You may have searched the web for an Eastwood mando-guitar after seeing something like it at your local musical instrument shop, on YouTube, or hearing about it elsewhere.
But does Eastwood make a mando-guitar?
Yes! Eastwood makes the Mandocaster 12 which is a 12-string electric mando-guitar. Eastwood also makes a Mandocaster which is an electric mandolin with some guitar-like qualities, but it technically isn’t a mando-guitar.
I reserve the term “mando-guitar” for a hybrid between a guitar and a mandolin with six or 12 strings tuned in the same intervals as a guitar but up one octave to be in the same tonal range as a mandolin.
The tuning on a mando-guitar gives guitarists the ability to play the same notes and chord shapes on the mando-guitar as they would on a guitar.
You can learn more about the mando-guitar in my post about it here.
Eastwood’s electric mandolin called the Mandocaster is not a mando-guitar because it has eight strings tuned in pairs in the standard tuning of the mandolin.
In other words, the Mandocaster is an electric mandolin with a body-style similar to a Stratocaster.
So a mandolin player would be able to play all the same notes and chords on this instrument but a guitarist wouldn’t be able to play the same guitar notes and chords on the Mandocaster.
This instrument’s Stratocaster body is similar to a miniature Stratocaster guitar and unlike the mandolin’s traditional F or A-shaped body.
About Eastwood Guitars
Eastwood Guitars was founded in 2001 and is based in Brampton, Ontario, Canada.
They specialize in custom and vintage-style guitars, basses, and novelty instruments.
You can find the Mandocaster electric mandolin on their website here and the Mandocaster 12 electric 12-string mando-guitar on their site here.
Eastwood also features a custom projects section on their website where you can crowdfund new instruments they are making or planning on making.
The Eastwood Mandocaster Features
Like I mentioned above, the Eastwood Mandocaster has the standard tuning of a mandolin: GGDDAAEE.
You can get a sense of this instrument and its sound in the video below.
The Eastwood instrument is obviously electric, and has two single coil pickups which a player can switch between.
As far as the woods are concerned, the body is alder while the neck is maple with a rosewood fingerboard.
As I’ve said in other posts, this mimics almost exactly the way Fender manufactures its Stratocaster guitars dating all the way back to the 1960s.
The actual look of the instrument itself imitates the body shape of a Fender Telecaster.
And when ordered in sunburst paint, it looks just like a mini Tele!
I’ve also said in other posts that Fender instruments are among some of the most influential and copied electric instruments ever.
This is concrete evidence of that statement!
As far as playability of the instrument goes, here’s a video of someone playing their Eastwood Mandocaster.
The Eastwood Mandocaster 12
The Eastwood Mandocaster 12 has most of the same features as the standard Mandocaster except of course that this instrument is a mando-guitar, not a mandolin.
You can get a sense for the sound of the Mandocaster 12 in the video below.
Conclusion
The Eastwood Mandocaster is a generally affordable instrument (check the latest pricing on their website).
With the single-coil pickups, it makes for a well-balanced and clear-sounding instrument.
I personally like the look of this instrument in the sunburst finish.
But in case it isn’t obvious, I also have a heavy bias towards Fender instruments!
What do you think of this instrument?
The look, the price, the manufacturing, the sound?
Let me know in the comments!
Happy playing!
