I thin k it should be a Rickenfaker, 4003 shape but with a hollow body. Nice big slash ‘f’ hole like the 360. Try a piezo pickup bridge like the Fishman to give it an alternative sound to what e er magnetic pickup grabs your fancy!
Me too! Having struggled with the close spacing of a mandolin, it’s a big jump down from basses, I bought an Octave Mandola which tunes the same but is a lot more comfortable spacing. I’m on my second a hand made maple backed one by Robin Greenwood who has a workshop near Poole in Dorset. Lovely instrument.
Love the look of them, but like FinnDave, don’t think I could handle 30” scale, and I think they have incredibly skinny necks, perhaps not quite as thin as the Framus Bill Wyman used to play but pretty close!
I wonder the author of the “History” hasn’t published an updated version. They has been quite a bit of innovation in the last 17 years - Jaguar bass, Dimension, Rascal to mention just a few. Time someone wrote a new one.
I wasn’t excited, I thought the price was unbelievably cheap and probably a load of nasty Chinese junk, but interesting to show others what’s out there!