Ry Cooder: Electric tiple?

[KanMando]

My apologies if this has already been discussed. I've been a huge fan of Ry Cooder since way back, and I knew he played the tiple, but until I saw this, I didn't know he played electric slide tiple, at least I think that's what he's playing in this video. As an added bonus, David Lindley is playing and electric octave mando on this one. Great stuff.




Bob

[mrmando]

That's a "Mando Guitar," a short-scale 12-string guitar designed by Vox in the 1960s. Ry appears to have it strung in single courses.

[SternART]

Very cool...........I heard he recently got a Heiden F5 mandolin.

[EdHanrahan]

Thanks, neat performance! But...

That looks more like a mini 12-string to me, with 6 courses & the lower ones probably in octaves (but hard to be sure on the video).

Tiples (I just bought a '40s Martin T-15 for -yikes- only $250!) are more like a cross between 12-string and ukulele, with 4 courses of 2-3-3-2 strings, the top course in unison and the lower 3 tuned in octaves. They're often have the top pair tuned to A or even up to B. With the "lowest" pair tuned an octave up (like soprano uke), it's "octave" string is just one step lower than the first pair. Neat sound!

[timv]

That looks more like a mini 12-string to me, with 6 courses & the lower ones probably in octaves (but hard to be sure on the video).

Yes, that's exactly how Vox Mando Guitars are normally set up, simply an octave higher than the usual 12-string guitar arrangement. That's definitely what it is. You can read it right down the middle of the headstock. And I just looked really hard, and if Cooder has it strung any differently from that I can't see it.

I wish we got a better look at what Lindley's playing. Between the camera and Cooder you can also see the back of a headstock with 8 tuners. Something similar maybe?

Interesting tiple information, Ed. Once upon a time a friend had a Martin tiple that had belong to her father but didn't know how to tune it (this was pre-WWW) and I had no idea either. But I could tell by the arrangement of string gauges and wound vs. plain strings that it wasn't like anything I'd encountered before.

I'm pretty sure there's a mando guitar in this video too, though it looks more like a TEO repro than a Vox original:

[EdHanrahan]

Should have included this link, a wealth of tiple info:
http://martintiple.blogspot.com/

Also good reference info in the latest Martin pair of books. Tiple's body is the same outline as a tenor uke, but about a half-inch deeper. Current effort is to find a case that fits (for less-than-custom $).

[Spruce]

I wish we got a better look at what Lindley's playing. Between the camera and Cooder you can also see the back of a headstock with 8 tuners.

It's a 60's Vox bass converted to an 8-string mando-cello....

[mrmando]

Yes, that's exactly how Vox Mando Guitars are normally set up, simply an octave higher than the usual 12-string guitar arrangement. That's definitely what it is. You can read it right down the middle of the headstock. And I just looked really hard, and if Cooder has it strung any differently from that I can't see it.

Several closeups between 1:50 and 2:10. I count only six strings on it, not 12. I don't think he has the courses paired.

[timv]

Several closeups between 1:50 and 2:10. I count only six strings on it, not 12. I don't think he has the courses paired.

I see what you mean. Yes, it does look like single strings.

[KanMando]

There are twelve-string tiples. Expand the first photo here:
tiple blog

But, yeah, Ry's not playing a tiple here.

Bob