Mando from space ... with whammy bar!

[mrmando]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Unusual-and-...item46047a21e1

[mikeomando]

Truly the ancients have much to teach us...

[journeybear]

Wow! I was thinking there might be an EM-150 underneath all the stickers, then I looked at the back. Well, it still could be, under that black paint ...

"I know nothing about this sort of thing but did plug it in to an amp and it did put some sound through the amp."

So at least there's that. Something like this, sight unseen and sound unheard, you want to check it out in person. Or at least, know that it will put some sound through the amp.

It's almost too bad I finally treated myself to a really nice well-built emando - Fast Eddie's custom-made Ryder EM-44 - so I can't see myself getting serious about something like this. But there is still the lure of the whammy bar ...

[mrmando]

Glad to hear Fast Eddie and Mike Shellans both found new homes for their Ryders. I almost pulled the trigger on Mike's but someone beat me to it. The headstock on this doesn't say Gibson to me. It sort of looks like the one below, which according to my notes was branded as a Strad-O-Lin, although I know I've seen it with other brand names:

Without taking this puppy apart it would be hard to tell exactly what happened to it. Was it in fact built as an electric originally? Or did it have an oval soundhole where the neck pickup is now? I'm sure that the bridge pickup was added later, but not certain about the neck one.

This won't go for much over the opening bid, if that, but it is one of the more appealing mad-scientist hobby jobs I've come across. You could well imagine one of Charles Napier's pals playing it:

[journeybear]

Really could be just about anything under all that glitter. Any idea what pickups those are?

[Charles E.]

That fella in the blue jump suit would not look out of place playing this.......

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mandolin-oct...item3a75539553

[John Rosett]

That fella in the blue jump suit would not look out of place playing this.......

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mandolin-oct...item3a75539553

That mandolin was built by Steven Wishnevsky. I have a guitar he built.

[rico mando]

at first glance i thought it had been reinforced with carbon fiber .

[Charles E.]

Martin, you have to love a whammy bar on a eight string, you can detune all strings with just one motion!

[journeybear]

Well ... this is an eight stringer that the owner had the sense to make a four stringer. I had a deuce of a time when I was playing my EM-150 - seemed if it was the slightest bit out of tune it just sounded awful. So I went with single strings and it was just fine. I'm guessing that's what happened here. I keep thinking about a well-behaved eight stringer, and maybe something with newer tuners would be just the thing, but I expect that is not the case here. That said, I'll bet you are spot on with your assessment of this apparatus. That is the dinkiest, cheesiest whammy bar I have ever seen, and if it didn't play havoc with the tuning of this wee beastie if double-strung, I would be very surprised. Of course, I could be wrong, and looks could be deceiving. I have seen some really snazzy whammy bar mandos, with very modern accoutrements, which probably perform fabulously - but this ain't one of them!

[pfox14]

The mandolin came from the workshop at Area 51

[rico mando]

looks like no one wanted it at that interstellar galactic price

[Mandolin Mick]

Looks like something from the Glam Rock Era!