Yet Another Mandolin IDing thread

[Westcroft]

Hey all,

I was wondering if anyone could shed some light on this strange mandolin (most likely electric)

It has a cutaway body (almost like a telecaster)

8 tuning pegs on what looks like a fender headstock

Can anyone point me in a direction to find more info on this style of mandolin?

Thanks!



Click for an expanded view

[MikeEdgerton]

Probably custom made, there are dozens if not more folks building similar instruments. Best place to look would www.emando.com, a site operated by cafe member mrmando.

[lenf12]

Very cool e-mandolin head stock design. I could see Fender adapting this into their product offerings for an electric 8 string...much better than that Gumby Villager head stock of that other design. Any Fender Custom Shop workers out there may want to take notice and be able to sell quite a few e-mandolins if they were done right with well designed hardware and pickups. I'm a Fender guy and would buy an 8 string and 4 or 5 stringer too.

It would be helpful if you could expand on the photo and possibly identify the player and where he's from. There are some builders who are regionally known.

Len B.
Clearwater, FL

[mrmando]

Heck, it's the late Chris Cornell. I didn't know he had an e-mando. Maybe I can dig up the luthier's name.

[mrmando]

Here's a color photo with the same instrument.

[Westcroft]

Heck, it's the late Chris Cornell. I didn't know he had an e-mando. Maybe I can dig up the luthier's name.

If that's possible that would be pretty cool, I cropped the photo out of repect but I now realize my chances of figuring out the mandolin would probably increase with the most info.

[Westcroft]

I may have been mistaken in thinking the mandolin was electric... unless the pickup is hidden inside. Here are some other angles of the beautiful mandolin. I can see a sound hole but no pickups or knobs in sight. We definitely lost a beautiful voice with Chris. RIP

[mrmando]

Ah, so it definitely has a soundhole and is acoustic/electric. That narrows it down quite a bit. The only two builders I've seen doing something similar would be Jimmy Moon and Dave Thormahlen, but I'm pretty sure it's neither of those.

[mrmando]

Three different outfits, a chair, a sofa, two different windows, but the same mandolin ... this is quite the elaborate photo session. We can see the bass edge of a floating bridge in the chair photo, so we know it doesn't have a pin bridge like a Moon flattop. But I'm still at a bit of a loss.

This is likely to be a one-off by a custom maker better known for guitars. Rock musicians by the nature of their work are better acquainted with guitar builders than mandolin builders, on the whole.

[Westcroft]

Three different outfits, a chair, a sofa, two different windows, but the same mandolin ... this is quite the elaborate photo session. We can see the bass edge of a floating bridge in the chair photo, so we know it doesn't have a pin bridge like a Moon flattop. But I'm still at a bit of a loss.

This is likely to be a one-off by a custom maker better known for guitars. Rock musicians by the nature of their work are better acquainted with guitar builders than mandolin builders, on the whole.

It looks like it was all a photoshoot for the Rolling Stones for Chris Cornell's Higher Truth album that had the mandolin heavy song Nearly Forgot my Broken Heart.

It must be the guitarist in me who is loving this mandolin so much, I guess I'm going to have to start saving for someone to make me a copy.

Thanks for all the help and input

[mrmando]

Photos are by Jeff Lipsky. Heck, one of the photos from this shoot was a Rolling Stone cover!

Chris was a friend of a friend of a friend (2 degrees of separation), but that doesn't add up to a lot of insider knowledge, apparently.

[mrmando]

It must be the guitarist in me who is loving this mandolin so much, I guess I'm going to have to start saving for someone to make me a copy.

Dave Thormahlen could do something very similar. They don't appear on his Website, but he has made flattop mandolins in electric guitar shapes in the past. http://www.thorharp.com/pages/OtherGuitarMando.htm

[Westcroft]

Dave Thormahlen could do something very similar. They don't appear on his Website, but he has made flattop mandolins in electric guitar shapes in the past. http://www.thorharp.com/pages/OtherGuitarMando.htm

Thanks for all the help and info, I'm going to save up a bit and see what I can get built