Highland Octave Mandolin

[exfish]

I encountered this odd duck at the Old Songs festival in upstate NY this summer, in Todd Crowley's musical petting zoo. The "zookeeper" had very little information about it, and it's been highly resistant to Googling. Definitely a modern instrument—it had onboard electronics (you can just see the controls on the upper shoulder). The only identifying marks are the highland logo on the headstock. It had a pretty sweet sound and I lovel the wacky design. Anybody here ever seen its like?

[Steve Sorensen]

Thanks for posting the picture. Interesting.
Steve

[Bertram Henze]

Very strange. And in proper company - that seems to be a Deering Goodtime 17-fret on the right, but what is that on the left? A tenor guitar with a zouk body?

This looks like one of those collections I sometimes see in my nightmares (literally) - instruments with the sole purpose of confusing the audience rather than pleasing them.