It's official

[mrmando]

Presenting the Beswick!

The first e-mando I have seen with onboard lights and what looks like a volume pedal bolted to the top.

Amazing.

[mad dawg]

Do you know anything about the creator of this, er, uh, device?

[mrmando]

Uh ... I think it's safe to say he's resting comfortably and no longer resists treatment.

Sorta reminds me of this...

[John Flynn]

Well, Lloyd Loar not only invented the most famous mandolin model, but historians also credit him for having invented the first elecrtic guitar. So you have say that the instrument in question above is "Loar inspired!"

[delsbrother]

Do they make one in sunburst?

[mandocrucian]

I'm sure you guys would all have been laughing hysterically too over Future-Man's guitar/drum rig if someone had posted a photo of it before the inception of the Flecktones. No idea what it does but it shore looks goofy.

Have any of you actually spent time on volume control techniques? (i.e. altering the volume after the string has been struck)Volume knob? #Volume pedal? #So much electric guitar design is still stuck in the 1950's before there even was string bending, or anyone was messing with volume knob technique. #The volume and tone knobs are still located in the wrong locations on a lot of instruments. #I just got a Mandobird-8 and the knob positions are terrible. #But they are there cause "That's the way we alwayz dun it!"

Forearm control of volume and/or tone has a lot of advantages, but you've probably never ecen thought about before. #This guy's idea isn't bad, though I think there's better solution(s) (and don't ask me to be more specifice cause I'm not talking).

Maybe the thing is a piece of garbage. #Or maybe it's a good working experimental proto-type. #I'd like to hear the thing, and I would rather hear it being played by the inventor who may also have developed techniques to exploit it's capabilities. Maybe the guy might sound like Mark Knoplfer on volume swell technique. There's a lot more to playing electric than spitting out fast picked BG gnat notes.

But all I read is you guys snickering about "how it looks", rather than thinking about, "What can it do?" Uh, What did the 9/11 Commision call it...."Groupthink"...?

Personally, I would like to talk to this person. That photo shows me enough to suspect it would be quite an interesting discussion. But hey, what do I know?

Niles H

[Lee]

Next time I really don't have to get somewhere, I'd love to fly with that as carry on baggage.

[delsbrother]

I'm sure you guys would all have been laughing hysterically too over Future-Man's guitar/drum rig if someone had posted a photo of it before the inception of the Flecktones. No idea what it does but it shore looks goofy.

Aw, Niles, don't be such a funsucker! Innovation schminnovation! The thing's got flashing lights!

[John Craton]

Too bad Edward Wood Jr. is no longer with us. Doubtless he could have based a whole movie around that contraption.

[mrmando]

Thanks for your thoughts, Niles. I don't know anything about the inventor. The eBay seller doesn't know what all the knobs are for, nor what the white cable does. I'd sure like to know, and I kind of wish I could buy this thing, just to experiment with it, see what it'll do. It looks difficult to play—the electronics housing seems like it could get in the way—but one doesn't really know until one has tried. I could see someone like Nash the Slash having a blast with the Beswick.

I called it "weird," but to me that's not an insult at all. When you've seen as many e-mandos as I have, nothing puts you to sleep faster than another copy of the EM150 or Mandocaster, or another mini-Strat design. Give me a Sorina, a Knutson, a Kayfield, a Bosnar, or an Andy Manson. Or this thing.

I have a volume/pan pedal but haven't used it enough to make it part of my rig. (Some of you perhaps know that although I'm obsessed with electrics, I rarely play them.) I wonder whether the white cable might be something you can plug into a second amp and then use one of the knobs to pan or switch between them.

[John Rosett]

i like it too. one of the fun things about solid body instruments is that you can make them look any way you want.
#as far as volume manipulation goes, i recently started playing steel guitar in my band, and i've discovered how much fun a volume pedal is. the volume pedal i have not only controls volume like normal, but has a side-to-side tone control. now i want one for my guitar and one for my mandolin!
# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # john
i've also been thinking about putting red LED lights in side my mando........

[mrmando]

OK, I've changed my mind. The weirdest e-mando ever is the Jones-O-Phone Mandolitar:



Made in 1998 by a Tufts University student in a musical instrument engineering class.

The first fretless 8-string e-mando?

[mikeomando]

It looks like you're in danger of electrocuting yourself every time you change the strings. And you need a screwdriver to do it. Oh yeah, and I wonder what it sounds like when somebody plugs the light cable into the amp input. Oh yeah, no strap buttons, so you must have to play it like a table slide. And the seller doesn't even know what the third cable does. But that's probably just the groupthink talking... And I still want to play around with it.

[mandroid]

Back to the future Viii, E i yi yi , but where is the gerbil powered Amplifier and rotiserie, #Mr Popeil ?

..."Danger , Will Robinson"...

[frankseanez]

Since there doesn't seem to be a place to conveniently pick the strings, the third cable is probably to the input unit. That would either be the mandrobot itself, or other CPU that can be used to operate the device. In this mode, the flashing lights relate to the use of either the clean (green) or lead (red) circuit.

Another theory is that it's not a volume pedal riveted onto the front, but an automatic fish scaler that comes in handy once you use it as a not-so-pocket fisherman. The green light indicates that the fish meets the weigh-in limit, and the red light tells you to throw it back in. The fish, that is.