Forum - Banjo Ben Clark

Surprise Gift - Mandocello

#1

I thought I would share the surprise gift my wife got me…an Eastman MDC304 mandocello. When I say surprise, she knew I would go grab either my mandolin or her guitar after work and she just put the box on the floor in front of them and I had no idea.

We both enjoy listening to relaxing cello music and over the past year I have listened to a lot (daily) of Mike Marshall on mandocello. Moving from mandolin to this mandocello is comparable to playing basketball defense against me then trying to defend Shaquille O’Neal but I’m definitely learning.

I’m just trying to play some basic mandolin tunes (being from Louisiana, You Are My Sunshine was early upon putting a pick to the strings. I’m also just sounding out a lot of Christmas and traditional gospel tunes since those songs are so engrained in my mind.
So far my 4th finger is getting stronger and I think my hands are stretching out :slight_smile:

Posting a couple of pictures in the link…
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0e2fvx4wQt7cyic6q2BtYZlOQ

11 Likes
#2

That is awesome Stuart!! Congrats! Looking fwd to a video posted, with you playing that baby, and hearing how it sounds! Any ole song will do :slightly_smiling_face:!!

2 Likes
#3

Thanks @Simone I will post something in a soon.

2 Likes
#4

Wow, the mandocello’s a really unusual instrument, and I hope you enjoy it. I’ve seen only a few people in my life playing it, and it was awesome. As a person who can only play banjo, I’m always fascinated by people who can learn to play multiple instruments.
Actually, I think I know now what I want to give my brother for Christmas. I was thinking a lot about his gift, and a mandocello would be perfect because he wanted to learn to play something like this. I will make it a part of a bigger gift basket with sweets and give it to him. I hope he likes it because I don’t know what else to give him.

1 Like