• Eastwood Announces Crowdfunded Airline H35 Batwing Electric Mandolin

    Eastwood H35 Batwing Electric Mandolin

    BRAMPTON, CANADA — Eastwood and Airline Guitars has announced the availability of their new H35 Batwing Electric Mandolin. In order to create the line the company is requesting 16 pre-order deposits of $100 (final retail price is $499) in order to begin manufacturing.

    As of the date of this news release, three of the 16 orders necessary had been acquired. A left-handed model will also be offered with eight pre-orders required in order to proceed with their manufacture.

    Eastwood's website provides insight into their creation:

    If you're familiar with our Airline Series, then you already know we're massive fans of Harmony and their guitars of the '50s and '60s. But perhaps one of their most unique and eye-catching models was no guitar at all: the H35 "Batwing" Mandolin!

    The Batwing maintains the elegance of a traditional F-Style mandolin, but trades the curves for a sharper and more distinctive look. Originals were designed as an archtop hollow body, but their massive neck block detracted from nearly all gains in that regard. Rather than match this detail, we're making a couple of key changes to our tribute Batwing to further cement it as a true player's electric mandolin.

    The Airline H35 Batwing will feature a flat-top, tone-chambered body for weight relief and added resonance. It will be equipped with a fixed hard-tail bridge with fully-adjustable saddles for each string pair, and a single humbucking pickup to make dialing in your ideal tone a breeze. Just plug in, and play!

    Features

    • Body: Bound, Tone-Chambered Basswood
    • Neck: Maple, Bolt-on
    • Fingerboard: Bound Rosewood
    • Scale Length: 14" (351mm)
    • Width at the Nut: 1 1/8" (28.5mm)
    • Frets: 18 Full, 2 partial
    • Pickups: Single Mini-Humbucker
    • Controls: Volume, Tone
    • Bridge: Fully adjustable Tele-Style bridge
    • Hardware: Nickel/Chrome
    • Strings: Both Both E- .010 / A- .014 / D- .024 / G- .034
    • Average Weight: 5.0 lbs.

    Additional Information

    Comments 11 Comments
    1. mrmando's Avatar
      mrmando -
      Oh my oh me!

      Gonna feel a lot different from a Harmony original, since those have floating bridges. But you can't deny that this is a looker.
    1. Verne Andru's Avatar
      Verne Andru -
      Looking good. Nice take on a classic.
    1. tmsweeney's Avatar
      tmsweeney -
      well it is somewhat less expensive than a vintage harmony batwing, and I really don't like the bridge/tail piece setup on those (I have a non electric one) already satisfied with Eastwood quality (I have the octave) so I ordered a green one.
    1. Mandolin Cafe's Avatar
      Mandolin Cafe -
      In case someone is looking for a left-handed model, also a similar program but they only need eight pre-orders. Those are found here.
    1. EdHanrahan's Avatar
      EdHanrahan -
      I bit... Yes, green! They're already over the minimum subscription for right-hand. Still need 5 more left-hand (as of 3/25 @ 2pm).
    1. stevemo's Avatar
      stevemo -
      Wasn’t the pickup one of the elements that made the Batwing cool?
    1. MikeEdgerton's Avatar
      MikeEdgerton -
      Quote Originally Posted by stevemo View Post
      Wasn’t the pickup one of the elements that made the Batwing cool?
      The only things that made a Harmony Batwing cool were the way they looked and who played them. If you were looking for sound or playability you might want to go elsewhere. This looks to me like you could get the best of the old part and a chance at a decent instrument while you were at it.
    1. Mandolin Cafe's Avatar
      Mandolin Cafe -
      Here's a related project being crowdfunded: the Eastwood Teleolin, mandolin and guitar. Someone on Instagram commented this should be mandolin and octave or mandocello to which we can only concur.

      Attachment 206843
    1. Verne Andru's Avatar
      Verne Andru -
      Quote Originally Posted by MikeEdgerton View Post
      The only things that made a Harmony Batwing cool were the way they looked and who played them. If you were looking for sound or playability you might want to go elsewhere. This looks to me like you could get the best of the old part and a chance at a decent instrument while you were at it.
      The main thing going for Batwings was they were an electric mandolin that was relatively available and affordable when there were few choices. Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones using one live certainly helped it's legacy.

      The pickups were typical of the era and likely from Valco - under-wound single-coils without wax potting. They were electronically noisy with low output that squealed with any amount of gain.

      These Eastwood's look to have a mini-humbucker, which is a definite step-up.
    1. tmsweeney's Avatar
      tmsweeney -
      I inquired on the Eastwood Web site, they are talking delivery in October of 23, though I wouldn't call that a formal announcement
    1. Verne Andru's Avatar
      Verne Andru -
      Quote Originally Posted by Mandolin Cafe View Post
      Here's a related project being crowdfunded: the Eastwood Teleolin, mandolin and guitar. Someone on Instagram commented this should be mandolin and octave or mandocello to which we can only concur.

      Attachment 206843
      Is this the final headstock set up? I've seen numerous variations over the life of this project so it would be nice to know what is actually shipping.

      A mando/octave would be nice to see as an another SKU but I think the broader appeal is as-is - i.e. guitar players who do the occasional mandolin part for songs like Maggie May but need the guitar most of the time. I've known several guitar players who buy a mandolin for just one song - usually Maggie May.

      An HH option for the guitar side would broaden the appeal beyond tele players. I understand the design argument for basing this on a telecaster body, but there is a ton of music that pickup configuration doesn't do as well as a couple of humbuckers.