Electric mandolin and "EM-8", with carved top bodies and four and eight strings respectively. Blue Star produces four and five string models under the name "Mandoblaster". Jbovier produces four and five string "EMC" electric mandolins, which resemble the Fender electric mandolins, and a four string "ELS" electric mandolin. EMC stands for Electric Mandocaster and ELS stands for Electric Leo Smith. The Eastwood Guitars manufactures solid body eight string electric mandolin under the name "Mandocaster". It has Telecaster resembling body, two single coil pickups and a pickup switch known from Stratocaster guitars. They also make "Mandocaster 12" which is actually an octave guitar.
Bluegrass mandolin Bluegrass mandolin Bluegrass mandolin is a style of mandolin playing most commonly heard in bluegrass bands. At the beginning of the twentieth century, mandolin orchestras were popular throughout North America. Large numbers of mandolins were sold, particularly by the Gibson Guitar Company, which manufactured and promoted a new type of flat-backed mandolin. After a time, the mandolin orchestra craze died out, but the mandolins remained. In the southern United States, they began to be used in the performance of traditional mountain folk music. At the end of the 1930s, a new musical genre which combined Scottish and Irish fiddle tunes,