i saw one of those in a shop and would have totally grabbed it if i could have afforded to. i'd rather have 8 strings, but who's to say it couldn't be converted?
In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni
FIFTY YEARS OF SCARING THE CHILDREN 1970-2020--and i'm not done yet
They're fun. Unusually tolerant of tuning alterations - mine has never buzzed or complained with string tuning variances of nigh on an octave - probs something to do with the ratio of neck thickness/stiffness to length.... They don't get the chorusy chime of a doubled-course instrument, but they do jangle in a mandoriffic way - and you can also easily tune them like the top strings of a guitar and shred away with fuzzzzzzz. Also, I have definitely had struggles with intonation on some 8-string electric mandos with one string in the pair intonating easily and the other never quite getting there (looking @ you Eastwood), but my Mandobird is very forgiving intonation-wise.
[doh! just noticed it's an 8-stringer. nvm ]
"In a moment of unparalleled genius, Noel Parachute headed off this potential disaster by unplugging the microphone."
I think of a coupla my contraptions w/ 4 strings and half-ish guitar scale length as "mandos" if'n i tune'em mando-like, so i guess i'm sayin' i those contraptions
Also, that first one was quite...swagerty....
"In a moment of unparalleled genius, Noel Parachute headed off this potential disaster by unplugging the microphone."
that thing reminds me of a peculiar stringed instrument common to the Chicago area. it was called the "Polk-a-lay-lee" and was given as a premium with purchases from the Polk Brothers appliance/furniture store chain. they were essentially worthless in the late 60s, but one in the UK is going for over £350 on Reverb due to its extreme rarity across the pond. they're less expensive here. they were dreadful, as can be inferred by the carton listing "decorative" before "quality tone." i don't recall anyone ever playing one seriously. they'd have laughed you out of the weirdball end of the AACM if you showed up with that thing. well, maybe one of the Art Ensemble of Chicago guys would have had a go. i guarantee that if it was sold in the late 70s some degenerate would have stuck the long end up their booty and used it for prostate massage.
as was so common in the 1960s between the massive alewife die-offs that covered the beaches with layers of dead fish for decades until the coho salmon was reintroduced. they literally had to bring in dump trucks and front-end loaders to scoop them up. it was horrible. you could smell them in the Loop. Becky loves the beach and finds it hard to understand why i don't. well, our beaches weren't very nice, honey. and the lake water was quite foul then, before any kind of reasonable pollution mitigation existed.
In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni
FIFTY YEARS OF SCARING THE CHILDREN 1970-2020--and i'm not done yet