Ibanez Mandolins are Back

M510EBS (Click for a close-up)

After a nearly twenty year hiatus, mandolins have returned to the Ibanez line-up. The Summer Show in Nashville saw the reintroductions of three models: one standard A-model, the standard A-model with pickup, and a deluxe model with solid top.

"Twenty or so years ago, Ibanez had one of the best selections of traditional fretted instruments you could find," said Irene Shvartsman of the Ibanez Acoustic Instrument Division. "At one time Mr. Bill Monroe even played one of our mandolins. But the music trends and the exchange rate caused Ibanez to scale back acoustic instruments to almost nothing. That was really a shame because acoustic guitars were how Ibanez started. We didn't intend for it to stay that way and for the last 15 years, we've been carefully but very surely bringing out acoustic instruments back to a place even stronger than they were before. The return of Ibanez mandolins--and what better place than Nashville to see that--is an integral part of our return to acoustic strength and your going to see a lot more."

The Ibanez M10BS Mandolin features a select spruce top and mahogany back and sides. List price is $214.27

The M510EBS offers the same specs plus a single coil magnetic pickup and tone and volume controls. List price is $257.13.

The M511SBS deluxe model offers a solid spruce top with maple back and sides, and gold hardware. List price is $285.70.