Goms?

[Griffis]

Does anyone have any knowledge of who makes guitar-shaped octave mandos? I know Old Wave does, but they are a little rich for my blood (though very beautiful.)

It seems like there would be a demand for an instrument like this, but there seems to be very few people making anything like it.

I've been searching up 8 string tenor guitars and guitar-shaped octave mandolins for a while now and all I encounter is the Old Waves and there's a man named Mike Soaresy who makes an 8-string tenor guitar which he saus is good for DGBE or CGDA tuning. I don't know if it would work well with GDAE even wih different gauged strings.

Plus, while the Old Waves are beyond my financial grasp, the Soaresy's seem a little on the too-cheap side of things as far as quality.

Do you think it would be possible to find someone to convert an acoustic 6-string guitar to an octave mandolin? Like Joel Eckhaus at Earnest Instruments perhaps? Would this be substantially cheaper than a $3000+ GOM from Old Wave?

WHy aren't more people building these?

[allenhopkins]

A man named Mike Soaresy who makes an 8-string tenor guitar which he saus is good for DGBE or CGDA tuning. I don't know if it would work well with GDAE even wih different gauged strings...the Soaresy's seem a little on the too-cheap side of things as far as quality.

WHy aren't more people building these?
The Soares'y instruments sold on eBay are made in Portugal, I believe, and are all plywood. The eBay sellers "dis" their fit and finish, but say they're sturdy and playable. No direct experience, but at least you're not risking a lot of money.

More people aren't building guitar-bodied OM's because there's not a great demand for them. Most octave players I've seen are doing Celtic or related music, and the mandolin-style instruments seem to fit their needs.

Eastman is making a very nice guitar-bodied mandocello (I just bought one), and there's a fair amount of discussion of re-stringing tenor guitars to make four-string GDAE octave instruments. Converting one of the smaller flat-top guitars, such as the Baby Taylor or Little Martin, to an OM is also being done. Luthier and Cafe member Paul Hostetter says he's done several; Here's (http://www.lutherie.net/)his website.

[Steve Baker]

Graham McDonald makes two versions (both very tasty). He's at www.mcdonaldstrings.com.

Steve

[Tim2723]

Probably not your taste, Griffis, but for the record, Ovation has one. It's the Adamas style body with eight strings.

[Nathan Kellstadt]

Andrew Mowry makes a guitar shaped octave manolin.

[Geiss]

I believe that Lawrence Nyberg is also making them (pin bridge or). The one shown on his website has a rather guitar like long scale length, but maybe he would build to your liking?
There are some real string supporters of his work on this forum.
Best,
David

Nyberg Bazar (http://www.guitarmaker.ca/bazar.html)

[Gutbucket]

Greg Boyd has a Weber on his site. Looks nice.

[catmandu2]

I saw that instrument last week when I was at Greg's, but I didn't play it...it does look very nice.

[Griffis]

I appreciate all the thoughts on this.

I have another question-- has anyone ever tried using a 12-string guitar, removing the low and high courses and leaving the four in the middle and then tuning them to octave mando tuning?

I know it would feel kind of funky to have the extra fretboard width, but I think I could adjust.

I don't know. It seems as if this would be cheaper than either buying a regular octave mandolin or having a 6-string acoustic guitar converted.

Any thoughts?

[otterly2k]

You could try that Griffis. #It would be cheaper IF you already have a 12-string guitar. #But it will sound, well, like the midrange of a 12-string guitar. #Which is fine if that's what you're after. #GOM's tend to have carved bodies and f-holes and shorter scales and floating bridges rather than pin bridges. (of course there are exceptions... and a lot of variation in design.) All of these factors affect tone. #It seems to me that there are more tales of conversion projects involving archtop guitars or tenor guitars rather than 12-string guitars. #That doesn't mean it couldn't be done. #Just be aware that those luthier-made GOM's are constructed and braced to be OM's. #Your average 12 string will sound very different, and you should be careful about string tensions.

[jmkatcher]

Phil Crump also makes these.

[Jeff Arey]

Steve Parks builds one of the best tone producing GOM's (actually a 4 string tenor) that I have ever played. He has a signature model built for Jerry Thomasson (Benny's son. You should hear Jerry do the Texas backup with one of Steve's babies!)

http://www.steveparksmusic.com/

[Griffis]

Steve Parks builds one of the best tone producing GOM's (actually a 4 string tenor) that I have ever played. #He has a signature model built for Jerry Thomasson (Benny's son. #You should hear Jerry do the Texas backup with one of Steve's babies!)

http://www.steveparksmusic.com/
I've seen his tenors (online; not in person)--he certainly does beautiful work. Man, how I admire the craft of luthiery. It seems almost mystical to me.

I do have a tenor guitar that I recently started playing in GDAE.

I'm really interested in an octave mandolin just because the doubled courses would be so nice I think (as opposed to a "straight" tenor guitar.) But I may have to be not-so-picky about the body style, etc.

I dunno...I saw some site where a man had modified a small-bodied mahogany Martin 6-string acoustic guitar to an octave mando and he raved about the range or tone, the bass response, etc. Just piqued my interest.

[Gerry Cassidy]

I have a Crump S1-G. It's killer accompaniment instrument. The longer scale (bouzouki) makes melody playing a bit of a challenge. It definitely sounds more like a guitar than a trad instrument. I don't mind it, but I've read about some that do.

Here's a Mowry currently on the Bay:

<a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/Octave-Mandolin-by-Mowry_W0QQitemZ140194083468QQihZ004QQcategoryZ1017 9QQssPageNameZWDVWQQr
dZ1QQcmdZViewItem" target="_blank">Mowry GOM</a>

[arbarnhart]

I tried the GDAE tuned tenor for a while. The low G lacked the booming resonance I wanted.