Bellflower 5 String Model Hollow Body Electric Mandolin (2025), made in China, natural finish, maple body and neck, rosewood fingerboard, original tweed hard shell case.
This instrument is a nifty modern re-creation of the Roberts electric mandolins Western Swing legend Tiny Moore had built for sale during the 1970s and '80s in emulation of his original 1950s Bigsby instrument. The single-course 5-string hybrid mandola/mandolin layout (tuned CGDAE) was Tiny's preference, with a 14 1/2" scale length just slightly longer than the standard Gibson mandolin. Tiny played superb hot swing on his instruments, often in harmony with the guitar and preferred the single stringing to the naturally chorused coursed mandolin sound for this style.
The Bellflower Mandolin is patterned on Moore's design, built on a chambered body made of Queensland maple with a natural-finished bird's eye veneer top; this was P.A. Bigsby's look of choice. The neck is made of the same material, with a bound Indonesian rosewood fingerboard and Bigsby-style headstock. The wood body and neck are fashioned in China, the custom bridge machined in Albuquerque, NM and the custom tailpiece cast in Los Angeles.
This upgraded model has two of the company's custom wound P-90 style pickups, designed by Bellflower and hand-wound in Indonesia to vintage specs. The neck pickup measures 6.3k ohms and the bridge 8.0k to achieve a balanced sound for their respective positions. They offer a clear, full, bell-like tone adding an extra range to the instrument. These pickups are only currently available from Bellflower as an add-on and have been custom fitted to this instrument. They are wired to volume and tone controls topped by vintage Harmony-styled "cupcake" knobs and a 3-way pickup selector.
This is a fun instrument to play; for the experienced mandolinist the 5-string layout takes a bit of adapting to but is quite versatile once mastered. Bellflower has done a nice job bringing the "Tiny" instrument back, and at a very affordable price point allowing players to experiment with this design without a big dollar outlay. This one has a noticeable richer sound than their standard model with firebird-style pickups and includes a custom-fitted tweed hardshell case.
Overall length is 28 3/8 in. (72.1 cm.), 11 in. (27.9 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 1 9/16 in. (4 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 14 1/2 in. (368 mm.). Width of nut is 1 5/8 in. (41 mm.).
This is essentially an unplayed instrument showiung just the tiniest bit of handling wear. It has had a shop setup here to optimize playability and comes in the original tweed HSC. Excellent + Condition.
