And now - for something slightly different

[WillFly]

Hi folks - I commissioned this weird little beast from my luthier buddy Ian Chisholm in 2012. Ian has made me several beautiful acoustic instruments and, as I'm a good friend and customer (we've known each other over 40 years) he said to me one day, "You've bought two - get one free!" Which meant, in effect, if I chose what I wanted and paid for the materials, he'd build me something for free. So, we had a chat and came up with something a little off-the-wall: a solid-bodied, electric, single-string, 5-course mandolin-cum-tenor-guitar thing - which we call a "mandotenor", for want of anything better.

The body was put together from offcuts in his workshop, so I just paid for the hardware. It's great fun, and you can see it in action below.

Cheers!

Will

[derbex]

Nice -again

Great tone, I'd like to emulate that on my 4 string Fender.

[Denny Gies]

Pretty cool, thanks for letting us hear it.

[Tavy]

Very nice! Out of interest, what's the pickup?

[WillFly]

Very nice! Out of interest, what's the pickup?

I can't recall, offhand - I'll have to check with the guy who made it for me - but it's a double bar magnet humbucker as far as I can tell.

[John Kelly]

Fascinating instrument, Will, and a lovely tone. I like your backing too - really suite the period of the tune. What tuning are you using?

[WillFly]

Fascinating instrument, Will, and a lovely tone. I like your backing too - really suite the period of the tune. What tuning are you using?

It's a combination of mandolin/tenor guitar or fiddle/viola (take your pick): CGDAE

I always use standard CGDA tuning for tenor guitar.

Cheers,

Will

[Tom Wright]

What is the scale length? I guess with an E you have to stay under 16".

If it is mandolin-scale it's a 5-string mandolin, like those violins with a C string are simply 5-string fiddles. I have four 5-course instruments which I consider mandolins because they are around 14" scale.

[David Rambo]

Sounds really good. Love the tone and the looks of the instrument.

[WillFly]

What is the scale length? I guess with an E you have to stay under 16".

If it is mandolin-scale it's a 5-string mandolin, like those violins with a C string are simply 5-string fiddles. I have four 5-course instruments which I consider mandolins because they are around 14" scale.

It's a standard mandolin scale length - which gives the 5th, C string rather less projection than a proper tenor guitar. But it's electric, and not acoustic, so I get by with it. It's not an instrument I use in public - just something to twiddle around on for fun.