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Topic: 1953 Bigsby Electric Mandolin |
Andy Volk
From:
Boston, MA
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Rick Barnhart
From:
Arizona, USA
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Posted 19 Aug 2014 4:14 pm |
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Isn't it though 
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Clinesmith consoles D-8/6 5 pedal, D-8 3 pedal & A25 Frypan, Pettingill Teardrop, & P8 Deluxe. |
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Clyde Mattocks
From:
Kinston, North Carolina, USA
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Posted 19 Aug 2014 8:47 pm
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Am I reading this right? Is it saying that there were only these two Bigsby mandolins? What about Paul Buskirk's? A Google search "Paul Buskirk Bigsby mandolin" will turn up pictures Also there are YouTube videos of Paul playing his.
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LeGrande II, Nash. 112, Fender Twin Tone Master, Session 400, Harlow Dobro, R.Q.Jones Dobro |
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Peter Huggins
From:
Van Nuys, California, USA
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Posted 19 Aug 2014 11:01 pm
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I think what Mr. Wexer meant was that this mandolin and the Tiny Moore mandolin were the only two in this style, with five single strings. Photos exist of Bigsby's band with Al Giddings on a 10-string Bigsby mando, but that instrument has not turned up. Gospel musician Eschol Cosby had Bigsby build him a 4-string mandolin, as well as a tenor guitar (and later bought secondhand a 6-string Bigsby guitar). There is an 8-string with a more symmetrical body shape (unique) as well as another one that turned up and was sold at an auction last year (I think the hammer price was $25,000.00 plus buyer's premium). That one had belonged to a radio personality and music teacher (it was not quite as clean as this one that Mr. Wexer found). Both it and Buskirk's were 10-string, course-strung instruments.
It was astonishing to see this instrument last year at the Arlington show, and to discover that there was another one out there. Who knows? perhaps another one will yet turn up in our lifetimes . . 
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A big THANKS to all my friends, here and everywhere !
Last edited by Peter Huggins on 22 Aug 2014 11:35 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
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Posted 21 Aug 2014 11:41 am
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| A very interesting instrument. I don't understand why some builders build electric mandolines with single courses. Without the double courses they just sound like a guitar played high up the fingerboard. They don't sound at all like mandolines. |
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Andy Volk
From:
Boston, MA
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Posted 22 Aug 2014 6:10 am
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I agree, Alan, and have often wondered the same thing. I assume Tiny Moore wanted that sound. My guess is having single strings reduces the tuning issues of double course strings and is sonically, less cluttered in the mix when you have a large string-based band in full flight that includes guitar and steel guitar.
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Steel Guitar Books! Website: www.volkmediabooks.com |
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chris ivey
From:
california (deceased)
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Posted 22 Aug 2014 11:33 am
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they are a different animal. once you hear tiny take off on any swing solo you'll understand the beauty of a sound largely created by tiny moore.
i think tiny's bigsby is owned by a sacramento music store owner.
glen tarver is a great old fiddler also. i ended up on stage with glen many times. i had forgotten about this mando. cool.
then of course there are the roberts 'copy' mandos..similar, played by tiny, olen dillingham , maybe glen, too.
Last edited by chris ivey on 23 Aug 2014 8:00 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Jan Viljoen
From:
Pretoria, South Africa
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Posted 22 Aug 2014 10:01 pm
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Wow, nice thread.
I also would like a mando to have double strings, but Tiny Moore really sends it fast.
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Sierra S10, Stage One, Gibson BR4, Framus, Guya 6&8, Hofner lap, Custom mandolins, Keilwerth sax.
Roland Cube 80XL, Peavey112-Valve King and Special, Marshall 100VS. |
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Peter Huggins
From:
Van Nuys, California, USA
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Posted 22 Aug 2014 10:11 pm
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Tiny's mandolins (Photo from Deke Dickerson's The Bigsby Files blog):
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A big THANKS to all my friends, here and everywhere ! |
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David Mason
From:
Cambridge, MD, USA
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Posted 26 Aug 2014 9:16 pm
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| Quote: |
| I don't understand why some builders build electric mandolines with single courses. Without the double courses they just sound like a guitar played high up the fingerboard. |
From the amount of time lead guitarists seem to spend way up high on the last few frets of electric guitars, you'd think there would be a pressing need for electric instruments that played really high notes. It's a lot easier to do on a electric mandolin, for sure. But I guess if it's too easy to play the high notes, they wouldn't get to make those adorable faces too. |
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Paul Sutherland
From:
Placerville, California
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Posted 27 Aug 2014 10:19 am
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The Stardust Cowboys, a western swing and cowboy music band that I sometimes play with, has a fiddle and mandolin player, Olen Dillingham. Olen plays a 5 string solid body mandolin that he purchased from Tiny Moore. Olen also took lessons from Tiny.
It's my recollection that Tiny made this mandolin, patterned after the Bigsby mandolin. It certainly looks like what's shown above.
Olen will be using this mandolin this coming weekend at the Hot Jazz Festival in Sacramento, where the Stardust Cowboys will be performing both Saturday and Sunday.
Here's a posting of the Stardust Cowboys from a few years ago at Lake Almanor, CA. Olen is playing the mandolin, but unfortunately you don't get a great shot of it.
http://youtu.be/5Q5Xhvn_HZM
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It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing. |
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 27 Aug 2014 1:07 pm
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Fender re-issued these mando-strats a while back:
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chris ivey
From:
california (deceased)
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Posted 27 Aug 2014 11:14 pm
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paul...olen's and tiny's other mandolin were bigsby 'sort of' copies made by jay roberts.
jay is/was an instrument builder north of here who also built a few steel guitars. not sure if he is still around.
tiny played the roberts on stage in the later years extensively. |
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Paul Sutherland
From:
Placerville, California
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Posted 29 Aug 2014 1:43 pm
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Chris: You were exactly right. Olen told me at a Stardust Cowboy rehearsal last night that Jay Roberts was the builder of his mandolin.
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It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing. |
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Darrell Criswell
From:
Maryland, USA
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Posted 30 Aug 2014 10:37 am
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| why do most electric mandolins have only four strings while all acoustic ones to my knowledge have 8? |
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Joachim Kettner
From:
Germany
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Posted 30 Aug 2014 11:06 am
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My simple theory is: since an electric mandolin doesn't sound like an acoustic anyway, the single strings do the job.
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Fender Kingman, Sierra Crown D-10, Evans Amplifier, Soup Cube. |
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Paul Sutherland
From:
Placerville, California
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Posted 30 Aug 2014 2:25 pm
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Olen tells a story that he was told by Tiny Moore that during WWII due to the shortage of strings, they started using single strings on their mandos.
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It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing. |
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Don Drummer
From:
West Virginia, USA
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Posted 30 Aug 2014 9:47 pm Chris Ivey...
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| ... is correct about the 6 string guitar verses a Tiny Moore 5 string Mandolin. There is guitarness and there is mandoliness. |
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 31 Aug 2014 6:27 am
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Darrell,
Eastwood makes an 8 string electric mandolin.
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HowardR
From:
N.Y.C.-Fire Island-Asheville
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Posted 1 Sep 2014 2:02 pm
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Jan Viljoen
From:
Pretoria, South Africa
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Posted 2 Sep 2014 6:39 pm
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Brilliant picture!
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Sierra S10, Stage One, Gibson BR4, Framus, Guya 6&8, Hofner lap, Custom mandolins, Keilwerth sax.
Roland Cube 80XL, Peavey112-Valve King and Special, Marshall 100VS. |
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chris ivey
From:
california (deceased)
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Jerry Hayes
From:
Virginia Beach, Va.
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Posted 9 Sep 2014 10:39 am
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As far a "single stringing" mandolins. Fiddle great Johnny Gimble also plays a lot of mandolin in bands and shows he's in. Johnny usually plays an eight string Gibson A-style but he only has four strings on it... I have a Fender 8 string electric A-style mandolin that I'm thinking of converting to a 5 string.....JH in Va.
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Don't matter who's in Austin (or anywhere else) Ralph Mooney is still the king!!! |
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chris ivey
From:
california (deceased)
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Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
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Posted 9 Sep 2014 2:36 pm
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Here's a 10-string electric mandola that I put together in a weekend a few years back from stock parts. Musiciains Friend stock a junior solid guitar kit, intended for kids, but it uses standard good quality parts. It's just the right size for a mandola. I just added four extra tuners and swapped the 6-string bridge for their 12-string version.
I changed the shape of the body a little and built a wooden control plate to replace the plastic one, but that was just for cosmetic reasons.
For those interested in the mandoline you should check out the following thread which has a long discussion about them...
http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=142092&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=electric+mandola&start=0 |
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