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Not to add confusion to the mix, but found that a company called Moran Monroe is making a archtop guitar mandocello as well. I have no idea of cost, or case, or when it is available. But thought I would give a heads up to those that might be interested. Here is a link with a demo.
http://www.morganmonroe.net/mm-mc100.html
No pickups, no cutaway.
Body depth of 5"? That's impressive. My Eastman is 3-1/8" and my custom 10 string is 3-5/8". My old deep bowl Ovation 12 string is about 5" at its deepest point. The photos don't show it appearing near so thick. Sound clip sounds decent. I think he'd get a fuller, less twangy tone if he picked in the sweet spot closer to the end of the fretboard.
Suggested retail -$699.95
It's on amazon for about 560. But out of stock
Another thread, same topic, just up the forum page.
Two companies coming out with mandocelli within a couple months of each other -- after decades of none at all -- who woulda thunk it?
Thus proving there IS a market for lower priced mandocello's with reasonable quality.
I've been telling folks that mandocello was going to be the next big thing for about 3 years.
I have a baritone hollow body electric guitar and I could see a mandocello with pickups filling a similar, if perhaps limited, role, but sounding cooler with 5th tuning and double strings.
I may do a road trip on this one. I tried the Eastman mc years ago and do not like it. One my issues was the neck width. It was 1.75 inches! The MM specs say it is "only" 1.5 inches at the nut.
Yeah but, with arched top & back, the rims might be only 3.5" or so. Just speculating!Quote:
Originally Posted by Mandobart
And 1.5" at the nut is what a mandocello is suppose to be! IMO. :))Quote:
Originally Posted by Greg Stec
THANK GOD our Creator envisioned a world of variety for us so we wouldn't get bored. But people like Bernie believe in "one size fits all", which is short sighted, and certainly not true.Quote:
And 1.5" at the nut is what a mandocello is suppose to be! IMO. :))
Give it another 10 years and you may well be right....Quote:
Originally Posted by NotMelloCello
The Morgan Monroe Mandocello appears to be back in stock at Amazon: two to four weeks delivery, free shipping, at $560. It's erroneously listed as a mandolin. Two to four weeks shipping, from my experience, means it may come direct from the manufacturer (China?). This could account for the low price.
I am assuming it is a pressed top and laminated sides.
I wish there was one near me: at that price, it is certainly worth checking out.
If anyone has handled one, your input would be very valuable.
EDIT: I just noticed that it is a "prime" item. For me, and other "Prime" customers, that means a no-cost, no-questions-asked, free return. That pretty much nails it. Time to break open the piggy bank again.
I will keep you posted.
Did you ever get your hands on one of these?
I contacted Rob from Morgan Monroe last year about them. He told me that they were a limited run in 2016 and that he didn't think they were going to make them anymore, but he'd let me know. I bugged him about once a month to see if he had any more info on them and he kept saying that it wasn't likely that they would be made again.
I just recently sold my Harmony archtop guitar to mandocello conversion. And I was so sad after the buyer left. I'd spent the past year learning to play it and I just needed to sell some instruments to come up with money for my pending divorce. Though I'm really glad that buyer is local and he seemed excited to learn mandocello.
Not an hour after the buyer left, an e-mail arrived from Rob at Morgan Monroe telling me that he found a MM-MC100 mandocello at a dealer a few hours away. I couldn't believe it! I called them immediately and put a deposit on it on my credit card. I took a personal day off from work and drove there today and they did in fact have the Morgan Monroe mandocello and I bought it! I guess I'll have to come up with the money some other way. Maybe sell another mandolin? Anyone interested in a JBovier A5-T?
Anyhow, I got it home and spent a few hours doing the setup. Fitting the bridge and nut and putting new strings on it, etc. The bridge foot was so poorly fit that I think it probably was taken straight off the mill and just popped on without any fitting to the instrument at all. It took a lot of careful sanding to get it done, but now it has great full contact with the top.
There were a few other issues. The tailpiece is the same cast Ashton Bailey one that they use on their mandolins and was held in place with the same puny screws that they use to attach it to a mandolin. The tension of the mandocello strings is way higher than on a mandolin and the lower screw was pulling out. I bought a wider and longer stainless steel screw at McGuckin's (The best hardware store ever!) I drilled out the bottom tailpiece hole a bit so the larger screw could fit and reattached the tailpiece. Much more secure now that it's screwed into the tailpiece block and able to withstand the force from the strings without moving.
Also, after getting everything else setup and adjusting the truss rod, it is clear that the frets need to be leveled. That is above my pay grade, so I called my guitar setup guy and he's going to take care of it for me this weekend.
I've been playing it for about an hour now and it is great! Solid carved 2 piece tightly grained spruce top. I'm betting the top was carved by a machine at this price, but it is very responsive! Maple back and sides. Guessing they are laminate since there is no seam on the back. It is 5 inches deep and has a great resonant sound. The neck is very comfortable at 1.5". The sunburst is not as dark as the pictures I've seen and the nitrocellulose finish is a good depth. Over all I'm very pleased and also really happy that I have another mandocello!
I'll post some photos and a video when I get a chance.
Here's a quick video. Use headphones or external speakers if you want to hear the low end.
Also, sorry about the poor picture quality. Bad lighting here.
https://youtu.be/ySh7JLLXKxw
A bit buzzy since the frets need leveling. I'll post another video when that has been done.
Not crazy about the sound of your flatwounds.... But if you dig it, that's fine.
There is one on the website for Carter Instruments (no, not the store in Nashville!) for $500. I would go for it but have no real need for a mandocello.
I like the fact that it has a 1.5" neck width. Sounds like they didn't just adapt an archtop guitar.
Appears that it is out of stockQuote:
Originally Posted by Jim Garber
Interesting... I did click add to cart and that seemed to work. Did you try to "buy" it?
At checkout it said that they'd issue a PayPal invoice once stock was verified. I don't think that's actually a music store, just an online storefront that has no inventory.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim Garber
Thanks for posting this. I ended up opting for the Eastman F-hole mandocello, which was what I was leaning towards, anyway. The stock strings were far too light, but other than that, and having to make a minor truss-rod adjustment a month or so ago, I am very pleased.
But I am glad there seems to be another, less expensive, mandocello on the market.
There's one on the Guitar Center site now. $499 seems a bit high for a used one; on the other hand, there aren't many of these about. https://www.guitarcenter.com/Used/Mo...00-Mandolin.gc
Only the 2nd one I've ever seen for sale that actually has it in stock. I bought the 1st.Quote:
Originally Posted by mrmando
If you buy it you might consider replacing the screws for the tailpiece with longer ones. Might also need a setup.
I quite like mine.
Also looks like my video disappeared from the previous post. Here it is again for anyone interested. If you use headphones or real speakers instead of your phone or computer speakers you'll hear the low end better.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySh7JLLXKxw
That's got a BIG sound! Nice.