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Gibson Mando-bass

#21
bholder said:
Badly overpriced? Sigh. I payed quite a bit more. I can be a dope when I fall in wuv with a bass.

Though thanks for mentioning Rigel again, I keep forgetting about them. And here I was about to try to track down the mandobass that started the thread (still might want to do, that's history there). :D
Click to expand...

Sorry, bh; didn't mean to bring you down. I've got a 1971 Gretsch 6070 I paid too much for. It happens to the best of us. The first Regal Bassoguitar I saw for sale was from Mars Music in Florida,
maybe fifteen years ago give or take a couple. A refinish, and priced at $800 it was far too rich for my purse. But I did my research, was patient, and later on lucked into RBgs much more affordable. Nothing wrong with buying an instrument you badly want if you've got the scratch. And Bassoguitars so rarely come on the market now that, depending on condition, a couple Gs may not be so far over the line. Seize your opportunity and all that.

A Google Images search for mandobass will quickly reveal that Gibson by no means was the only player in the game. And if you have access to the GAL journal American Luthierie, couple years back there was a very informative article on mandobasses; no Bassoguitar, though.
 
#22
GretschWretch said:
Sorry, bh; didn't mean to bring you down. I've got a 1971 Gretsch 6070 I paid too much for. It happens to the best of us. The first Regal Bassoguitar I saw for sale was from Mars Music in Florida,
maybe fifteen years ago give or take a couple. A refinish, and priced at $800 it was far too rich for my purse. But I did my research, was patient, and later on lucked into RBgs much more affordable. Nothing wrong with buying an instrument you badly want if you've got the scratch. And Bassoguitars so rarely come on the market now that, depending on condition, a couple Gs may not be so far over the line. Seize your opportunity and all that.

A Google Images search for mandobass will quickly reveal that Gibson by no means was the only player in the game. And if you have access to the GAL journal American Luthierie, couple years back there was a very informative article on mandobasses; no Bassoguitar, though.
Click to expand...
Yeah, thanks, I've read up on mandobasses before, always found them interesting - along with pretty much all early Gibsons. I don't have access to the journal, I suppose one has to be a member or something? I'll look them up.
 
#23
You would have to be a member, but you may be able to get the article via interlibrary loan through your local public library, provided I can find the citation. I may have misspoke in my previous post. I will need to check issues of Bass World (International Society of Bassists).

I take it you have exhausted the web resources re mandobass?
 
#25
@bholder @GretschWretch:
(I also considered posting what follows in another thread since it's related to it and you two showed up there as well.)

Elsewhere on the forum, here and also here in response to a question by @Kevin Christianson, I've mentioned that some string manufacturers still sell mandobass sets:
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
another thread
Gretsch correctly noted how tensions are on the Herculean side with those (>95 lbs for the D'Addario E vs. ~70 of normal double bass strings); the Pyramid set appears to be significantly lighter, judging from gauges at least.

Thing is, since contrabass domras and balalaikas are relatively common in Russia and Ukraine, their strings aren't hard to find there, and some stores also ship internationally:
volkovroman75 | eBay
Prices are very reasonable. Balalaika gauges are fatter than domra sets, but the latter include a G string. Tensions would be lightish (<55 lbs per string I reckon), and lower than upright strings, but roundwound construction and wrapping material - copper or bronze - might compensate for floppiness volume-wise.

Anyway, just a thought.
 
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#26
GretschWretch said:
You would have to be a member, but you may be able to get the article via interlibrary loan through your local public library, provided I can find the citation. I may have misspoke in my previous post. I will need to check issues of Bass World (International Society of Bassists).

I take it you have exhausted the web resources re mandobass?
Click to expand...
There aren't a lot. It's a rare and obscure instrument. It was a bit of an internet obsession with me a few years back and I periodically look into to see if anything new has come up - it rarely does.

Re: Gibson and competiton.
Gibson and Vega were the big producers, but pretty much everyone big in the Mandolin game at the time produced a few.
However, it is Gibson which can claim responsibility for creating the instrument in an attempt to capitalize on the mandolin craze (which it also helped create).
There is at least one American Mandolin producer who'll make one for you nowadays, though I haven't been able to find him since the first time I found his website.
The Regal bass is MUCH louder due to the design and size. Wish someone made those nowadays.
 
#27
HaphAsSard said:
@bholder @GretschWretch:
(I also considered posting what follows in another thread since it's related to it and you two showed up there as well.)

Elsewhere on the forum, here and also here in response to a question by @Kevin Christianson, I've mentioned that some string manufacturers still sell mandobass sets:
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
another thread
Gretsch correctly noted how tensions are on the Herculean side with those (>95 lbs for the D'Addario E vs. ~70 of normal double bass strings); the Pyramid set appears to be significantly lighter, judging from gauges at least.

Thing is, since contrabass domras and balalaikas are relatively common in Russia and Ukraine, their strings aren't hard to find there, and some stores also ship internationally:
volkovroman75 | eBay
Prices are very reasonable. Balalaika gauges are fatter than domra sets, but the latter include a G string. Tensions would be lightish (<55 lbs per string I reckon), and lower than upright strings, but roundwound construction and wrapping material - copper or bronze - might compensate for floppiness volume-wise.

Anyway, just a thought.
Click to expand...
Oooh, thanks, I'll check those out, they may work well on my Bassoguitar!
 
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#28
danosix said:
There aren't a lot. It's a rare and obscure instrument. It was a bit of an internet obsession with me a few years back and I periodically look into to see if anything new has come up - it rarely does.

Re: Gibson and competiton.
Gibson and Vega were the big producers, but pretty much everyone big in the Mandolin game at the time produced a few.
However, it is Gibson which can claim responsibility for creating the instrument in an attempt to capitalize on the mandolin craze (which it also helped create).
There is at least one American Mandolin producer who'll make one for you nowadays, though I haven't been able to find him since the first time I found his website.
The Regal bass is MUCH louder due to the design and size. Wish someone made those nowadays.
Click to expand...
Cool, thanks, my interest in mandobasses just dropped rather a bit, since I have the Regal already. She's still not as loud as I would like, again, because it was built for higher tension strings than are currently easily available. I have GHS Crossovers on there now, still not quite enough to make that thick top sing. I keep looking for signs of stress to the instrument from the increased tension, and see nothing.
Edit: Correction: thanks to HaphHasSard, I'm going to try the mandobass strings, "Herculean tension" sounds just about right.
 
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#30
maybe 20 years ago there was a Gibson Mandocello at a local folk scene music store Homestead Picking Parlor. It's actually of a size you strap over your shoulder and play. At that time, one of the old timey folk duos in town -- Curtiss and Loretta -- Curtiss had one and I figured if Curtiss could afford one they couldn't be that expensive, so I asked the price -- $2000. And that was at least 20 years ago. I can't find any recent pictures of Curtiss and Loretta with that mandocello, so maybe his isn't in circulation any longer.
Mandocello is tuned in fifths C G D A -- just like a tenor guitar or banjo, but likely an octave lower.
 
#31
wrench45us said:
maybe 20 years ago there was a Gibson Mandocello at a local folk scene music store Homestead Picking Parlor. It's actually of a size you strap over your shoulder and play. At that time, one of the old timey folk duos in town -- Curtiss and Loretta -- Curtiss had one and I figured if Curtiss could afford one they couldn't be that expensive, so I asked the price -- $2000. And that was at least 20 years ago. I can't find any recent pictures of Curtiss and Loretta with that mandocello, so maybe his isn't in circulation any longer.
Mandocello is tuned in fifths C G D A -- just like a tenor guitar or banjo, but likely an octave lower.
Click to expand...

I tried a number of mandocellos at Mandolin Brothers about 15 years ago. I remember them having new Ovations, vintage Gibsons and a few others I've forgotten. I seem to recall most being around $2,000, but there may have been others priced higher and lower. I had no use for them at the time so I passed. Wish I had grabbed one.
 
#33
Here are my 1912 Mandobass and my Regal Bassoguitar both are fun to play, sound great with a piezo pickup.
DSCN0046.JPG
 
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#36
bholder said:
thanks to HaphHasSard, I'm going to try the mandobass strings, "Herculean tension" sounds just about right.
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My pleasure. Before you order them, or while waiting for them to arrive, you could tune up your Crossovers to a weird GCEbAb tuning and play it a bit just to get a feel of the tensions, not the tone or volume, you'll be getting. In case you feel it's too much for your fingers or the instrument, the Pyramid set might be the ticket.
(The Ukranian sets, as I said, will be much brighter than the GHS but move the top less, with unpredictable, to me, volume implications.)
 
#37
HaphAsSard said:
My pleasure. Before you order them, or while waiting for them to arrive, you could tune up your Crossovers to a weird GCEbAb tuning and play it a bit just to get a feel of the tensions, not the tone or volume, you'll be getting. In case you feel it's too much for your fingers or the instrument, the Pyramid set might be the ticket.
(The Ukranian sets, as I said, will be much brighter than the GHS but move the top less, with unpredictable, to me, volume implications.)
Click to expand...
Thanks, not a bad idea. I wish I had tension information on all these (well, I'll pass on them Ukranium ones, thanks). ;)
 
#39
bholder said:
Thanks, not a bad idea. I wish I had tension information on all these (well, I'll pass on them Ukranium ones, thanks). ;)
Click to expand...
Nothing on the La Bellas and Pyramids; as for the D'Addarios I get three different (but not overly so) sets of tension figures from the official [This invalid link has been removed], their tension chart (p. 12, bottom right) and the [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]; for reference, the Xovers are on page 8 of the GHS guide.
 

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