The 'Randy Cordle conversion'

[Ronny]

I have started an electric guitar to octave mandolin conversion, using this instruction :
http://emando.com/builders_active/mi...structions.htm
If someone has already made this conversion and has advices, I would be happy to share experiences...

First of all, I disassembled the 69€ mini guitar...
All the plastic parts are very cheap, but the wood, the finish are good, and the pick up are humless... Good surprise !

Then, I mark the new neck width (26mm at the nut, 47mm at the 12th fret)

[Tavy]

Interesting idea - I don't think there can be too many all electric OM's around, and for 69 euro it's hard to go wrong with that!

[Ronny]

Yes, it worth a try !
My last work : to remove the 9th fret dot marker, and replace it with a part of balata - Manilkara spp. (a kind of wood quite similar to rosewood), then I put a (boiled beef) bone dot marker at the 10th fret.
Oups ! I failed to put it in the middle of the "box" fret !

[Bernie Daniel]

I have started an electric guitar to octave mandolin conversion, using this instruction :
http://emando.com/builders_active/mi...structions.htm
If someone has already made this conversion and has advices, I would be happy to share experiences...
...Then, I mark the new neck width (26mm at the nut, 47mm at the 12th fret)

This looks like a great project! That set of instructions you have is excellent and very complete.

Do you plan on 8 strings or 4? I am assuming 4 because at 26 mm (1.02 inches) the nut would be really narrow for 8 strings.

I have a typical Weber octave (8 string) that is 36 mm (1.42 inches) at the nut.

How do you plan to slim down the neck? Best of luck and keep the details comming!!

[Eddie Sheehy]

That neck looks more like 1 1/2" at the nut...

[Ronny]

Yes, typing mistake : 36mm at the nut. Sorry.

[Ronny]

Not a lot of work these days... Only the filling of the holes in the head...

This week end I will reshape the neck using a belt sander, if I have enough free time...

[Ronny]

My belt sander is in the vice, and I use it to shape the neck :



After a lot of dust, the size is correct :

[rudy44]

How do you plan to slim down the neck?

The neck can be easily sanded to the required width by holding each side against a small 4" stationary belt sander equipped with a 80 grit belt. It should be done with frequent pauses to prevent the frets from overheating during the sanding operation. The flats created by reducing the neck width are then blended into the existing neck profile. It's actually quite easy!

[Bernie Daniel]

How do you plan to slim down the neck?

The neck can be easily sanded to the required width by holding each side against a small 4" stationary belt sander equipped with a 80 grit belt. It should be done with frequent pauses to prevent the frets from overheating during the sanding operation. The flats created by reducing the neck width are then blended into the existing neck profile. It's actually quite easy!

Rudy I had the fret board off when I narrowed my fretboard & neck.

I made a jig with two 0.2 "X 1"X 30" pieces of flat iron. I lined the two pieces of metal up perfectly and then clamped them securely and drilled a 0.25" hole through both at each end and slipped a bolt through each and added a lock washer and nut.

Then I could slide fretboard between the flat iron strips at the proper depths to get the final width I wanted -- tightened down the bolts on each end, and then put the whole thing (flat irons and fretboard) in my bench vice and used a belt sander to take the fretboard down to the flat iron surface. Worked pretty well.

Then I dressed the frets, glued the binding back on and then glued the fretboard back on to the neck.

Finally I slimmed the neck to match the narrowed fretboard, re-contoured, sanded and re-stained it.

[Bernie Daniel]

Yes, it worth a try !
My last work : to remove the 9th fret dot marker, and replace it with a part of balata - Manilkara spp. (a kind of wood quite similar to rosewood), then I put a (boiled beef) bone dot marker at the 10th fret.
Oups ! I failed to put it in the middle of the "box" fret !

Yes I had to move the MOP dot from 9th to 10th on both guitar to mando conversions that I did too - what a nuisance!
Then you have to move the side markers too!!

[Ronny]

Yes Bernie, I did it this week end !
First, I drill the new hole and the old side marker :

And I fill the "old hole" with a chip of wood (the same I used for the fretboard):

Then, I took a little piece of bone :

and I put it in the right hole :

It was a 10mn job...

[Ronny]

Another step : checking the tuners position :

then sawing and gluing...

[Ronny]

This weekend, I cut and shaped the head and drilled the holes for the tuners :

Then, I reduced the size of the neck pocket :

[Cape Cod Struggler]

I made a four string electric octave mandolin using a child's electric "Strato", cutting down the neck as you have - see past posting.

It worked out great until a fellow session player offered me more money for it than I could resist. He is still playing it and I bought another mandolin with the money.

[Paul Kotapish]

Cool conversion. What are you going to do for getting the pickups to align with the new string setup--or are they pole-free bars?

Here's a cool conversion of an old Vox bass to a mandocello (or possibly OM) from David Lindley's large collection of stringed oddities. At one point he was talking about trying to put something similar into limited production, but I haven't heard any more news about that.



And a "flock" of Subway 'cellos from Fat Dog's Berkeley shop:

[Bernie Daniel]

Cool conversion. What are you going to do for getting the pickups to align with the new string setup--or are they pole-free bars?

Here's a cool conversion of an old Vox bass to a mandocello (or possibly OM) from David Lindley's large collection of stringed oddities. At one point he was talking about trying to put something similar into limited production, but I haven't heard any more news about that.


And a "flock" of Subway 'cellos from Fat Dog's Berkeley shop:

That bass conversion is amazing -- I guess being a bass guitar it would have a 26"+ scale from the jump?
The guitar conversions are great too! I had no idea folks were doing conversions like that. I guess rock and roll players are getting on to octaves and mandocellos?

[rudy44]

Cool conversion. What are you going to do for getting the pickups to align with the new string setup--or are they pole-free bars?

Here's a cool conversion of an old Vox bass to a mandocello (or possibly OM) from David Lindley's large collection of stringed oddities. At one point he was talking about trying to put something similar into limited production, but I haven't heard any more news about that.



And a "flock" of Subway 'cellos from Fat Dog's Berkeley shop:

We'll wait for Ronny to chime in to see what he's going to do with the pickups. In the original conversion posted on E-mando I angled the original 6 pole pickups so the outer poles were centered under the first and fourth string pairs. Even though the remaining pole pieces didn't line up with the second and third pairs the magnetic field of the remaining 4 poles was wide enough that I couldn't notice any differance in volume on the string pairs.

[Paul Kotapish]

That bass conversion is amazing -- I guess being a bass guitar it would have a 26"+ scale from the jump? The guitar conversions are great too! I had no idea folks were doing conversions like that. I guess rock and roll players are getting on to octaves and mandocellos?

The "Wyman" bass (named for ex-Stones bassist, bill Wyman) has a 29.5" scale length.

Lindley's been into every possible stringed instrument--acoustic and electric--for eons, and the bass conversion is decades old. He was playing this stuff with Kaleidescope back in the '60s, and Grisman played 'cello with Earth Opera at about the same time, although I think he was playing an acoustic Gibson in that context. Rick Nielson of Cheap Trick apparently has an electric mandocello that he used on a few tracks, too, but in general it's still a pretty rarefied niche.

[Paul Kotapish]

Here's a very rare Alembic e-mandocello. Most folks know of Alembic via their association with the Grateful Dead et al, and as incessant tinkerers and restless intellects, it doesn't surprise me that they built at least one of these.



More photos here.

[Bernie Daniel]

Here's a very rare Alembic e-mandocello. Most folks know of Alembic via their association with the Grateful Dead et al, and as incessant tinkerers and restless intellects, it doesn't surprise me that they built at least one of these.



More photos here.

Beautiful instrument except for the "tailpiece"! I'd love to give it a fling.

[Ronny]

For the pick up alignment, I will try to follow Randy Cordle path... But I'm stuck now with the shaping of the pickguard... I chose an inox piece to cut the pickguard from... And it's difficult !

By the way, I don't think I'll keep 3 pickups...


Except for the tailpiece (which look cheap), the Alembic cello is beautiful... And the "Long Horn" cello from Fat Dog's shop too !

[Bernie Daniel]

For the pick up alignment, I will try to follow Randy Cordle path... But I'm stuck now with the shaping of the pickguard... I chose an inox piece to cut the pickguard from... And it's difficult !
By the way, I don't think I'll keep 3 pickups...


Except for the tailpiece (which look cheap), the Alembic cello is beautiful... And the "Long Horn" cello from Fat Dog's shop too !

Looking good!

[Ronny]

The pickguard is done :

I choose to make a humbucker out of 2 single coil pickups. So I had to check the polarity :

[Ronny]

I order to put the pickup, I had to modify the body of the guitar :

Then, I made a gingko biloba leaf

out of an abalone shell
,
in order to have a nice head, and to hide some scratch in the veener

The nut has been done using a "beef stew" bone.