What kind of instrument?

[Spotcheck Billy]

I went to a concert the other night and listened to some country swing by a band called the Tulsa Playboys. They are in the tradition of Bob Wills. Nice big band and they could swing quite well. They had a guitar player with a Tele who seemed content in the rhythm section but had another musician playing a guitar-mandolin sort of thing who did lots of lead breaks. It was a hollow-body electric (with only 4 strings) and it had a Florentine cut-away. The sides were a beautiful figured maple and the instrument was finished in a natural finish. The headstock was symmetrical (two tuners per side) and had a capital B logo. The body had f-holes and a fairly small size. I think it was a bit larger than a mandolin and had a longer scale than an octave guitar but I had never seen anything like it before. Can anyone pin it down based on this description?

 

[mountainwhimsy]

This one? Off their FB page. Electric Ukulele of some sort?

 

[VictorB]

From their bio:

Shelby Eicher - fiddle,
Rick Morton - fiddle,
Steve Bagsby - steel guitar,
Spencer Sutton - piano,
Mike Bennett - trumpet,
Steve Ham - trombone,
Rodney Lay - bass,
Jared Johnson - drums,
Danny McBride - standard guitar,
Evan Alexander - fiddle and Isaac Eicher - electric mandolin.

 

[pfox14]

Well, technically an electric mandolin should have 8 strings, not 4.

 

[madebydave]

Well, technically an electric mandolin should have 8 strings, not 4.

So, I would call it an electric uke, or electric tenor guitar.

 

[Spotcheck Billy]

That is the very one. Either an electric uke or a tenor guitar? I would vote for the tenor, myself, after reflection. Thanks for that. Now, what is the brand? I am not going to rush out and buy one, just curiosity killing this old cat.

And I did see that they had an FB page but my place of employment blocks access to certain content and that is part of the package.