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Gibson |
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1941 EM-150 |
1956 EM-150 |
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It's often mistakenly called the EM-250, but EM-200 is the correct
model number. Also known as the "Electric Florentine," this
mandolin is much harder to find than its acoustic/electric cousin. It's
probably the first 8-string solidbody ever produced, definitely one of the
best looking, and certainly the best known. Like the later EM-150s, it
featured a sawed-off P-90 pickup. It was available in sunburst and, I
think, red finishes as well as the black pictured here. Jeff Bird of the Cowboy Junkies uses an
EM-200; Nash the Slash once
played one, but no longer does. The most famous EM-200 owner I can think
of is rockabilly/swing guitarist Brian Setzer, but he no longer owns his—Mandolin
Bros. sold it a few years back. |
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Half mandolin, half guitar. Gibson made these from the late '50s till 1961. Semi-hollow design with a spruce top. |
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1938 H-1E |
Just when I thought I'd seen it all, along come a pair of Gibson electric mandolas sporting Charlie Christian pickups. The H-5 model on the left was custom-built in the 1930s for Dave Apollon. The one on the right is a 1938 H-1E. |
Wow! A custom 1930s blond F5 with a Charlie Christian pickup. I can hardly believe my eyes. | ||
Zoom in on this puppy and you'll see its distinctive pickup: it resembles the Charlie Christian, except that the ends are rounded. This is an EM-100; they were introduced in 1940, renamed EM-125 the following year, and discontinued after 1943. Meanwhile the EM-150s started sporting P-90 pickups. |
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EB-0 |
This is another doubleneck; one neck is a short-scale bass, and the other is an 8-string mandolin with a P-90. There's only one, and it belonged to the late Govt. Mule member Allen Woody. |
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??? |
On July 2, 1937, Gibson shipped its first electric mandocello (it was, however, not the world's first; that distinction probably goes to Vivitone). Anyone seen it? I swear it was around here the other day... |