The Mandocello is by far the least expensive instrument of its type available from ANY manufacturer, but boasts deluxe features not offered anywhere else. These include the patented Zero Glide nut and a Venetian-style cutaway body. The Mandocello also features a dual pickup system, which includes a jazz-style floating humbucker pickup, and a transducer pickup in the bridge (with a volume control knob and a knob for blending the two pickups), providing a superb plugged-in tone. The Mandocello has a maple back and sides and solid spruce top and is fitted with an adjustable ebony bridge, a pakkawood tailpiece and a two-way adjustable truss rod. All of this, AND a hard-shell case is included in the price! The Mandocello continues the expansion of Gold Tone's innovative "Folkternative" initiative, aimed squarely at providing amateur and professional players with the widest selection of plucked instruments in the world at affordable prices.