Morgan Monroe mando bass

[John Hill]

Michael Kelly mado bass? (http://www.themandolinstore.com/scripts/prodView.asp?idProduct=8407)

http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

[catmandu2]

That looks like one responsive instrument (not) http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sleepy.gif

[Andrew DeMarco]

It seems kind of like ... a regular ol' bass more than one of these mandolin-orchestra-upright-bad-boys:

http://hopestreet-music-emporium.com/pics/mandobass.jpg
(warning: giant bandwidth-consuming picture)

[JEStanek]

Linguist.... she's just really, really short! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

Jamie

[Andrew DeMarco]

a ~2 foot tall mandolinist. Rockin!

[steve V. johnson]

Something about the bridge, tailpiece and 'burst remind me of the Italian basses of the '60's... Ekos and Voxes, and...

Wow...!!

The pickup is a mando-style one -in the bridge-?

I don't think I'd pay anywhere near retail for one, but it's fun for a "look". I wonder how it sounds...

Crazy fun...

stv

[wannabethile]

am i mistaken or does the headstock say "morgan monroe"?? its kind of an awkward instrument...

[Celtic Saguaro]

Yep. The page says it's a Morgan Monroe.

[mandolirius]

I notice there's a ninth fret dot, not tenth. Hate that. Otherwise, I think it's kind of ugly/cool. Reminds me of a Beatle bass, a bit. Maybe a two-point body shape would work better.

[bradeinhorn]

in the words of adam sandler:

who are the ad-wizards that came up with this one???

[Gutbucket]

That thing looks like something Bingo played on the old Saturday morning kids show "The Banana Splits". http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[steve V. johnson]

bradeinhorn h when he quoth, "in the words of adam sandler: #who are the ad-wizards that came up with this one???

From which I got a good laugh!

What I imagined was that some floor mgr in an instrument plant somewhere deep in the mysterious Orient told his boss that
they had surpluses of several various pieces from different clients, and that one of the youth working on the line had come to
him, held up a bass neck and a mando-family body and (like the ad with the chocolate and the peanut butter, remember that one?) and said something like, hey, we have this stuff lying about... # #So the floor mgr checked the inventory and then went to his guy and asked if there was a way they could make some extra money with this stuff. # The boss may have told him to scrounge parts and see how well they'd fit up and to figure out what it would cost them to slap 'em together, then he took it
up to the next boss. #Somebody along the line called the bass neck client, the Morgan Monroe buyer and probably several
others. #

Someone at MM had the wisdom to broaden their folksy appeal to electric musicians and pad their catalog with a truly innovatives crossover product and there 'tis! # Eureka! #Voila! # Heimlich!

http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

Or it could have come the other way... Some Hoosier may have taken four strings off an MM mandocello and taken it to a bluegrass jam, gone completely unheard and come back and stuck a pickup in it (or, even more truly Hoosier, duct-taped a $19 Radio Shack mic to the tailpiece...) and then played it around the office and inspired the product-design geniuses there...

These aren't very good bedtime stories, I guess... http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

stv

[otterly2k]

it's just goofy... there's no way that size body can do much with the vibrations coming off of those strings...

[JEStanek]

I edited the Topic Tile to Morgan Monroe Mando Bass.

MN John, you might wish to edit your first post...

Jamie

[allenhopkins]

Here (http://www.mandolincafe.net/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=8;t=40153;hl=acoustic+and+b ass+and+guitar) and here (http://www.mandolincafe.net/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=12;t=47592;hl=acoustic+and+ bass+and+guitar) are a couple decent recent (hey, "decent recent" -- it's poetry!) threads on acoustic bass guitars.

As pointed out above, 99.44% of them don't work in any ensemble situation unless they're amplified. #The vibrating surface of the top is just not large enough to project in the lower registers. #I'm sure the MM "bass mando" is no exception. #Look at the size of the "box" on the Gibson mando-bass, and compare it to the MM. #And the "skinny" on the old Gibsons is that they don't project enough volume, either.

The MM comes with a piezo pickup, and who knows? #It may sound OK through an amp. #To give the devil his due (I'm not a huge Morgan Monroe fan), it does look cool, and would be interesting visually in an acoustic ensemble. #But I fearlessly predict that anyone who buys one and hopes to hold up the bass end unamplified in a band or a jam session, will be disappointed.

[zoukboy]

Dang. That's weird. It's got knobs so I guess it's an electro-acoustic... thereby negating the need for actual acoustic response...

[catmandu2]

Didn't see that...disregard my dig about its responsiveness (or lack thereof). I tend not to look very closely at any oversized pacrim f-body style on the basis that there's more effort to produce a cosmetic instrument than a sonic one, IMO.

[steve V. johnson]

A scroll -and- knobs!!!!

An embarassment of riches!

stv

[Greg Stec]

Hmm...
An electric mando-bass.
What's next, an electric mandolin orchestra.

I can hear it now before a show:
The wiring in this place is so old we keep blowing this place's fuses just by plugging in our Marshall's.

Fatal attempt at humor.
Greg

[Gerry Cassidy]

Another fatal attempt at humor, yet also true: I played the Bass Riff for Rush's 'Tom Sawyer' on one of these this afternoon and it actually sounded kinda cool.

With being used to 35-41" scales on my basses this little guy was a relief to play!