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A few nights ago there was a musical special on television about Ringo Starr playing a show at Nashville, Tennessee's Ryman Auditorium to celebrate the release of his latest recording, an album of original country songs. The show was called +++ Ringo & Friends at the Ryman +++. The show had many country acts singing songs released by the Beatles as well as past Ringo Starr singles. The line up of songs and artists was terrific. One of the artists played a mandolin with a parlor size acoustic guitar body. After a little research I found out the instrument can be called a +++ Guitar-bodied Bouzouki Mandolin +++ or Mandola. I just thought it was neat and wanted to share it with you.
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Yes, that is a cool instrument. A year or so ago I was looking for a mandola but I couldn't justify the cost so I grabbed a $70 (USD) mandolin. I still can't play it but it looks good hanging on my wall!
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Nobody calls it a bouzouki-mandolin except for Gold Tone. It’s a guitar shaped Irish Bouzouki. These have a shorter scale than the more familiar Greek Bouzouki It’s not a mandola. That’s a 15” scale instrument tuned like a viola. Very popular in mandolin orchestras 120 years ago, very few made today. My Gibson H-2 was made in 1911 and my Martin AA-K in 1927. Eastman still makes them and I sell one of these every three years or so. Trinity College Mandola Full disclosure: I’m an authorized dealer for Saga (Trinity College), The Music Link/AXL (Recording King & Loar) and Gold Tone. The most popular folk variant is the octave mandolin. I have been looking for the owner of one identical to this Flatiron Octave Mandolin that used to belong to Jethro Burns—I helped him pick it out when he lived nearby. I sold it and most of my other mandolins to a local store after my stroke but couldn’t find the paperwork verifying provenance signed by his brother-in-law Chet Atkins (Jethro and Chet married twin sisters). My wife found the letter in a box a couple years ago and I’d like to reunite it with the mandolin. I recorded one of the Beethoven Sonatinas on it around 1999—other three were played on regular mandolins. I still own my 1916 Gibson A-1 and 1900 Washburn and hope to pass them on to a grand child if I ever have any. I have some heirloom banjos as well.
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Mike, Thank you for the input. The Gold Tone BZ-1000 link was the only link I could find of a mandolin with a guitar body. Nice to know you represent them. The television show didn't show the head stock well enough to see the brand. According to the +++ concert set list +++ the artists sung a cover of the Beatles "What Goes On" with Billy Strings on guitar and singing backing vocal and Molly Tuttle singing lead. I'm pretty sure she was playing the mandolin with acoustic guitar body instrument on this song. The acoustic guitar body with Martin style head stock with four strings per side was what caught my eye even before they started playing. The acoustic body shape seems pretty rare. The credits for the backing band ran by so fast on the screen I couldn't see who the musicians were. Dennis Crouch, Paul Franklin (steel guitar), Jim Keltner (drums), David Mansfield, Mike Rojas, Daniel Tashian. Homer and Jethro were great comedians that were also serious jazz musicians. As a child I enjoyed their humor and as I grew older I learned to enjoy their music.
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There are two Martin dreadnaught guitars in that configuration, both owned by the same guy. We’ve been in touch. He tunes Chicago aka same as an 8 string baritone uke—like the top 4 of a guitar with the D and G in octaves. He’s a Nick Reynolds (Kingston Trio) fan who tuned his Martin tenor the same way.
Santa Cruz and many others make a guitar shaped Mando-Cello with a 24”–28” scale. There was one Lloyd Loar K-5 built in the early 1920s. Any of these can be strung the same. I wouldn’t because the MCs must have thicker tops.
I miss playing, big time. About 50% of my gigs were bass, elec and upright, while the rest were mandolin/guitar/banjo. Nowadays, the only instrument I play live is tapping on the glass of an iPad. I still record my other instruments through the strategic use of capos, tunings and recording technology.
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Growing up my main focus was drums. I learned a few guitar chords to play along with family or friends but was never that interested in it. I found out I liked bass and learned to play bass by using the top four strings of the guitar. Carrying around a guitar was a whole lot easier than carrying drums.  While I was in the military I discovered a family owned guitar factory that made $99 electric guitar Christmas special kits for Montgomery Ward and JC Penny. Off season the elder went to Russia, Canada and South America buying exotic wood for his personal line of guitars. He made good money making custom instruments for American GI's. He made a Fender Jazz bass clone with hand wound pickups and Japanese audio grade electrical components, a 12-string acoustic dreadnought and a six string acoustic dreadnought for me. I still have the 12-string but sold the other two when money was needed worse than the instruments. Even though I don't play guitar well I love to pick-up the 12 string and listen to it sing.
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Ask sales and support questions about Band-in-a-Box using natural language.
ChatPG's knowledge base includes the full Band-in-a-Box User Manual and sales information from the website.
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Band-in-a-Box 2026 for Mac Videos
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Update to Build 10 of RealBand® 2026 for Windows®!
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Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac® users: Build 904 now available!
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