# RSS News Feeds > RSS News Feeds >  Fender announces Mando-Strat electric mandolin

## NewsFetcher

JazzMando What's New - Here we go, less than two weeks from the *Winter NAMM* show we get our first surprise entry in the "What's New" department. Leading guitar manufacturer *Fender* has just announced an import knock-off of their legendary classic *mandocaster* (although it was never officially called that), the *Mando-Strat electric mandolin*. We saw a few of these made for the European market a decade ago (*SB-4, FM-984*) and scratched our heads trying to figure why they wouldn't release these in the US. 
_About time!_ Especially with the market departure of the *Epiphone Mandobird*, and the  JBovier EMC, the market is in need of a quality mass production instrument. They are showing these in one color only, and typical of the other import instruments, highly unlikely to offer the classic Fender finishes *Sea Foam Green*, *Candy Apple Red* initially._ (We hope they'll eventually come to their senses soon about color. Heaven knows our readership would be actively interested...)_
We've been pretty impressed with price and value of the import electro-acoustic mandolins, including the Robert Schmidt model introduced last winter, and expect this one will be a good deal for the money. We won't know the street price for a while, but at *$399 MSRP*, we can expect something in the lower *$200s*. 
We'll be venturing out to *NAMM* camera in tote, even have an appointment already booked with the Fender folks, so we hope to bring you more news and hands-on evaluation at that time. Meantime, check the video demonstration below and read up on their specs.

*From the Fender Website:* 
_"The classic Fender electric mandolin returns as the new Mando-Strat. This highly distinctive and charmingly diminutive instrument evokes the Fender electric four-string mandolins of the 1950s and '60s, with an updated and improved design for modern players.
The distinctive shape and chiming tone of Fender's late-'50s electric mandolin are back, with features including a solid alder body, 13.78" scale, "C"-shaped maple neck with 24-fret rosewood fingerboard, and specially designed pickup with volume and tone controls. Other features include a vintage-style bridge with chrome plate made on the actual machine used to produce the original parts half a century ago, three-ply tortoise shell pickguard, vintage-style tuners, and chrome hardware"_
*Specs:*
White dot position inlays, three-ply tortoiseshell pickguard, knurled chrome flat-top control knobs, synthetic bone nut
Back, Sides, & Top: Alder
Neck Shape: "C" Shape 
Number of Frets: 24
Position Inlays: Dot
Fingerboard Radius: 7.25" (18.41 cm)
Fingerboard: Rosewood
Neck Material: Maple
Nut Width: 1.18" (30 mm)
Scale Length: 13.78" (350 mm)
Neck Plate: 4-Bolt
Fender Designed Bridge Pickup
Bridge: Vintage-Style Adjustable with 2 Threaded Brass Barrel Saddles
Strings: Ball End .011, .016, .026w, .036w

Video Demo



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