Cheap cittern or mandocello??

[Bilgewater]

i've been keeping an eye out for a cittern or mandocello, but they seem to all go for $2000 or more. is there anywhere i might find one for $1000 or less?

i guess the other option is a guitar conversion... can anyone direct me to instructions on how to do that?

thanks!

[EdSherry]

There aren't a lot of citterns / 'cellos out there for under $1k.

There's a used "Evan White" 'cello on the SF Craigslist for $800, but it looks suspiciously like an "Antonio Tsai" Vietnamese beast. Lots of glitz, but I suspect the tone will be lacking (I haven't tried it).

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/msg/2845495958.html


I bought a nice Loar (archtop guitar) conversion to a 'cello off the Cafe about a year ago for $800. So they're available. Just keep looking!

[Bernie Daniel]

T... bought a nice Loar (archtop guitar) conversion to a 'cello off the Cafe about a year ago for $800. So they're available. Just keep looking!

I expect that I will not be keeping a mandocello conversion project that I am working on -- see this thread:

http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/sh...ocello-project

Just FYI, it will fall below your price range -- but first I have to finish it!

Sure bet that Loar is a great mandocello Eddie. Not to hijack this thread but I assume that Loar guitar had a 1 11/16" nut? I saw a brand new Loar jumbo arch top guitar hanging in an instrument shop in Birmingham, AL a couple of weeks ago -- we stopped there to buy a concertina and I was tempted to buy that guitar. (I had quite a time parking our 39-foot RV with the Jeep in tow on the narrow street!!). Thinking those guitars should make a wonderful mandocello platform!

I would love to know how the luthier who converted yours handled dividing the space on the nut for the mandocello strings -- i.e., inter-string and inter-course distances. Do you still have a pic of the nut of that one?

[allenhopkins]

Steve Wishsnevsky in Winston-Salem builds a variety of instruments and sells them quite inexpensively. The designs are sometimes odd, and I haven't played any so can't recommend, but they start around $600. Here's his website, and here's a relatively recent Cafe thread about his mandocellos.

Mike Soares of Soares'y Guitars used to have a variety of odd instruments, including mandocellos, built in Portugal, and sold in the US, mainly on eBay. They were pretty rough-and-ready, especially in terms of fit and finish, but interesting and playable. Prices were low, generally around $500 or so. However, according to the Soares Guitars website, all he's doing now is buying pre-cut solid bodies for electric guitars, fitting them with necks and pickups, and re-selling them. A used Soares'y 'cello might turn up from time to time, who knows...?

[Eddie Sheehy]

Ovation MC868 Mandocello in the Classifieds.... MFI

[Ted Eschliman]

I'll spare Eddie from having to plug the sale of his own instrument. NFI, but his Ovation mandocello listing is really a good instrument. John Jorgenson talked me into buying one he used at a store clinic we held, and I owned it for years. The Ovation design is terrific for handling high tension, and it played about as easily as anything with that thick of strings. I thought the sound was good acoustically, and even better plugged in.

Highly recommended.

[Bilgewater]

cool, thanks for all the leads folks!

[Eddie Sheehy]

Thanks for the plug Ted - MFI (massive financial interest)...