Eastman MDC805 F-Hole Mandocello New

This Eastman MDC805 has a carved solid Spruce top with f-holes and flamed, solid carved Maple back and sides. It has a 25″ scale length, a 1 3/4″ bone nut, and a 12″ radiused Ebony fingerboard. The body is accented with full Ivoroid binding. It’s finished in nitrocellulose lacquer with a rich, ruby red color. To our ears, this version with f-holes has a slightly brighter, more focused tone than the MDC804, which is the same size but has a single oval soundhole.

The Eastman MDC805 Mandocello is a wonderful instrument that is almost too much fun to play. In case you haven’t seen one before, the mandocello is to the mandolin what a cello is to a violin. They are tuned in fifths to CC-GG-dd-aa, one octave down from the more common mandola. For an obscure member of the mandolin family, the mandocello has made a few surprising appearances in recent years. Cheap Trick’s Rick Neilson wrote a song called Mandocello, which he plays on a solid body electric version of the instrument and Bon Jovi’s Richie Sambora and Drive By Truckers’ Patterson Hood have both recorded with them.