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Here's a little extra something that I bet you wouldn't mind finding in your Christmas stocking this morning.

Via the Guitarz Facebook page Bryan has asked if we can shed any light on this diminutive G L Stiles 4-stringer which comes complete with its original case. He initially thought it was a tenor guitar, but says that it's "very small as well about half the size of a regular guitar". That's too small for a tenor, so I'd wager that this was intended as an electric mandolin and borrows Fender's idea of using just 4 strings instead of 4 courses of paired strings as on a traditional mandolin. As to any particular information about this mandolin, that's nigh-on impossible, I'm afraid, for during the 1960s and 1970s Gilbert Lee Stiles built a number of what were essentially one-off instruments from his workshop in Miami, Florida. It's highly possible that this mandolin is the only one that he made.

More pics:

G L Wilson

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