tele Tuesday.

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I'm a big fan of Eastwood guitars. I've never played one I didn't like, they bring back old models in tribute ( to the dismay of some purists ), and they're Canadian ( yay, national pride and stuff!)

As a mandolin player and a Telecaster fan it's a crime that I have yet to own one of these. I've considered getting an electric mandolin before but it was the Epiphone firebird version. This Eastwood Mandocaster could be the answer to my electromando dreams.

Maybe Santa will hear my call.

R.W. Haller

© 2015, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
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Vintage Kent 744 Electric Mandolin

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It's a shame these pictures aren't the best quality as this looks like a great example of a vintage Kent electric mandolin.

This Vintage Kent 744 model is likely from the late 1960s or early 1970s and boasts a new custom pick up and a brass nut.

R.W. Haller



© 2015, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

Highly ingenious Telecaster guitar and mandolin doubleneck

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For the Telecaster player who doubles on mandolin (why do I think this person might be a country player?) here's a very ingenious solution to the age-old problem of cumbersome and back-breakingly heavy doubleneck guitars. This particular Tele guitar and mandolin doubleneck custom-built by Stuart Palmer, cleverly utilises the existing Telecaster body and neatly accommodates the mandolin neck into the upper bout so that the actual guitar body is no bigger than that of a regular Telecaster.

Currently listed on eBay UK with a Buy It Now price of £850.

G L Wilson

© 2014, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

Eko doubleneck guitar / mandolin solidbody

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Whilst it's neither as cool nor as radical as this other Eko doubleneck, the above-pictured Eko guitar / mandolin doubleneck does at least seem to be of practical proportions and shouldn't break your back having to gig with it. However, of course, Eko of Italy never made such a doubleneck guitar/mando combination. This is a Brandoni creation. Roberto Brandoni acquired Eko's remaining stock when they closed down back in 1987. Stock included bodies and necks and other assorted parts from vintage 1960s Eko and Vox guitars and from Eko models produced into the 1980s. Eko in the early 1980s produced two solidbody mandolins - an 8-string and a 12-string "mandoguitar" model. This Brandoni-customised Eko doubleneck would appear to have been made by joining together two separate mandolin bodies.

Currently listed on eBay UK with a Buy It Now price of £635.

G L Wilson

© 2014, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

Eko 8 and 12-string solidbody electric mandos from Italy

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Currently being auctioned on eBay UK are an Eko solidbody 8-string mandolin and an Eko solidbody 12-string mandolin. The latter is essentially an octave 12-string guitar (I used to have one myself), almost certainly influenced by the now legendary Vox Mando Guitar, and usually tuned a whole octave above (modern) 12-string guitar tuning.

I'll let you know what these Eko mandos fetch on eBay when the auctions end.

G L Wilson

© 2013, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

Crazy Australian Pioneer tripleneck mandolin / guitar / slide guitar

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We've shown a few Matons on Guitarz before now, but perhaps we don't feature enough Australian guitars. However, I don't think they come much wilder than this Pioneer tripleneck which has necks for mandolin, 6-string guitar, and slide guitar. I'm not sure how the slide neck is supposed to function, whether the player needs to sit down and play this beastie lap-style whilst on that neck. I love the matching headstocks, especially the mandolin headstock with all eight tuners in-line.

Apparently, it was built by Arthur Bianchi of Pioneer Guitars, Rockhampton in the early 1960s.

Currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of AUS $3,950 (Australian dollars).

G L Wilson

© 2013, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!

Vintage & Rare "Guitar" of the Week: Manndolins by Jonathan Mann

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I'm a couple of days late with this Vintage & Rare "Guitar" of the Week and once again, it's not actually a guitar I'm featuring. The instrument you see pictured here is actually a Manndolins 5-string Octave/Baritone semi-hollow body electric mandolin by Jonathan Mann (check out his website here), handbuilt in Tennessee, USA. Jonathan Mann explains his range as follows:

I am a "small shop" instrument builder and repairman. In the past I have built dulcimers, acoustic and electric guitars and acoustic and electric mandolins. Currently I am building only mandolins and concentrating on my "neck thru" design.

I recently got back into the electric mandolin, (building and playing). I came up with this body style by "morphing" a few popular styles into one. Available with 4, 5 or 8 strings. These Manndolins are available in three body types :

1. Hollow body - This version utilizes a traditional style floating bridge and has the most acoustic volume of the three. Its tone is warmer both acoustically and plugged in.
2. Semi Hollow body - This version has the lighter weight of the hollow body but has a mahogany block under the bridge which decreases the acoustic volume but increases the sustain and feedback resistance. This model uses the Aluminum "wrap around" Bridge/Tailpiece.
3. Solid Body - This version has the least amount of acoustic volume and the most sustain/feedback resistance. It also uses the aluminum "wrap around" Bridge/Tailpiece.

Instruments such as that pictured are listed for sale on Vintage & Rare priced at €775.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - 10 years and counting!

1960s Kent violin-shaped electric mandolin

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Ever since Beatle Paul McCartney's endorsement of the Hofner 500/1 "violin bass", having first seen one for sale in Hamburg's Steinway Shop in 1961, the violin bass has been much copied by guitar makers in Europe and Japan. On this very blog we've looked at a plethora of different violin basses, violin guitars, and even a couple of violin 12-string guitars (just check through all these posts). However, this is the first time I've seen a violin mandolin!

This hollowbody electric mandolin carries the Kent brandname (apparently it's the Kent Model 836), so no doubt is Japanese in origin (very likely a re-badged Teisco), and looking very much like a scaled-down version of the Kent violin bass.

Currently being offered for sale on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $625. More Kent electric mandos here!

More Kent electric mandos here!

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - 10 years and counting!

1967 Gibson EMS-1235 doubleneck tenor guitar and mandolin

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Of all the doublenecks ever produced, those made by Gibson must be the most easily recognized (no doubt helped in no small part by Jimmy Page), but they didn't just produce 12-string/6-sting and bass/6-string combinations.

Here we see a super rare Gibson EMS-1235 doubleneck that pairs together a 4-string tenor guitar with a mandolin. It would appear to be a custom order, handmade by master craftsman William Westman in 1967. Note the pickups which are full 6-string sized but only have 4 polepieces.

Currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $12,995. Also, see here for another unusual Gibson doubleneck.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - 10 years and counting!

Vintage & Rare guitar of the week: Mervyn Davis doubleneck guitar and mandolin

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I think these "Vintage & Rare guitar of the week" posts have gotten a little out of sync recently, which wasn't helped by me being sick all last week (but thanks again to Bertram for posting in my absence).

So to make up, if in only a small way, this week's guitar of the week gives two for the price of one: a six string electric guitar and 4-string electric mandolin all in one package.

It's a Mervyn Davis doubleneck. This is a one-off instrument built by Mervyn Davis himself, a South African luthier who graduated from making oil can guitars as a boy to a fully-fledged maker of fine stringed instruments including electric and acoustic guitars and basses, violins, mandolins and even the occasional oud. You can check out some of his very striking designs at www.mervyndavisguitars.com.

He is known for his inlay work which at times has a distinct African flavour with indigenous animals and insects often appearing, as well as soundholes decorated with figures of African bushmen.

I like on this doubleneck how the mandolin portion appears to have its own top set into the top of the guitar, which beautifully defines the concept that here we have two instruments in one.

This guitar/mandolin doubleneck is currently available for sale via Vintage & Rare, although you will need to call for a price.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Eko mando guitar, 1980s 12-string octave guitar (and who is that playing it?)

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Further to yesterday's post about the Robin Ranger octave guitar, just through sheer coincidence this morning I found this photo featuring an Eko Mando Guitar which is essentially a half-scale electric 12-string. No doubt this was an instrument inspired by the Vox Mando Guitar, the Vox and Eko companies having previously had very close ties in the late 1960s when Vox shifted guitar production to Italy's Eko factory. Unlike the 6-string Robin Ranger, the Eko with 12 strings arranged in 6 courses allows for a more realistic mandolin sound.

"New old stock" Eko mando guitars are still available today via Brandoni Guitars, if anyone is interested in purchasing such an instrument. They also have 8-string Eko electric mandos.

As for the identity of the 1980s kid in the photo (nice tank top and balloon pants!), I have to put my hand up and admit it is me.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

G L Stiles electric mandolin - possibly a one-off from legendary Miama-based luthier

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Here's a little extra something that I bet you wouldn't mind finding in your Christmas stocking this morning.

Via the Guitarz Facebook page Bryan has asked if we can shed any light on this diminutive G L Stiles 4-stringer which comes complete with its original case. He initially thought it was a tenor guitar, but says that it's "very small as well about half the size of a regular guitar". That's too small for a tenor, so I'd wager that this was intended as an electric mandolin and borrows Fender's idea of using just 4 strings instead of 4 courses of paired strings as on a traditional mandolin. As to any particular information about this mandolin, that's nigh-on impossible, I'm afraid, for during the 1960s and 1970s Gilbert Lee Stiles built a number of what were essentially one-off instruments from his workshop in Miami, Florida. It's highly possible that this mandolin is the only one that he made.

More pics:

G L Wilson

© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Vintage 1960s Kent electric mandolin

guitarz.blogspot.com:

One of the things that we have to look out for on eBay is that sellers - especially those buying from estate sales, house clearances, etc - very often don't have the first clue about what they are selling. Take for instance this auction where the seller accurately tells us that this is a Kent model #744 because that is what it says on a sticker on the back of the headstock, but doesn't actually appreciate what that means and describes it as a "Kent short electric guitar".

Unfortunately the photos of the item in question give very little indication of scale, but to us at least, the 8 strings and rather compact body design should give away that this is in fact an electric mandolin. The Kent 744 is a Japanese mando, built in a factory near Tokyo, and in fact uses a longer than usual scale for a mandolin so that it is somewhere inbetween a mandolin and a mandola.

For more information please check this page at the excellent eMando.com website, where if you scroll down you'll also see a photo of Neve Campbell with a left-handed example of this Kent mando, giving a very nice indication of scale.

G L Wilson

© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Almuse MandoTele Deluxe electric 5-string mandolin

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Inspired by Keith Richards' 5-string Telecaster Deluxe, here's a 5-string electric mandolin designed to look just like a diminutive Fender.
This post originates at http://guitarz.blogspot.com - beware of those damned scraper blogs!
I've not heard of the Almuse brand before, but full marks to them for inventiveness (even if the design is borrowed!).

G L Wilson

© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

1974 Framus Electric Mandolin

guitarz.blogspot.com

I'm tripping on electric mandolins lately, as I want to expand my music and really enjoy what Warren Ellis does with Grinderman (he doesn't play only his signature tenor guitar). 

This 1974 8-string Framus Electric Mandolin in Black Rose finish could fulfill my dreams and my birthday is soon (my anti-GAS no-more-guitar policy doesn't apply here, it's a mandolin)...

Bertram

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!