# Octaves, Zouks, Citterns, Tenors and Electrics > CBOM >  kit coversion to mandocello

## PT66

Has anyone tried to convert a guitar kit to a mandocello? Sone one asked me to help them build a Grizzly steel string guitar kit. It might not take much to make it into a mandocello. What do you people think?

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## Andy Miller

Go for it!  You probably need to figure out how to brace it heavier for the added string tension, maybe look at some 12-strings.  You'll want to carve the neck down narrower, and obviously bridge and headstock will get changed.  I made a mandocello out of a Harmony archtop a while back, and it's being played regularly.  It's probably an easier task if you're starting from a kit not already committed to having 6 strings.

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## PT66

The Grizzly kit has the body already put together so changing the bracing would be difficult. Narrowing the neck will not be hard but the frets are already in the board so that might be tricky. If I use light enough strings I think it will hold up (cheap guitars are often over braced).

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