In a few years, Washington state's Tacoma Guitars has become the nation's third largest builder of acoustic guitars. They offer three flat-topped mandolin models—the M1, M2, and M3—each with the soundhole in the scroll area, as pictured above. Tacoma mandolins are also available with a built-in contact-style pickup designed by a Gruhn Guitars technician. Just append an "E" to the model name to designate an electric. The prototype Tacoma archtop acoustic/electric mandocello is pictured on the right. I'm still waiting to hear when this instrument goes into production.