Eastwood 1975 Morris the Cosy Mandolin shaped guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I was drawn to the look of this Blueberry guitar when it was posted back in 2014, but I always thought that it was a bit too much, as a lot of the Blueberry is. A bit too ornate and flashy. The thought of a well proportioned mandolin shaped guitar has interested me since.

This Eastwood 1975 Morris the Cosy doesn't exactly fit the image I've had in mind, but it is certainly worth a gander. 

Modelled after a 1975 Morris Custom Mano Mania guitar best known as  one of the main guitars for Pete Cosy from Miles Davis' band, the Morris Cosy looks like a nice take on a semi-hollow 2 pickup design. It would be nice to see one in an non sunburst or even bare wood design to look like an old Gibson mandolin.

R.W. Haller

© 2016, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
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Eastwood Mandocaster. Beautiful electric mandolin for Tele Tuesday.

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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!
Please read our photo and content policy.

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

guitarz.blogspot.com:

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!

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!

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!

The Rock Ock Eight-Neck Guitar Performance of "Crossroads"

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Eight necks and supposedly fully playable... just so long as you have seven friends to help you out!

G L Wilson

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

Musima 8-string mandolin with german carve

guitarz.blogspot.com

This is not a GDR guitar but its baby sister, a beautiful vintage Musima mandolin. I'm not a specialist but I've never seen one like this, with its wide german carve and wooden pickguard. Remember that Musima was not just a guitar company but produced all kind of music instruments, and you can still find accordions, zithers and violins auctioned online.

Bertram

© 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!

Gordon Smith electric mandolin

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Here's another take on the electric mandolin, which couldn't be more different than the Gibson Futura mandolin prototype we looked at recently. This is a Gordon Smith electric mandolin, made in Britain, and is - I believe - a one-off build. It is an original design - unusual given Gordon Smith's usual Gibson influences, and features a very compact body (unlike the long stretched-out body of the Gibson) with a lengthy upper horn which no doubt would let it hang on a strap much more nicely than the Gibson. It also has the traditional eight strings arranged in four paired courses that we expect to see on a mandolin and so would appeal more to purists.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Heavy Metal Mandolin?

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This is a Gibson solidbody mandolin based on the Futura body design (an early variation of the more familiar Explorer). Made from Korina as were early Vs and Explorers, it's a prototype pre-production instrument built in the 1990s by Roger Giffin.

Note that it is a 4-string as were Fender's solidbody mandolins.

This mandolin is currently being offered for sale on eBay with a Buy It Now price just shy of £5,000. Note that the eBay seller is musicgroundinc. I believe I have seen this very instrument when I was buying my Yamaha SG-3 in the Music Ground shop in London's Denmark Street earlier this year and I wished I'd taken a photograph at the time. (I know the listing says "Item location: Doncaster", but surely it couldn't be that much of a coincidence?)

More photos here.

Thanks to Karl for bringing this mandolin to my attention.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Mandolin beauties galore from Framus

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Martin Niggemann writes:

I just stumbled upon a recent addition to the Framus vintage archives you might be interested in: the mandolin section. Apparently they made a couple of high-end electric/acoustic mandolins that were modelled on their famous jazz and electric guitars, e.g. the Black Rose, Television/Hollywood, etc., but with a twist!

I never came across any of these on eBay, so I suppose they are quite rare.

Cheers from Germany,
Martin

Thanks for that, Martin. I never knew that these existed either. I note also that there are 10-string and 12-string mandolins (each with 4 courses of strings in pairs and/or triples) as well as the more familiar 8-strings. I really like the solid-body electric - it's a much more pleasing shape than the more usual Fender Mandocaster.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

What the?????? The Destroyer

guitarz.blogspot.com:

While we are on an art theme, lets talk about art... and guitars. From the previous sorry attempt to something altogether much more interesting and I believe, more artistic on every level. If a guitar can be a work of art, I think this is one that deserves the tag.

This Guitar, The Destroyer, was built by luthier Mark Dalzell for the 2007 Jersey City Studio Artists Tour, which seems to be an "open studios" not a music tour.

Firstly, it looks amazing and secondly it looks like it was built by someone who knows what he's doing. He certainly does.

I'm going to list the features in Marks own words:

- Double neck 6-string guitar, 4-string mandolin
- Onboard digital effects Distortion, Chorus and Flanger
- Onboard analog "Theremaniacs" theremin
- Onboard chromatic tuner
- Scalloped brass nut on guitar and mandolin
- LED fret markers
- LED pickup indicators
- 1/4 scalloped neck on guitar
- 6-bolt neck
- Matching amplifier
- 60's styled chrome accents

It is well worth spending a little time checking out his Flickr stream to see some of his other creations, not to mention some spiffing shots of his Vermont 2009 golfing holiday. And don't miss the opportunity to check out his "Incredible Stupephone" on Youtube. It made my day and I hope it has the same effect on you.

David in Barcelona

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Fender Mandocaster Mandolin 1966

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This Fender Mandocaster or Fender Electric Mandolin as it is properly known, is a nice instrument and is unusual if not rare. A quick Google of Fender Mandolin/Mandocaster does bring up quite a few instances. The Mandocaster was in production for twenty years 56 - 76 so you'd imagine they were popular enough but as it apparently sounded more like an electric guitar than a regular 8 string mandolin, it didn't have that wide appeal. It makes you wonder why fender didn't discontinue it, especially as Gibson had really cornered the market. The eagle eyed of you will have already spotted the 24 frets! Altogether un-mandolin-like.

Coincidently, Gavin's recent post on Grinderman led me to this video of Honey Bee (let's fly to mars) on their Treacle Sessions.

David in Barcelona

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!