Mr. MacLachlan owns an
electric mandolin he built in a workshop conducted by Welsh builder Tony Revell. He plays
it occasionally with Sound of Islay in Glasgow.
These days Paul is known mostly as one of America's foremost swing
fiddlers. He did, however, serve stints with Merle Haggard, the
Gatlin Bros., and Asleep at the Wheel, doubling on fiddle and electric
mandolin. Paul reportedly
played an electrified Gibson
A-style mandolin, and also owned a Roberts
Tiny Moore model.
The Jethro Tull frontman is best known for playing the flute, but has
also used an electric mandolin.
Remember the Orson Welles movie (and, later, radio show) The Third
Man? Remember that gypsy-style theme music played on the zither?
Well, believe it or not, Dave Apollon, one of the greatest mandolinists of
the 20th century, made his own recording of that theme, played on, of
all things, an electric mandola.
Bob is known primarily as a leading bluegrass player and teacher in
Southern California. He also owns a 5-string Schwab electric mandolin, which he
uses mostly for MIDI applications.
Former electric mandolinist with Australia's Elision Ensemble.
A multi-instrumentalist who has toured with Bob Dylan.
David lives in Athens, Georgia.
He played fiddle with the Jerry Reed Band from 1981 to 1984, and
sometimes used a Schwab electric
mandolin. David is recovering from a serious accident—after being told
he'd never walk again, he played his first post-accident gig in May
2000.
Toronto-based Breit played
electric mandolin on Cassandra Wilson's CD Traveling Miles, a
tribute to Miles Davis. He has also toured with Wilson, and records for
his own label, Poverty
Playlist, both as a solo artist and a member of a band called
Sisters Euclid.
On his LP Blackjack, released in 1976, the late, redoubtable Gatemouth was credited
with playing the electric mandolin, as well as guitar, fiddle, viola,
harmonica, and kitchen sink. Don't forget, Gate grew up not far from Tiny Moore.
Plays electric mandola with Boojum Twist, an Ithaca, N.Y.–based band.
Jon lives in Agoura, California,
and plays a Roberts Tiny Moore 5-string. His interest in fusion has led
him into a variety of styles; he writes: "I play a little bit of
everything—bluegrass, metal, rock, some jazz and Frank Zappa (I
learned Lumpy Gravy just the other day)."
A longtime associate of Willie Nelson, Mr. Buskirk remained pretty much
under the radar throughout his 60-plus years in the music business, but
those in the know regarded him as one of America's best mandolin
players. He used electric mandolin, although his primary instrument in
his latter years was a self-designed mandola, which he played on his
Western swing CD, Nacogdoches
Waltz. Mr. Buskirk passed away in 2002.
An Indianapolis-based blues player, Mike
plays a Schwab 5-string, a
customized Kentucky 5-string, and
the Harmony 8-string
acoustic/electric formerly owned by Yank Rachell.
Carr
is best known as a former member of Country Gazette, and for his duet
recordings with banjoist Alan Munde. He is an instructor in the
bluegrass program at South Plains College in Levelland, Texas. He has
released a series of instructional videos, one of which, "Hot Mandolin Styles," includes
some techniques for playing 5-string solidbody mandolin a la Tiny Moore. The video is available from Elderly
Instruments.
Fiddler/electric mandolinist who plays Western swing with Kelly Clark and the
Wild River Band in Houston.
The well-known blues/eclectic player has been stretching the boundaries
of the mandolin for decades. He contributed some electric mandola to
A.J. Croce's album That's Me in the Bar. I'm sure there are
plenty of other Cooder electric mandolin tracks out there.
Doug played electric mando with Roy Lanham and the Whippoorwills in the
'50s. He reportedly had a hard swinging style, comparable to Jethro
Burns. There are two Roy Lanham and the Whippoorwills CDs available: Hard
Life Blues and Sizzling Strings.
Sims is the founder of swing band Harmonious Wail. Among his mandolins, until he sold
it, was a Schwab
5-string electric. Check out the Harmonious Wail home page.
Legendary Cajun fiddler and leader of the band Beausoleil. Recorded a
side project called Michael Doucet & Cajun Brew, on which
both he and Niles Hokkanen played electric
mandolin.
Chris plays with Bay Area experimental band Terra
Nova. Among his many instruments is an electric cittern built by Fatdog.
Maine luthier Eckhaus, proprietor
of Earnest Instruments, plays electric mandolin with the Pinetones,
which he describes as "Maine's only Western swing/Italian
band."
Stephen plays guitar, as well
as a Fender electric mandolin,
with the Guinea Pigs in Boulder, Colorado.
A fiddler, mandolinist, and composer who teaches at Mark O'Connor's
summer fiddle camps. He plays an electric mandolin as a sideman on some Western swing recordings with Leon Rausch, Tommy
Allsup, and Tom Morrell. These recordings also feature Buddy Spicher on electric mandolin and fiddle.
Regarding his mandolin, Randy writes:
"It is a 1954 Gibson A50 that I had customized in 1980 by Dan Altillo of Topgear Guitar in La Mesa, California. He built the pickup and installed the volume and tone controls and the whole works. The pickup is made from a 1949 Telecaster pickup minus two of the magnets and wound with. 020 wire. That is as technical as I can get about it; I don't know a lot about the wiring side of things. It is strung up A-D-G-C using. 10-.20-.30-.46 gauge Dean Markley strings usually." In other words, Randy's mandolin setup is nearly identical to Johnny Gimble's. In fact, if you check out this photo of Gimble you can see Randy peeking out from behind him. You can order Randy's latest recording, The Boys in the Band, from Randy Elmore, P.O. Box 1462, Cleburne, TX 76033. CDs are $17 and cassettes are $12, which includes shipping and handling.
Matt occasionally played electric mandolin as a member of the
experimental Amoebic Ensemble (since disbanded) in Providence, R.I.
A veteran on the Seattle mandolin scene, Jim was a founding member of
the Seattle Mandolin Orchestra. He has played a Gibson EM200 with a Gary Price
tailpiece in the Midnight
Trio.
Dave plays a Fender FM-52E, as well as a
Danelectro Jerry Jones 6-string bass, with Roy Heinrich and the Pickups,
a honky-tonk band.
Based in Portland, Oregon, Jason
plays Turkish and experimental jazz music. He's primarily an electric
bassist, but also plays a Fender
FM-52E.
Jim's electrics include an
early '60s Gibson Florentine
EM-200; a late '30s Gibson EM-150
with a Charlie Christian pickup; and a Roberts
Tiny Moore 5-string.
A classical player from Washington, D.C., who has custom-built a few
8-string solidbody electrics (and occasionally plays one—but not for
classical music).
Joel plays swing and Western swing
with various groups in the Boston area. He plays the
"Hampstercaster," a 5-string electric mandolin he built
himself (his followup project is an octave model). He's the author of an
electric mandolin article on MandoZine.
An electric mandolin player from Newfoundland who experiments in fusing
Irish music with Indian classical music and other genres.
Aaron writes: "I play electric
and acoustic mandolin for several bands in the Boston area: Boris
McCutcheon, The SpringHill Rounders, and Bow Thayer and the Euphorians.
I was taught by Jimmy Ryan."
A member of the now-defunct Bay Area string band Back Up and Push, John
built and played some solidbody mandolins resembling the Roberts Tiny Moore model.
Stan plays jazz and Western swing on a couple of 5-string solidbody
mandolins he built himself.
Based in the Kansas City area, Bruce is known primarily as an acoustic mandolinist
with a strong classical bent. But he often uses a 5-string electric for
"cheesy rock gigs," as he puts it, and combines it with a MIDI
controller to compose music.
Played electric mandolin on Kate Wolf's album Gold in California.
He's also the mandolinist for the Cache Valley Drifters.
Frank resides in Dubuque, Iowa,
where he plays "country, bluegrass, and a little jazz" on a Gibson EM-150. He's also a fingerstyle
guitarist.
Guitarist/electric mandolinist with Peter Gordon and the Love of Life
Orchestra.
Peter has recorded with the dB's and Continental Drifters. He's also
played electric mandolin and keyboards with REM and Hootie and the
Blowfish.
The acclaimed guitarist for prog-rock supergroup Yes has performed with
electric mandolin. (Some Yes freaks have reported that it's actually an
electric mandola. Whatever.)
Played with Tennessee-based progressive art/pop/rock band Human Radio.
Mike writes, from Harrisville,
Utah:
"I've been fascinated by the instrument ever since I first saw Tiny Moore playing his Bigsby at a fiddle contest back in the late seventies. I was later blown away by Ricky Skaggs' string bender solos on his Joe Glaser mandos. If your readers want to see Ricky playing his electric, they should check his Live in London video. It features a great mando solo on the last half of 'Don't Get Above Your Raisin'.' "A number of years ago I was fortunate to find a used Schwab five-string at a local music shop. It has a red 'strat' style body (as opposed to a 'tele'), a highly figured curly maple neck, and an ebony fingerboard. I customized it by replacing the original humbucker with two Seymour Duncan humbuckers set up with single-coil splits. I'm running direct to the PA from a Digitech 2101 processor. What a fun instrument! Although I primarily play in acoustic ensembles, about once a month I get to perform with local country and rock bands. While this gives me my electric 'fix,' someday I'd like to form a western swing band and really focus on this great instrument!"
Plays guitars, Moog, and electric mandolin with a German band called M. Walking
on the Water.
A noted experimental electric guitarist from the Bay Area, Kaiser
records extensively, and reportedly has used electric mandolin.
Richie writes: "I play my
acoustic Monteleone,
the Schwab electric and a custom
Flying Vee 'Vandolin' (I'm not kidding!), with Mark Cosgrove, former
national guitar champ, in the Philadelphia area."
Plays fiddle, electric mandolin, tin whistle, and electric pipes with
Celtic Brew in Germany.
After producing Emmylou Harris' Wrecking Ball album,
guitarist/songwriter Lanois toured with her, playing electric mandolin
on some songs.
Greg writes: "I play a Schwab 4-string and a Rigelcaster for a San Francisco Bay
Area funk-jam band."
Guitarist/electric mandolinist for 1970s Italian rock group Il Volo.
One of popular music's most respected guitarists, British-born Lee
also played some electric mandolin on LPs with his band Heads, Hands
& Feet. He also contributed to Maestro Alex
Gregory's new Another Millennium? CD.
Chris is from the
UK and plays a Telecaster-shaped electric mando by Tony Revell. He writes: "I'm in a
new band called The Family Mahone. They started life as Pogues
sound-alike band, but after a year we're doing almost all original
stuff, mainly songs about drinking in Manchester, which is where Mark
(Radcliffe) the singer and drummer is from. It's a 6-piece band with
drums, bass, acoustic guitar, mandolin, fiddle (Dave Russel from Full
House), and accordion."
Fiddler/keyboardist/electric mandolinist for an early Asleep at the
Wheel lineup.
Eclectic multi-instrumentalist Lindley plays just about everything with
strings on it. To hear him on electric bouzouki, check out the track
"Put Down the Gun" from Peter Case's album The Man with the
Blue Postmodern Fragmented Neo-Traditionalist Guitar.
Bob plays with The Geezers in
Concord, California. It's kind of hard to keep track of his instruments,
but they have included a Rigel A
Plus Deluxe.
Reportedly used a Kay electric on the
first Hole album. Just makes you want to run right out and buy it,
doesn’t it? (Actually, the instrument itself was offered for sale
after the album came out, and passed through several sets of hands.)
Played in The Maddox Bros. and Rose, one of the first rockabilly bands.
He succeeded Cliff Maddox, who died in 1949. From photos, Henry's
mandolin appeared to be an electrified A-model Gibson.
Recorded with Chainsaw Jazz.
Known primarily as a classical player, Mair also plays electric with a
Providence, R.I., band called Clean
and Friendly. She owns a Flying V built by Neil
Gladd, as well as a Washburn electric.
Evan is known primarily as a virtuoso duo-style acoustic player; he also
fronts a bluegrass band at Disneyland and is at least a former, if not a
current, owner of a Schwab
electric.
Brilliant multi-instrumentalist; member of the Modern Mandolin Quartet
and Psychograss; has played electric with Darol Anger's jazz group
Montreux. In addition to playing a John
Knutson solidbody 5-string mandolin, Marshall also uses
a Baggs pickup and a Crown microphone on
his Lloyd Loar Gibson F5.
Ben is the proud owner of a Fender FM-60E 5-string and a
custom-made Rattlesnake acoustic mandolin with a built-in
pickup. He's studying at Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery in Phoenix, Arizona.
Swing fiddler/mandolinist who recorded with an electric mando on the CD
Cactus Setup with jazz vocalist Rebecca Kilgore.
If I'm not mistaken, James is the brother of guitarist/bassist/composer Molly Mason.
Played on Bill Miller's album Raven in the Snow.
Steve works at Ifshin Violins in
Berkeley, California. He's a mandolinist as well as a violinist, and
does his electric playing on a Steve
Ryder EM24.
Has recorded with Minneapolis-based Celtic band rainTribe.
At 13, Donovan was already a bandleader with Oxford, Mississippi's Bush
River Band, featuring his father, Barra, on rhythm guitar.
Donovan's regional pro gigs in Mississippi have included the Mississippi
State Fair, the Thacker Mountain radio program in Oxford, and Channel 9
in Tupelo. The band plays Beatles, traditional Irish, traditional
Southern, jazz, Latin, and folk rock. Donovan has used an Alvarez
mandolin with a Fishman
pickup, but reportedly upgraded to a Weber acoustic with built-in electronics.
Tom plays
12-string guitar, washtub bass, and electric mandolin in an
Arizona-based duo called the Amazing
McNasty Brothers.
John writes:
"I play the only J. R. Zeidler electric mandolin that I am aware
of—Les Paul body shape, 1979 vintage. It has 5 strings and a single
DiMarzio humbucker."
Buddy lives in the San
Francisco Bay Area in California, and plays Western swing on a Gibson A-50 with a pickup he built
himself. He writes: "I played mandolin on fingerstyle guitarist
Michael O'Dorn's album Hand Picked on Skylar Records. It's
available at Amazon."
Known mostly for his powerhouse bluegrass playing with late brother Jim,
but reportedly has recorded with a Kent
electric.
Served for a brief stint as the electric mandolinist for UK folk/punk
band The Levellers.
Best known as a country songwriter, Miller began his career playing
electric mandolin in the Four Aces.
Former electric violinist/mandolinist with Canadian progressive rock
trio FM.
Has worked extensively with k.d. lang and done some production work for
Barenaked Ladies.
Anthony owns a Roberts Tiny Moore 5-string electric.
He writes: "I live in Louisville, Kentucky, where I'm regularly
featured on electric mando and clarinet with the Sultans of Swing, a
local Western swing jazz band. I also play jazz and swing in a duo with
Aviv Nahamani on guitar a la Homer and Jethro."
Peter has owned a Gibson
Florentine, an Earnest, and a Schwab (as well as many other
mandolins). He also works for Rigel
Mandolins.
Member of the Teen Kings, Roy Orbison's band before he went solo. Bet
you didn't know that at least one take of Roy's classic, "Ooby
Dooby," recorded at Memphis' Sun Studios, included Mr. Morrow on
electric mandolin. The take was released on an Orbison compilation
called The Sun Years.
Formerly with Col. Bruce Hampton and the Aquarium Rescue Unit from
Athens, Georgia. He played a custom 5-string electric by Jim Bickerstaff, an Athens-based
mandolinist and recording engineer.
That's right, one of Ricky's long-haired pretty boy kids. Played some
electric mando on Nelson's album Because They Can. I guess he
played it because he could.
Known today as a songwriter and producer in his own right, Neuwirth was
a member of Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue in the 1970s, and played
electric mandolin on a few songs.
Cheap Trick guitarist Nielsen owns many custom instruments by Hamer, among which is an electric
mandocello.
Jim lives in Madison, Wisconsin,
and plays classic country with the Black Diamond Band, as well as
Celtic, swing, Texas-style fiddle tunes, and bluegrass. He writes:
"I have a handmade custom 5-string ash mando (by Marc Sean Price) with a pair of Bill
Lawrence pickups and a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe tube blues amp—a
combination that not only plays like a dream but has incredible quality
of sound and an infinite number of voices. I have less than $1,500 in
it—not bad for close to the best. I play with a classic country band
and it has become my instrument of choice for most of our material. I
get a big fat sound for the Western swing type stuff. Only draw back is
the weight—about ten pounds—almost as bad as a banjo. I also play an
EM-150 and an old F7."
Mandolinist with the Pointless Brothers, from Alden, New York, Paul plays a
Phoenix
Ultra acoustic and a Stew-Mac
5-string electric.
Fiddler/electric mandolinist who plays Western swing with Kelly Clark and the
Wild River Band in Houston.
Tom is a mandolinist who operates Flat Five Press and
Recording Co. in Roanoke, Virginia. He sometimes contributes
acoustic and electric mandolin tracks to recordings made at his studio,
and has published an advanced music theory text for mandolinists.
Brendan writes, from Galway,
Ireland: "I have recorded with Donal Lunny,
Waterboys, John Prine, and a lot of top Irish acts. I play a newly
acquired Godin A8, a Fender FM61SE, and a Paul Doyle mandolin, a
lovely instrument. I am also having an e-bouzouki made by Andreas Köpke of Pendennis Instruments
in Germany. His electric instruments are beautifully constructed and
sound great."
Probably best known for his multiple appearances on "A Prairie Home
Companion," Ostroushko has used a Schwab electric.
This L.A. studio ace has played guitar on tons of albums. He contributed
some electric mandolin on Linda Ronstadt's Feels Like Home.
A former member of American Music Club, Danny plays guitar, banjo, and
electric mandolin with Clodhopper in the Bay Area.
Ted is the mandolin player with Big Blow and the Bushwackers, a
didgeridu-based band out of Salisbury, Maryland. They have no guitar
player. You can hear Ted
on his 1972 Eko electric (built in
Ricanti, Italy) on their 1996 Habagoola CD. In shows, Ted uses
his Eko on a calypso medley, a Big Walter Horton blues tune, and a
self-penned number, "How Many Miles to Babylon?" Ted makes no
claim to authenticity and has a hell of a good time making ridiculously
fun music at all-ages shows.
Blaine lives in
Newfoundland, Canada. He writes: "I own a Vester
acoustic/electric, which is comparable to the Fender FM-52E acoustic/electric
model."
Born in Elkhorn, Kentucky, in 1935, Elster "Red" Ratliff
started his professional mandolin career at age 15 with Buster Pack and
the Lonesome Pine Boys, a bluegrass band, on WCYB. At some point, Buster
and the Boys must have decided to branch out a little, because they
recorded some rockabilly material where Red played electric mandolin. He
later played with Hobo Jack Atkins, Kenny Baker, the Prairie Union
Bluegrass Band, Breakwater Bluegrass, New Cut Road, and the Chicago
Bluegrass Band. Red died on Sept. 3, 2000.
Chris plays a 5-string
electric he built himself. He writes, from Prescott, Wisconsin: "I
fit the bill of the type of guy who plays with a bunch of loud,
amplified guitar and keyboard players. My acoustic mandolin (which I
also built from scratch) does pretty good with a piezo pickup, but
I have always wanted to try a true electric mandolin. The cheapest way
for me to do it was to build my own."
Fiddler/electric mandolinist for popular Western swing revivalists
Asleep at the Wheel.
Dij lives in Seattle. He writes:
"I have been playing mostly 'lectric for a good while now. Lots of
funk, rock & reggae style stuff. I use a McIntyre in my F, and a
40-year-old Eko pickup in my
semisolid, but I'm buying a RichTone
solidbody soon. I play through an old Morley bass wah pedal, with a
Pignose for a preamp (and even a vintage Vox tonebender once in a
while), all of which sound great on the 'lectric mando. I find sound FX
designed for either bass or acoustic guitar usually sound best, though
I've often had to tweak out some high and high-mid with an EQ (usually
last in the chain before recording or preamping)."
Bluegrass hero and longtime Laurie Lewis sideman Rozum
plays a 5-string Michael Stevens
electric for one tune on his solo release, Jubilee.
John writes: "In the '80s, I
played in a popular Seattle band called the Swingin' Swamis. It was a
honky-tonk, jazz, and western swing band. I played a Roberts Tiny Moore 5-string and a Gibson electric Florentine through a
Fender Twin. I've been playing in a honky-tonk/western swing/hillbilly
band called Cash for Junkers in Missoula, Montana, since 1998, and i'm
now using a Weber Yellowstone with a McIntyre Feather pickup. I'm
currently using a Fender Acoustisonic Jr. amp, but I'm unhappy with it
and am looking for a good used Peavey Reno 400."
If you're a rabid Camper van Beethoven fan, you probably already know
that Segel, former Beethoven frontman, has used an electric mandolin,
among many other instruments. Even if you're not a rabid fan, now you
know this anyway.
Experimental composer/player Sharp
used an electric mandocello on a project called Revenge of the
Stuttering Child with poet Ronny Someck.
Larry has played at Silver
Dollar City in Missouri for 26 years. For amplified swing music, he has
used a '30s Gibson A-50 with a
pickup—tuned CGDA, like Johnny Gimble's mandolin—but also uses a
white, solidbody 4-string mandolin with a Seymour Duncan pickup, built
by Los Angeles luthier extraordinaire Danny Ferrington.
A contemporary Western swing player who has recorded with Ted Scanlon
and the Desperados.
Guitarist, mandolinist, and founding member of The Ukrainians, a
UK-based folk/punk band that sings all its songs in Ukrainian.
Monster Nashville session fiddler who picked up an electric mandolin for
Tommy Allsup and Leon Rausch's three-volume Bob Wills tribute collection. Randy
Elmore also played electric mando on these.
Before he started wearing a fringed motorcycle jacket and playing
commercial country music, Stuart was a wunderkind mandolinist with
Lester Flatt. He's still known to play a mean acoustic mandolin, as well
as a Schwab electric.
John lives on Hilton
Head Island, South Carolina, where he's a mandolin dealer as well as a
player. John's mandolins have included an E. F. Elliott, a Rigel, a 1966 Fender Mandocaster, a Spicer, an Epiphone Mandobird, and an Ovation.
Bluesman Suhler leads a trio called Monkey Beat. He plays primarily guitar and lap
steel, but has used an electric mandolin.
The ex-Police guitarist owns an electric mandolin, according to a
"gear list" posted long ago by some Police junkie. (No point
in linking you to the list, which is no longer up.) Wherever Andy is, I
hope he's pulling that thing out and playing it every once in a while.
A former member of Shadowfax and Human Drama, Szmadzinski is
mostly a violinist, but has used electric mandolin.
Max writes: "I have a couple
of Gibson
EM-200s...one for me and one for my son. One is a 1954, judging from the
pots, and the other is a 1962. I still think these may be the best
electric mandolins ever made."
Leader of the eclectic Bill Walach Electric Sextet. Contact:
Bill Walach 12 Mountain Street Vernon, CT 06066 860/872-1529
Sebastian plays a solidbody electric by German builder Thomas Dotzauer. His
band is a trio called Well Done Triet; they play Deutscher Schlager
(German pop) music.
Dan
is a singer/multi-instrumentalist with emphasis on the multi. His
release Honey Be There features some electric mandolin playing.
Known as a world-class bluegrass picker, Tony recovered from severe
fasciitis a few years ago. He worked out with an electric as part of his
therapy, because of the lower action and ease of
playing compared to an acoustic.
Electric mandolin occasionally turns up on a few records by the great
Texas bluesman.
UK-based mandolin maven Woodward
owns a solidbody eight-string by Chris Eccleshall.
Marc says he's had the instrument "for over twenty years, and it's
been used for everything from Cream covers in a heavy rock trio I used
to play in, to continental cafe music—a real work horse."
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