The Steel Guitar Forum

In high school I owned and played a "tater bug" mandolin. I understand that it is a classic today. It had the alternative stripes and a great tone.

I played it fairly well, but failed completely when I tried to transfer my meager knowledge of the mandolin to a violin which is tuned the same way. I could never master the bow.

Wally Moyers wrote:For recording I tune mine like a guitar. e b g d ...

The problem with doing that is that you don't have the range that you do with regular mandolin tuning. Unlike the guitar, which is tuned for playing chords on, most of the mandolin work is in a succession of single notes, and with a short fingerboard and seven semitones between each string all the notes are easily at hand. Also, because the interval between strings is equal across the instrument, it makes the transition from one key to another easier.
I still think all mandolins should have five courses, not four.

Gene Jones wrote:In high school I owned and played a "tater bug" mandolin. I understand that it is a classic today...

It's known as the Neapolitan Mandolin, and is the only type of mandolin found in orchestas.

This is my "Mandocellocaster."

It is a Squire Tele (Price: $135 plus 7 dollars tax) that I had converted. The conversion cost me 60 bucks. Total investment: $202.00.

Being an experiment, I had no idea how it would come out when I had it done. Suffice to say that it kicks ass.

Great idea Mike..

Mike,
Now that's pretty slick.

Very cool, Mike. Do you tune it like a mandocello?

I got real into a guitar tuning that Robert Fripp likes to call the "New Standard Guitar Tuning":
CGDAEG
That C is about as low as you can go on a regular scale guitar (maybe a little too low, I never do like bad sounds, just because you want that note so bad). So I ended up getting a J.L. Smith, a nice little tele-shaped thing. I'd really like an "octave" or thereabouts one, 19" scale or so. I like the tuning, but I tune a step to two steps low. Even so, it's a good answer to the problem of "do guitarists look like idiots always playing way up the neck?" As though it's some big deal. If you want a high note that bad - buy one.

For me it was a lot more fun to play than to listen to.

- this bears great wisdom...

1914 F4 and 1966 Gibson A5 Jethro here!

Herb Steiner wrote:Very cool, Mike. Do you tune it like a mandocello?

Yes. C, G, D, A (Bass to treble)

Mike Perlowin wrote:This is my "Mandocellocaster."
It is a Squire Tele (Price: $135 plus 7 dollars tax) that I had converted. The conversion cost me 60 bucks. Total investment: $202.00.
Being an experiment, I had no idea how it would come out when I had it done. Suffice to say that it kicks ass.

Great minds think alike.
The main difference is that yours has a longer string length and mine has a fifth course, but otherwise they're the same idea.

Alan, the main difference is that I came up with the cool name for the instrument.

BTW I have an MP3 of something in which it's played rather predominantly in the background, although the steel has the melody. This particular track isn't on the web, but I can send it to anybody who wants to hear it.

Please do, Mike. I would love to hear it.
Since my previous post I changed the image. The previous two images when put side-by-side gave the impression that my instrument was larger, so I resized them onto one image to show the relative sizes.

Chris Ivey said:

i heard the song 'mandolin wind' once.

I was playing mandolin once when someone on stage with me "broke wind".

I love the mandolin (my 2nd favorite instrument behind the PSG) and want to play one so bad. I have owned 2 over the last 4 or 5 years, but every time I get one, the bottom falls out from me financially, and I end up having to sell them to pay rent. I vow to get another when I get back on my feet and start learning again before I die.

That's funny Richard. I also had to sell one, before I learned to play it. "Spanish Johnny" comes to my mind.

I own a Morgan Monroe F style. Picked it up because I'm a bit of a musical instrument
junkie. Love anything w/strings that bend

My first one was a Gibson F9. My second was a Morgan Monroe.

I wish I knew his website, a gentleman in Texas named Doug Edwards builds a wonderful beautiful armrest for mandolins. He built one for my f style out of maple. Not only is it practical, I think it has enriched tone and sustain. I recall paying $50-$70 bucks for it. For a serious mando player it adds comfort and appeal. His business phone is (817)239-6425 and I believe MxLung armrest is his company. Search it respectively, see what he's got if you're interested. Also when you order be sure to include your hardware color option. Enjoy

Edward Rhea wrote:...a gentleman in Texas named Doug Edwards builds a wonderful beautiful armrest for mandolins...

I fitted my Fender F mandolin with a gold-plated brass engraved armrest made for banjos.

I also removed the pickguard. I don't like them, and they're unnecessary on arch-topped instruments, especially such as the mandoline which doesn't get heavy strumming. To scratch the table with a plectrum(flat pick)one would have to be very clumsy.

Allen, great looking mandolin. And a great idea. Exactly the same principal. Question though, do you find that rest comfortable? Does it help your sustain? Mine does both. I was recommended to Doug by a friend who had professionally set mine up. He has multiple mandolins all equipped with armrest to match characteristics of the instruments. After playing on his I knew I had to have one for mine. I'll send you a picture when I get home this weekend if I'm able to. Really you're mandolin looks great!

strange as it seems. i was playin' in louisiana and this guy, they call brother, showed me this mando-caster that he had built, 18 years ago, this was last summer, in 2012. he had never built anything like this before. didn't play a mandolin, but, wanted to build this 5 string c-g-d-a-e.
it plays great.
his wife became sick at the time he was finishing it and he put it in the closet.i am borrowing it!
when i saw mikes i thought i had entered the twilite zone.
country jack....

Golly Mike. I bet you did not think that this thread would last this long. And yes I do love that sound. I currently own a Gibson Bouzouki and a odd ball 6 string mandolin that I sometimes tune open G and use for slide mando parts. You have heard that, Mike, on the tune I sent you recently, "Joy of Man's Desire".

Edward Rhea wrote:...do you find that rest comfortable? Does it help your sustain? Mine does both...

Yes, it's very comfortable, and it does help sustain, because it prevents your arm from touching the sound-table.

I don't play mandolin-only steel, but I love the sound of a mandolin. Got a friend here in Pickens, SC named Rebecca and she plays a Morgan Monroe mandolin. Rhonda Vincent, another one of my friends, plays a Gibson mandolin, and I'm also friends with Henry Paul, lead singer for the country music group Blackhawk-he plays a Gibson F-style mandolin, along with one of John Mann's "Manndolins". Another great mandolin player is Sonya Isaacs-she plays Gibson too, and also, my friend LeeSa Biddy Lyons, a singer from Georgia plays mandolin.

I've got a 1923 Martin Style 1 bowlback mandolin (one of the last years made) and an S.S. Stewart banjo mandolin. Don't play the Martin much; it sounds nice, but it's hard to hold. The banjo-mando is a totally different animal. The tone is so loud and piercing, my wife won't let me play it in the house.

Wonderful instrument. I own and play a Fender A model and a Morgan Monroe F model that my friend John McGlothlin gave me.