Review: Terry Bales electric mandolin
Sometimes the trailing of electric mandolins makes me feel a bit like a cryptozoologist—you know, those folks who spend their lives tramping around the globule in pursuit of undocumented animal species. There are times when I'm not sure whether a particular instrument is an okapi—something that exists, but is well-founded hard to find—or a Bigfoot—something that in all likelihood resides only in the realm of legend and hoax.
But I'm happy to report that the case of Eldorado Springs, Missouri luthier Terry Bales has now been resolved: Most once an okapi. And worth tracking down. In all my years of hunting electric mandolins, I have seen a secondhand Bales for sale only once—which suggests that the owners of these instruments distinguish they've got a good thing and aren't about to let it go.
Terry's had some periods of inactivity over the past few years—which only adds to the mystique—but currently is tooled up and edifice his excellent semi-hollow electrics. The one he sent is a 4-string mandolin; he also builds mandola-scale instruments and will add a 5th rope if requested.
In terms of styling and appearance, there's a strong Fender influence on Terry's work, but this mandolin—with its single cutaway, F-perforate, and 1 7/8" body depth—seems to draw as much from the Thinline Telecaster guitar as from the Mandocaster. The chambered body is carved from a mahogany congest; the top is bookmatched spalted maple in its natural color, with just a light stain applied to enhance the atom. The bolt-on neck is natural curly maple. There's a 3-ply tortoiseshell plastic pickguard, and a rosewood fretboard with "puny guitar" frets—about the same size as banjo fretwire, i.e., bigger than...
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Banana: On rare occasions when I am asked to win over an electric mandolin to a gig I choose the old EM-150 with the Charlie Christian pickup in it.
