Gretsch inspired mando

[teb]

I thought this was pretty cool. My brother plays mandolin and has most of them built by a small-shop custom builder in Nashville named Jon Mann. I guess one of Jon's customers wanted something that looked Gretch-ish, so he's building them this one. Neck-through, hollow body. Jon sent my brother a couple photos and said "Here tis, going to have two mini hums, 1 volume (on cutaway) and one switch (one upper shoulder)...maybe Gretsch style pg also."

I don't know what color it will be, but the dark walnut, Gretch orange or maybe even Falcon white would be pretty cool. I guess the hole for tuner #4 wasn't drilled yet. Pretty slick, especially when you consider how small these things are.

[Zurdo]

but having humbs will make it sound like an electric Gibson guitar not a mando ?? wouldn't a Fishman or similar be better? (before he cuts the holes for the humbs, which would be a crime imho).

in fact, I just learned about a Tune-a-Matic style bridge which has built-in acoustic pickup saddles, one per string, and a circuit board.