Kang's Axe

[Jezmund]

hello all. I'm new.

anyways I'm going to build myself an a mandolin.

I would like to build one similar to the one in the pictures below.

Just wondering if anyone knows the specifics of this very special RONO instrument.

What kind of wood (top, back, sides, neck, fretboard, headstock, tailpiece, binding)? Is it solid or hollow body? bridge saddles material? tuning machine specifics? pick-ups? how many way switching? electronics? etc, etc.

I would be very grateful for anything you can tell me. thank you very much.

can't wait to see what I find out.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...%3Den%26sa%3DG

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...%3Den%26sa%3DG

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...%3Den%26sa%3DN


http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...%3Den%26sa%3DN

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...%3Den%26sa%3DN

http://www.jambands.com/PhotoReposit...4_07_05.01.jpg

http://leftovercheese.com/sci.kang1.JPG

[Paul Busman]

Nice mandolin-- who is Kang? Cool looking dude! Any video links?

[Christian McKee]

Micheal Kang was the mandolin player for The String Cheese Incident - a hippy jam band that started out as a BG project. Some people thought they were the tops of the pops, I wasn't wild about them, but you should make up your own mind, naturally. Kang's a good player though, and had a lot of veeeery nice gear.

Jezmund, Mr. Oates had a website for a while that had a lot of specs on it, you might try looking for that. I think he mostly built hollow/semi-hollow body instruments, though. And it looks like there's a midi synth module mounted in some of those shots, now you have to decide which version to build...

Christian

[Jezmund]

The RONO and the sounds Kang makes with his is a sound I've long searched for out of an electric mandolin.

At this point it is time me to find out the specifics of this octave or baritone- not sure which and find a great luthier.

so any help you can give me would be much appreciated

[Jezmund]

I've fixed most of the pictures in case you want to take a closer look

[Dave Greenspoon]

My suggestion is to talk with Cafe member Andrew Jerman. You can find his contact info including website via the Builders link. Good luck, and have fun!

FYI, I am simply the proud owner of Jerman #11, and have NFI in Andrew's business.

[mandroid]

Mr. Oates has shown himself to take deposits and never deliver,
so I'd use another builder .
it's the ol' Caveat Emptor ...

[clem]

I owned a Rono long scale/baritone similar to Michael Kang's single cutaway Rono. 18.5" scale; 3 Bill Lawrence pickups (S/H/S); 3 mini toggles to switch pickups off and on; volume and tone (tone was push/pull to split the humbucker), koa top, alder back, sides, ebony board.

That said, I sold the Rono and commissioned a long scale from Jonathan Mann (see my Avatar) AND IT ROCKS!!!. Jon is a great guy and builds a GREAT mandolin. I couldn't be happier. You might want to contact him to talk...or to order one.

Good luck. BTW, the long scale is wonderful.

[mrmando]

Out of the electric mandolins I've tried, Jonathan Mann's come the closest to playing/feeling/sounding like a Rono.

Kang has more than a dozen Ronos with varying specs. The one in question appears to be the "Kokopelli" baritone. No sound holes but am quite sure it's semi-hollow. Scale length is about 18 inches; tuning is GDAEB if I'm not mistaken.

That might be only a 3-way switch, but Ronos tend to also incorporate push/pull volume & tone controls that switch each pickup from series to parallel.

[Christian McKee]

Jezmund, in your search for KangTone, don't overlook his amps. He gets a lot of mileage out of his Mesa pre, and the Two Rock. Heck, for the price of two boxes with those names on the faceplate, you could have a few mandolins...

Christian

[mandelect]

clem said:

That said, I sold the Rono and commissioned a long scale from Jonathan Mann (see my Avatar) AND IT ROCKS!!!.

mrmando said:

Out of the electric mandolins I've tried, Jonathan Mann's come the closest to playing/feeling/sounding like a Rono.

In fact Jonathan Mann has recently posted pics of two "baritone Electric mandolins" on his website (covet)

They appear to be 18" scale length instruments, the five string being tuned GDAEB - beautiful looking and such reasonable prices too!

[mandelect]

...just realised that my posted Mann pic is probably the one that Clem owns - hah, silly me!

Don't want to hijack this thread but would love a review of this instrument.

[clem]

...just realised that my posted Mann pic is probably the one that Clem owns - hah, silly me!

Don't want to hijack this thread but would love a review of this instrument.

It is indeed mine! QUICK review (so as not to hijack). DiMarzio dual rail in front; GFS mini-hum in the rear, with push pull pot to split into single coils. Jon's solid tailpiece RAWKS, in tune and LOTS of tone. ALso makes a great place to rest the picking hand. One unexpected TREASURE, the pot that Jon used on the volume is super smooth and fast, allowing for "crying" volume swells. Now I can channel my inner Jeff Beck and Roy Buchanan...and much better than any guitar I've owned (due to the scale, layout and parts JM used).

Jon indulged me on the color (a gray burst on the quilted maple) and the truss rod cover engraving. He was GREAT to work with. This is the best 5 string electric mandolin I've ever played.

Now back to our regularly scheduled thread...

[Jezmund]

so what's the difference between an octave and baritone emando?

[mandroid]

OM's are 4 pairs, an octave down, GDAE, these guys are talking about 5, the high B is on top..

GDAEB

[Jezmund]

so basically all five string emandos are considered baritiones?

[mrmando]

No. "Baritone" refers to the scale length. It's actually a bogus and completely unnecessary term, in my honest opinion. You could just as well call it a 5-string octave mandolin and cause a good deal less confusion.

[man dough nollij]

Isn't a 5-string (or five course) OM a cittern?

[mrmando]

I'd tend to think of a cittern as having a longer scale than 18", but I suppose even that isn't a hard and fast rule. Citterns are frequently played in open tunings -- DGDAD, for example.