My Electric Mandolin

I have been itching to stretch out a little musically and do something a little different. I've been playing the mandolin for about a year and a half, and, while I'm far from being a master, (very far) I crave a little variety to keep me interested. I had borrowed my sister's acoustic guitar for awhile, but she wanted it back. I didn't realize until it was gone how much I liked playing around on it, and how much noodling around with it had helped my mandolin playing.

So, I found myself with a little extra money, and I started thinking about what to do with it. My first thought was, "Get a banjo." Years ago, I almost bought a banjo, but I decided on a mandolin instead. I couldn't be happier with my choice, but when the opportunity opened up in my checkbook to buy something else, I thought about a banjo. I even went and looked at banjos, but the only ones in my price range were crappy.

Then I stumbled on the Epiphone Mandobird. Angels sang when I found this little gem. It is an electric mandolin. Think electric guitar with four strings, the size of a mandolin, and tuned as a standard mandolin. It gives me the opportunity to take my current knowledge and blow it up into the world of "shredding."

Here's the beautiful little Mandobird in all its glory.

Plug it into any guitar-friendly amp, add any effects you want, and you can do just about anything you want. The sky is the limit.

To give you an idea what an "electric mandolin" sounds like, I provide you with this little sample from our good friends at youtube.