Electric mandolin

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Mandolins: Electric carved top (left) and traditional.

The electric mandolin is a family of instruments tuned and played similarly to the mandolin and able to be amplified in similar fashion to an electric guitar. It is similar to the Greek Bouzouki. As with electric guitars, electric mandolins take many forms:

Most common is a carved-top eight string instrument fitted with an electric pickup in similar fashion to many arch top guitars.

Solid body mandolins are known colloquially as mandocasters.

Acoustic electric and semi-acoustic mandolins also exist in many forms.

1 History
2 Mandocasters
3 Players
4 External links

[edit] History

Electric mandolins were built in the United States as early as the late 1920s. Among the first companies to produce them were Stromberg-Voisinet, Electro (which later became Rickenbacker), ViViTone, and National Reso-Phonic. Gibson and Vega introduced their electric mandolins in 1936.

The first solidbody electric mandolin was the pau eletrico, developed in Brazil by Osmar Macedo in 1942 and based on the cavaquinho, an instrument related to both the mandolin and the ukulele. The pau eletrico was later developed into the guitarra baiana, commonly used in a style of Brazilian popular music called frevo. Tuned in fifths, it differs from the American electric mandolin only in having a slightly shorter scale.

In the United States, the first solidbody electric mandolin was built in 1952 by Paul Bigsby for Western swing musician Tiny Moore. This instrument had 5 single courses rather than the more common four double courses. Gibson and Rickenbacker introduced solidbody 8-string mandolins in the 1950s, while Fender followed the single-course idea with its 4-string version.

[edit] Mandocasters

Both four string single course and eight string double course solid body mandolins have been produced by several makers, as well as five string single course models.

From 1956 to 1976, Fender produced a four string version which they simply called the Fender Electric Mandolin. Its body shape was based on a smaller version of the Stratocaster body. They currently produce an eight string semi-acoustic electric mandolin with a very similar body shape.

Gibson produces a solid body mandolin known as the Mandobird, based on a smaller version of the Gibson Firebird body and sold under the Epiphone label. Both four and eight string versions are available.

The Mid-Missouri Mandolin Company produces two models, the EM-4 and EM-8, with carved top bodies and four and eight strings repectively. Blue Star produces four and five string models under the name Mandoblaster.