# Octaves, Zouks, Citterns, Tenors and Electrics > Four, Five and Eight-String Electrics >  1953 5 String Bigsby Mandolin

## Larry S Sherman

One of the coolest electric mandolins I've ever seen. Pretty sure I've seen threads on this but first time I've seen the video.



From the description: "_A rare piece made by the legendary Paul Bigsby. This mandolin was originally built for Glenn Tarver, a California fiddle player. After a decade of limited use, Traver sold the mandolin to his former bandmate, the renowned western swing musician, Tiny Moore. This is the last of 7 Bigsby mandolins that were made._"

Pics from Carter's Vintage:



Larry

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soliver

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## mrmando

Oh, I didn't know this was at Carter's now. At $40K it's almost affordable. 

If you count the Nudie renecked Kay mandolin and the three doubleneck guitar/mandolins, you _could_ make a case that Bigsby actually built eleven mandos ... but that would be a stretch. Seven is the correct number according to me, and I believe I'm the first one to collect photos & descriptions of all seven in one place.

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Larry S Sherman, 

RyanRussell

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## F-2 Dave

Well now I have another item to add to the bucket list. If I sold all of my stuff, and could borrow 40K, I could almost make that happen.

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## MikeEdgerton

Wasn't somebody making replicas of these in the last few years?

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## Spruce

> Wasn't somebody making replicas of these in the last few years?


A few wonderful copies were made by TK Smith, yes...
But he now has his own design...
Here's mine--a bench copy of the Tarver minus the Bigsby tailpiece:









...and I'll be the Tarver won't last long at 40K...

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billhay4, 

Bob Clark, 

F-2 Dave, 

Jeff Mando, 

Joey Anchors, 

John Eischen, 

Larry S Sherman, 

Mandocarver, 

MikeEdgerton, 

Rick Purcell, 

Rush Burkhardt, 

RyanRussell, 

Verne Andru

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## Pete Martin

Was the Tarver mando the one Tiny played, or did he have another Bigsby and just bought the Tarver as well?

That mando of Spruces is terrific.  I want to hear that thru my Vintage 47 amp!!  :Mandosmiley:

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## Spruce

> That mando of Spruces is terrific.  I want to hear that thru my Vintage 47 amp!!


You can borrow it for awhile if you want...
It needs to get scratched...    :Wink: 




> Was the Tarver mando the one Tiny played, or did he have another Bigsby and just bought the Tarver as well?


No, Tiny had his own, but also bought the Tarver, I think...
Here's Tiny's:

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## Pete Martin

Thought the Tarver looked different.  I got to play Tiny's mando a couple of times at Weiser in the early 80's.  Plus forgot about the pickguard...

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## Spruce

> I got to play Tiny's mando a couple of times at Weiser in the early 80's...


These things would be easy to build, except for one little thing--the pickups.
TK builds his own from the ground up, and they are _wonderful_...
The neck pup through an old Bogen amp is a dead-ringer for that iconic sound we hear on "Back to Back"...

I've been trying unsuccessfully for _years_ to get a chance to see (and take measurements) on Tiny's Bigsby (which now resides in Sacramento), to no avail...
But I now have 3-D plans in the form of TK's bench copy, which is spot-on to the original...

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## Tom Wright

I note that the Bigsby looks to have only 17 frets, which brings me to a point I have been considering posting on.

The shorter fingerboard allows the neck pickup to be farther from the bridge, which gets a better tone for that pickup, more bass and less like a weird-sounding treble pickup. I have two Buchanans, and I prefer one which is 17 frets instead of 18 for the other, because with identical pickups the shorter fingerboard makes for better pickup location.

My solid-body instruments are scaled-down emulations of guitars, basically, and have 20 frets. Neither gets the rich tone from the neck pickup than does the Buchanan, with identical make and model of pickup.

Has anyone considered this point? I experimented with pickup location when I ordered an EM-45 from Steve Ryder, for which I specified positions that would match the bridge and middle pickups from a Stratocaster. They sound fine, but still don't get to that great neck tone. Ditto my Almuse, although Pete fudged the proportions a bit to get a little more room for pushing the pickup farther from the bridge. On both I like the treble pickup not too close to the bridge---1.5" for the centerline. The bass pickups for both come in at around 3.75" from the bridge, as well as on the 18-fret Buchanan. The one I prefer has the soundhole pickup 4.5" from the bridge.

When I was testing a soundhole setup on my Buchanan, I tried both the near and far "sides"of the soundhole. The side closest to the fingerboard was the winner, with the other one just sounding peculiar. It may be my ears are so familiar with typical guitar tone that anything else is strange, but I believe guitar makers worked out those locations long ago, and not by accident. Gibson offered a bass guitar in the 70s called "The Grabber" which had a sliding pickup for locating it anywhere between the two extremes. That model vanished quickly.

Because the pickup cannot sense a harmonic whose node sits above the pickup (no movement there), and because the harmonics that make for timbre are spaced very closely, slight differences in location make for large differences in color. This also affects the single-coil as opposed to side-by-side pickups.

So, to discussions about the "Florida" and who needs those frets, anyway (hardly anyone*), I ask, why have more than 17? It was good enough for Tiny, and I love my rig. And they get in the way of better tone when locating that mag pickup.

*OK, Calace and so on.

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DaveMorehouse, 

Spruce

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## Spruce

> I ask, why have more than 17? It was good enough for Tiny, and I love my rig. And they get in the way of better tone when locating that mag pickup.


Yep...
The neck pup--and it's positioning--is where it's at when trying to get "that" Tiny Tone...

...and check out this page for all the info you could ever want on Bigsby mandolins--including some _amazing_ photos...

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## F-2 Dave

Didn't Joel Eckhaus make a five string that was based somewhat on he Bigsby design? Seems like I remember one for sale a couple of years ago, either in the classifieds or on e-mando. I don't remember what pickups it had.

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## CWRoyds

I am assuming that this is the same mandolin. 
Sounds pretty amazing in this video. 
Those pickups are magic
I also love the wear on the fretboard.

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## Spruce

> Didn't Joel Eckhaus make a five string that was based somewhat on he Bigsby design? Seems like I remember one for sale a couple of years ago, either in the classifieds or on e-mando. I don't remember what pickups it had.


Yep...
"Based somewhat" is a good description...
Cool looking instrument...



Check out the design that TK Smith came up with for his new 5-string mandolin...
Pretty cool...
Here tis....

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## F-2 Dave

That's the one. I was wanting a five string at the time and remember spending a good bit of time trying to justify buying it based on looks alone. In the end, I ended up getting a little Fender 5 string. Entry level, but it was enough to scratch the itch for a while. That TK Smith is pretty spiffy. Your Smith is very cool as well. Is that a reissue brown reverb unit?

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## Jim Garber

I bought a Roberts Tiny Moore model in the 1980s directly from Tiny. Sounded pretty good in his hands. I sold it a few years ago. I believe that Barry Mitterhoff had one too.

Btw there was and still might be a ten string Bigsby at Retrofret.

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## Spruce

> Is that a reissue brown reverb unit?


Nope...    :Wink: 

The back of the Tarver...is this sexy or what?

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## Pete Martin

As for pickups, I just had a Lollar Charlie Christian installed and it sounds great.  It would be a good option for someone looking for a vintage jazz sound.

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## mrmando

Yeah, I had that Earnest for a while; seriously cool in its own right but more of a tribute than a copy. IIRC it now lives in Australia.

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## clem

They are cool from a looks standpoint, historic due to the Tiny Moore connection AND Bigsby (meaning very collectible) BUT the Michael Stevens built "Paul Glasse" model electric mandolin is the finest musical instrument for playing and sounds.

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## Spruce

Here's a link to Michael's mandolin...
At $8,500 it _better_ be good...    :Wink:

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## Matt

Hello All, Unrelated but seeing mrmando's reply reminds me of the wonderful Old Town EM-200 I bought from him several years ago. Thanks again Martin!

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## Mark Seale

> Here's a link to Michael's mandolin...
> At $8,500 it _better_ be good...


Check out the recently shipped.  The variation there is a CC pickup with a spruce top.  I'm in lust.

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## mandroid

A Pole for each of the Lower 2 strings and a bar  for the magnet for  the Higher 3, 
 is a different way Of making the Pickup.

 :Coffee:  :Coffee:

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## mando1man

Score! I got the "Tarver" Bigsby Mandolin from Carter's Vintage Guitars. It's an incredible instrument.

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David Rambo, 

Jim Garber, 

John Soper, 

Mark Seale, 

Scott Tichenor, 

Verne Andru

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## F-2 Dave

Score indeed. Congratulations. I was hoping to look at it when I'm in Nashville in a couple of weeks. I wasn't looking to buy, just looking.

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## mando1man

Thanks Dave, I made a video of the mandolin.

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billhay4, 

Bob Bass, 

GarY Nava, 

lenf12

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## GarY Nava

Great video- thanks for posting

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## pglasse

Congrats on getting a great one! 1953, one year after Tiny's was made. Enjoy!

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## lenf12

Totally wonderful and I love the iconic Bigsby whammy bar, not at all like Leo's.

Len B.
Clearwater, FL

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## Verne Andru

What would be the chances of getting Eastwood to do a crowd-funder on one of these?

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## Joel Glassman

Yes--I completely agree. My "Hampstercaster" below has 15 frets and a Bartolini guitar humbucker.
A pickup next to the bridge would capture the string where it is barely vibrating. Its sounds "plinky".
A pickup next to the fingerboard [especially if there are only 15-17 frets] captures the string where
it is more fully vibrating. Better tone. I spent some time with Tiny Moore. He rarely played above
a violin 3rd position -- a scale beginning with the first finger on the 5th fret, and used the bridge pickup. The flip side of the coin is Ricky Skaggs' Glaser mandocaster which has about 30 frets. Never thought much of his tone, but it has that soprano Telecaster sound I guess he was after.






> I note that the Bigsby looks to have only 17 frets, which brings me to a point I have been considering posting on.
> 
> The shorter fingerboard allows the neck pickup to be farther from the bridge, which gets a better tone for that pickup, more bass and less like a weird-sounding treble pickup. I have two Buchanans, and I prefer one which is 17 frets instead of 18 for the other, because with identical pickups the shorter fingerboard makes for better pickup location.
> 
> My solid-body instruments are scaled-down emulations of guitars, basically, and have 20 frets. Neither gets the rich tone from the neck pickup than does the Buchanan, with identical make and model of pickup.
> 
> Has anyone considered this point? I experimented with pickup location when I ordered an EM-45 from Steve Ryder, for which I specified positions that would match the bridge and middle pickups from a Stratocaster. They sound fine, but still don't get to that great neck tone. Ditto my Almuse, although Pete fudged the proportions a bit to get a little more room for pushing the pickup farther from the bridge. On both I like the treble pickup not too close to the bridge---1.5" for the centerline. The bass pickups for both come in at around 3.75" from the bridge, as well as on the 18-fret Buchanan. The one I prefer has the soundhole pickup 4.5" from the bridge....
> 
> So, to discussions about the "Florida" and who needs those frets, anyway (hardly anyone*), I ask, why have more than 17? It was good enough for Tiny, and I love my rig. And they get in the way of better tone when locating that mag pickup.
> ...

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## Joel Glassman

deleted --wrong thread--

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