Copies of Paul Bigsby’s famous 5-string e-mandos have come back into vogue in the 21st century, fueled by the discovery of Tiny Moore’s Bigsby at Skip’s Music in Sacramento (and its eventual auction sale after Skip’s death). Most of those copies had one thing in common: the average musician could never afford them.
     These circumstances created an opportunity that has now been seized by California’s Bellflower Stringed Instrument Co. Pre-tariff, Bellflower imported a number of strikingly Bigsbylike e-mando bodies from China and has set them up with American-machined bridges and tailpieces. The result is something that looks right but won’t break the bank.
     Queensland maple neck and body with birdseye maple veneer; Indonesian rosewood fretboard with 14.25" scale length. Chambered body, Firebird pickups, volume/tone controls and pickup selector. Comes with a tweed hardshell case. Also available in sunburst. It lacks the saxophone strap attachment that was standard on the Bigsby, and in fact it doesn’t seem to have any strap buttons at all. I guess you’ll have to add your own, but at the $979 price point, you can afford to.
     For details, check the Bellflower Web site.