1953 5 String Bigsby Mandolin played by Chris Scruggs

A rare piece made by the legendary Paul Bigsby. This mandolin was originally built for Glenn Tarver, a California fiddle player. After a decade of limited use, Traver sold the mandolin to his former bandmate, the renowned western swing musician, Tiny Moore. This is the last of 7 Bigsby mandolins that were made.
Chris Scruggs plugged this rare mandolin into a mint Gibson EH-150 amplifier. We mic'd the amp with a Cascade Fat Head BE and the room with a Shure MV88

[@CHRISTILYNNLICIOUS]

This makes me so happy. Glenn Tarver was my great uncle, my Memaw’s brother. ❤️

[@user-et2fj8xm5l]

I had a mema too. Aren’t they wonderful..

[@swistone]

Man is there any instrument this guy doesn't play the crap out of? Pretty amazing player and instrument.

[@bubbatheking9225]

And Tiny played that bad boy! Thanks WC and CS!

[@stuffezesvintageshop3085]

very cool history and it is really nice looking; sound is great too.

[@karst41]

if Chris Is a pickin I am a listenin

[@RockStarOscarStern634]

It's basically an Electrified 5 string version of the Cremonese Mandolin

[@jimclarke1108]

Excellent

[@Daniel71molgrand]

Cool!

[@phlattgetit]

Wish he had demonstrated the bridge pick-up as well.

[@user-et2fj8xm5l]

Is there anything Mr Scruggs can’t do??

[@thelonglife5772]

Perfect guy to shoe off that thing .

[@RockStarOscarStern634]

Carter Vintage Guitars It has a Vibrato Lever.

[@MrErdner]

Is that really a mandolin, or is it a soprano guitar? Don't mandolins have to have courses of dual strings to be mandolins? I'm not saying it isn't a great sounding, or historic instrument. But isn't calling it a "mandolin" something of a misnomer?

[@billsdubious]

There isn’t a rule that mandolins have to have double-string courses. Electric mandolins commonly have 4 strings, sometimes 5 as here. What makes it a mandolin is that it is a small-bodied fretted instrument tuned to fifths with a scale length within a thumb’s width of 14”. Of course there are “large-body” mandolins-part of the fun is the variety. Because really, if you can pick it up and play it like a mandolin, it’s a mandolin. It’s no more a guitar than it is a sitar.

[@78tag]

Hi George - I think ol' Matthew took it a bit far but point well made. I'm glad you asked this question. I stopped playing the uke because the tone is not to my liking. Now I'm thinking about re-tuning it to fifths and listen in a different way. If nothing else it will possibly start me down the mandolin path.

[@ckillgore]

Matthew here makes some great point, but if you want to avoid the technical and philosophy argument, and just know why colloquially these types of electric instruments that don't have dual courses are known as mandolins and not soprano guitars (which I guess would technically be accurate?) it is because of the scale length. So think about a mandola vs a tenor guitar. They are tuned exactly the same, and produce the same notes. A mandola will usually have a scale length of 17"-19", whereas a tenor guitar can go as high as 23". This is because the tenor guitar is trying to mimic a banjo neck, and the mandola is mimicking the scale length of a viola. If you had an electric mandola (which exist), and you set it up to use four strings instead of 8 (which people do), it would not immediately become a tenor guitar. The notes that they produce are the same, but they have different scales lengths. The reason they are able to produce the same notes with different scale lengths has to do with the gauges of the strings if you're curious. So a soprano guitar, which do exist, don't have the same scale length, the same string gauges, or even the same tuning. Although a tenor is tuned in fifths, turns out soprano guitars are tuned A D G C D A. Ultimately, the answer lies in the origins of the instrument. The reason scale lengths and string gauges differ is because of the history of the instrument, and how they came to be. The name is tied to the instrument to indicate to someone who might want to play it, why it is built the way it is. So this is called a mandolin to tell the player, this is meant to emulate a violin, and that classical Italian mandolin music and Irish fiddle tunes will be easiest to play on it, especially if you are coming from playing the fiddle or the violin. I mean there's a great example right there, whats the difference between a fiddle and violin? The history, where it is made, what it is used for. It's all context, whether historical, or practical.

[@valbastiancontraio2795]

@Matthew Apsey The fact that there aren't doesn't mean that there shouldn't there should be a more scientific way of naming instruments , a tiger isn't a striped lion and a man isn't a longlegged hairless monkey , if an instrument doesn't fit 3/4 of the defining features of its prototype should change its name or add something to it , that's why we call an electric guitar electric guitar

[@dukeofearlbanjo]

Most electric mandolins have either 4 or 5 strings. If its a fretted and plucked instrument tuned like a violin, its a mandolin. Is a violin has five strings, isn't it still a violin?

[@Barry101er]

Cat’s pajamas!

[@melozxc]

How much is a Bigsby EM?

[@rockinredneck57]

Probably along the lines of, If you have to ask, you can't afford it. It's one of a kind and a beautiful instrument.

[@curbmassa]

I may have seen this at a guitar show. In any case, it was a 5-string Bigsby and it was $50,000. That's $10,000/string.