Eastman Mandocello

[Mandobart]

Still new to mandocello. This is my 2nd video, playing "Time" by Tom Waits, on my Eastman MDC805.

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Hope this works.

[Jake Wildwood]

Very cool.

I love the sound of mandocellos. I have a c.1940 archtop guitar (sounds awesome!) that I've just decided to keep... and a spare set of period mando tuners on my worktable... and I've been "thinking about it" for the last week...!

We'll see.

Keep the vids coming. It'd be nice to see some more mc sounds floating around here. :)

[Walt]

Nice! I want a cello so bad! What are your thoughts on the Eastman?

[JEStanek]

Thanks, Mandobart. It's great to hear these instruments.

Jamie

[Mandobart]

Thoughts on the Eastman - well it is the only mandocello I've actually seen in person, let alone played on. I chose it based on some sound clips available on the mandolin store website and from 12th fret website, as well as being the most affordable one I found.

I got this one from The Old Boise Guitar Company. The owner (John Pisano) is an Eastman dealer and was able to get it from another store that had ordered it but didn't sell for some reason. As a bonus it had strap buttons already installed and I payed less than normal retail. Service and setup at OBGC was absolutley great and worth the 5 hour drive (each way).

Other mandocellos I viewed on-line include the Santa Cruz, based on a flat-top guitar and the Ovation. Both of these retailed for much more than the Eastman. Of course there are many great luthiers that make mandocellos, but these are well out of my price range, especially as a beginner to all things mando (I just started on mandolin a little over a year ago).

This Eastman quality is very good to excellent. Finish is great with no blems. The back doesn't look book-matched to me, but is still quite nice. Intonation is perfect all up the neck. I did put some heavier strings on, since with the action set reasonably low, but high enough to prevent buzzing, the original strings would get a few cents sharp when pressed firmly to the fingerboard. This does take ball end strings, which I get from e-mando.com.

Thanks for the nice comments, feel free to e-mail if you have any other questions.

[Dan Hoover]

very nice..nice choice of song too..