1960's Jackson Guldan Octave Mandolin / Double Irish Tenor Guitar - Bouzouki

      Jackson Guldan Musical Co was based in Columbus, Ohio - made a whole lot of violins and some very well constructed parlor sized guitars that had a unique neck setup.  The neck angle can be adjusted anytime by turning an inset screw at the neckjoint. With that adjustable neck, a 24" scale and trapeze tailpiece it makes it a good choice for an octave mandolin conversion.

    I've put on new locking tuners, a new tailpiece, new bone nut and modified the bridge for eight strings. The string height at the 12th fret is set at 1/8" bass side - 3/32" treble side, and it plays well there up and down the fingerboard.

    Tuned to play in standard G-D-A-E, the string pairings are:

47-47 30-30 17-17 10-10

     The tuning is in fifths, like a violin. If you've played tenor guitar or mandocello then chording this is like cake to pick up. -- If you ever gave up on a mandocello this one is a lot easier to handle - especially the bass pair.
    The acoustic quality is simply outstanding. Push it hard on rhythm and it hangs with any dreadnought - and the sustain just goes on and on at the end of a note.  

Ships in a new padded gig bag.

    I've posted a sample on Soundcloud under ClaytonAudio

soundcloud.com/claytonaudio/art-pro-channel-test3-octave-mandolin-1

  Length                              -                36"
Scale                                 -               24 1/4"
Lower bout                    -                   13 "
Upper bout                      -                9 3/8"

Nut            -             1 5/8"
Weight     -              4.5 lbs