The late, great luthier John Zeidler was a very close friend of mine. I own several prototype instruments of his, including a one-of-a-kind 5 string electric mando (I must get a digital camera sometime!). This instrument began life as an experimental 6 string "soprano guitar" inspired by the mini-Strat that Frank Zappa was pictured with on the cover of a '70's Guitar Player magazine. John built it as a mini-Les Paul, with a carved maple top, ebony fingerboard, mini-Schallers, a diMarzio Dual Sound humbucker, and built a case for it that held a DiMarzio "Big Amp"- a teensy battery powered amp. We had a lot of laughs over it, but it turned out to be a bit impractical as the scale length was so small that guitar fingerings above open position were too squashed.
John designed a little mounting unit so we could have it on a stand and I could play a standard guitar, and then walk up to it (like Steve Howe or Pat Metheny) and play it without taking off the big guitar. I actually used it on a couple of bluegrass (!) gigs and totally underwhelmed both the crowd and the band... http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/...icons/rock.gif
Fast forward to the 90's. Dawn breaks on Marblehead: I took it down to Philly, to John's shop, and he cut a new nut and slots in the existing bridge: viola! 5 string electric mando! Perfect scale length (I think it's 15" or so). We popped in a new Bill Lawrence "blade" type pickup so as to avoid string spacing issues. It splits to single coil with a switch.
I loaned it for awhile to another departed friend, Johnny Cunningham, best known from Silly Wizard and Celtic Fiddle Festival, who was playing in a rock band called the Raindogs. He wasn't that fond of it, for some reason...
I love it. The sound is fat, clangy, but warm, considering the range. I don't play it a hell of a lot just now, but one day when I put together my Western Swing/Bebop/Bluegrass Rock and Roll band...
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