12 strings spread between 2 necks.

2 necks, 12 strings. This 1960s-era mandolin/ tenor guitar is one of the cooler things I’ve seen for a while. I’ve been switching between mandolin and tenor guitar for some of Tangleweed’s stuff, so a 2-header monster like this has some appeal. I’m wagering that an SG-style electric wouldn’t fly at bluegrass festivals, though.

At $13.5K, it’s hardly an impulse buy, but it sure is neat looking.

It’s using regular Gibson-style humbucking pickups for both instruments, with the space for the extra two pole pieces filled up with mother of pearl inserts.

There are way more pictures on Elderly’s web site.

Fender FM-60E electric mandolin and case

I’m in the early stages on an equipment purge (or, to use the terminology of the day, “equipment right-sizing”). One of the early casualties is this Fender FM-60E 5-string electric mandolin. It’s up for sale now on eBay. Fender no longer makes `em, so if you want one, this is your chance.

I bought this mandolin back in 2000, and used it live and in the studio with the Kennett Brothers. I also used it on some recordings with Consortium.

It’s a 5-string instrument, tuned C-G-D-A-E, like having a mandolin and mandola all in one. Like a Stratocaster, it has individually compensated saddles in on the bridge, and it uses ball-end electric guitar strings.

It plays well, and, equally important, the intonation is solid up and down the neck.

It’s all original except for the toggle switch. The one that came with it was crap, so I replaced it with a higher-quality switch. If you prefer crap, the original is in the case.

The auction runs through Apr-01-09 16:34:38 PDT.

Sound samples:

This mandolin performs well in a variety of different live performance and recording contexts. With the pickup in the bridge position, it’s bright and cuts well. Here it is with the Kennett brothers:

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And here it is with the Kennett Brothers again, using the out-of-phase toggle and the lower register:

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And here it is with a wee bit of distortion, in an excerpt from the Consortium record:

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Images

Click on any of the images below for a larger-scale version. The instrument is in excellent condition. There are the usual belt buckle scratches one would expect on the back. These are detailed in one of the images below.

Fender FM-60E electric mandolin

Fender FM-60E electric mandolin and case

Fender FM-60E electric mandolin headstock

Fender FM-60E electric mandolin, back

Fender FM-60E electric mandolin, detail of scratches on back of the instrument.

I came across this photo, circa August 1997, when I was cleaning out some old files. Howard (‘Louie Bluie’) Armstrong was a mandolinist I admired enormously, from his early recordings with the unfortunately named Tennessee Chocolate Drops to his later work with Martin, Bogan, and Armstrong, and as a solo artist. His recording of State Street Rag should be required listening for every mandolinist.

Terry Zwigoff (of Crumb, Ghost World, and Bad Santa fame) made his first foray into film making with a documentary of Armstrong called ‘Louie Bluie’. Sadly, it’s not in print on DVD in the US, and VHS copies can be hard to come by.

The Stradivarius of mandolins is this Stradivarius mandolin, one of two known examples. It’s in the collections of the University of South Dakota. With ten gut strings and what appear to be oud-like frets, it’s a markedly different instrument from the contemporary mandolin, which is largely based on the work of Orville Gibson.

It’s signed and dated Antonio Stradivario in Cremona 1680, which would place it twenty years into his career as an instrument maker, but still almost another two decades before his ‘golden age’ of 1698-1720.

In addition to mandolins, he apparently made some fiddles.

True to form, Homer and Jethro take a simple comic song and turn it into an impressive instrumental showpiece. It really starts to swing about the 1:15 mark. From the Jimmy Dean show.

This is an uncommonly good piece of old-time mandolin playing. It is available on CD on the excellent collection Down in the Basement. According to that disc’s liner notes, the recording was by a pair of Knoxville musicians name Joe Evans and Arthur McClain. The two recorded for several labels under, as was the custom at the time, a variety of names. This was recorded for the Perfect label in May of 1931.

The relentless rhythmic drive and energy, the phrases that eat their own tails, this is just about perfect.

Old Hen Cackle (MP3)

Courtesy of Archive.org

This is some great vintage footage of Clarence and Roland White playing together in 1973. There are some clear shots of their left hands, so you can get a pretty good sense of their playing mechanics.

I wrote this piece as part of the introduction to my book, The American Country Music Tunebook, to help my students become more comfortable with transposition. I’m posting it here for the same reason — with a little bit of knowledge and a little bit of practice, anyone can become comfortable transposing songs and tunes on the fly.

Although the capo is referred to derisively as a “cheater” in some circles, it can be a valuable tool–handy for the guitarist, almost essential to the banjo player. Capos are also available for mandolins and other stringed instruments (even dobros), and these might prove handy for beginning players. When buying a capo, avoid the cheap elastic variety, as they can be hard to use and tend to pull the instrument out of tune. I prefer the “one hand” spring-action capo, such as a Keyser, for ease of use, although there are a number of well-made capos in different styles on the market which will do the trick for under twenty dollars, Dunlop and Shubb being two of the more popular brands.

The reasons for using a capo are quite simple. You may need to transpose a song to accommodate a singer’s range. You may find yourself playing with folks who play familiar tunes in unfamiliar keys. Most commonly, however, you may find that you need access to notes on open strings to play a tune comfortably.

In guitar playing, the ideal flatpicking keys are C and G. These are also the two easiest keys on the five-string banjo in standard tuning. The trick to using the capo, then, is using it to play tunes in other keys as though they were in C or G. The process is quite easy once you get the hang of it. Just count up from the nut in half-steps. To play in D, capo on the second fret and play as if you were in C. To play in A, capo on the second fret and play as if you were in G. To play in B Flat, capo on the third fret and play as if you were in G, and so on.

Most old-time songs use a limited number of chords–a “tonic” or I chord, which represents the home key; a “dominant” or V7 chord which tends to show up near the end of phrases and is used to lead back to the tonic; and a “subdominant” or IV chord, a whole step below the dominant, which is used to add some variety to the mix.

Here are the I, IV and V7 chords for the most commonly encountered keys:

Thus, if you want to play a tune in D as though it were in C, capo on the second fret and play C, F, and G7. With the capo in place, they will sound as D, G, and A7. With a little bit of practice, a capo can make your life a lot easier.