emando whammy bars?

[johnnlion]

Hi All,

I'm new to the forum but not to emandos--been playing a Godin A8 for a couple of years now (got a 1916 Gibson A as well...) and I'm interested in 4 & 5 string emandos. I was wondering if anyone's ever tried adding a whammy bar (a la Bigsby) to an emando? I'm sure there are many reasons why as I haven't seen one in all the trolling I've been doing recently... Anyone ever seen one? Any of you builders out there interested?

Thanks in advance,
John

[delsbrother]

Go to this thread (http://www.mandolincafe.net/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=22;t=21804;hl=delsbrother) and follow the link I posted there for some Brazilian emando whammy bar action. Also I believe one or more of our Cafe members has a custom-made emando with whammy - Mandroid? Mooh? I've forgotten. I drive my Mandobird through a Digitech Whammy Pedal, but I don't know if that counts. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[mandroid]

stewmac's electric did a single string bender, strap button linkage to bend <a> string, was a <b> bender on guitars.

[johnnlion]

Hi Delsbrother & Mandroid,

Thanks for your replies and the link. Yup, that's what I'm looking for--whammy action! I've used a digitech pedal as well for quasi-whammy but feel that it just doesn't have the same feel as the real thing. Any known current builders making such mods?

Thanks,
John

[mrmando]

Search emando.com for the answer!

I won't tell you the dude's name, but his initials are Tony Revell.

[johnnlion]

Ah, thanks mrmando... Lovely looking axe that is. Mr. Revell across the pond from me however... Makes things a tad more difficult--well, some of the time. Does he have a website?

J

[Joel Glassman]

Armandinho's guitarra baiana has a scale length of 17", more reasonable for a whammy. A whammy bar on a regular mando scale throws it out of tune. It would be good for the last chord of the last tune in a set though...

[mikeomando]

I'm with Joel on this one. I've always wanted a whammy bar myself, but I figure if it doesn't age your strings twice as fast and blow you out of tune every time you touch it, it'll break strings like nobody's business.

Anybody out there have an electric octave mando with a whammy bar?

[johnnlion]

> Anybody out there have an electric octave mando with a whammy bar?

Now there's an idea! What's the market like for octave emandos? Haven't seen any of those in my trolling...

J

[delsbrother]

I'm with Joel on this one. #I've always wanted a whammy bar myself, but I figure if it doesn't age your strings twice as fast and blow you out of tune every time you touch it, it'll break strings like nobody's business.
Or they'll make you go blind.. #http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/blues.gif

[mrmando]

John, do some more surfing at emando.com and you'll learn all about octave electrics. You'll also find a picture of a Brad Armstrong electric whammy-mando (built stateside).

Mike Atkinson has been posting here of late. Try http://www.mlatkinson.com/ for a look at his stuff.

[mikeomando]

Hey delsbrother, let's just do it until we need glasses....

[johnnlion]

mrmando--thanks for the Mike Atkinson link. I hadn't been having much luck with tracking him down on the web. I'll dig around for octave emandos a little more...

J

[Christian McKee]

Steve Ryder has an octave model, good thing I don't have more disposable income, or I'd buy one sight unseen... www.sjryder.com, if you're interested.

Christian

[earnest]

I put a 6 string Bigsby on my ES-125 electric tenor guitar. Works wicked good, stays in tune too. you can see it at www.earnestinstruments.com on the tenor conversions page. joel eckhaus