The Banjoline is a type of electric guitar developed by Eddie Peabody in conjunction with Rickenbacker, and built by the Vega Company of Boston, Massachusetts.
Although its name suggests a combination of banjo and mandolin, it is technically considered to be a type of plectrum guitar, a variant of the electric guitar, resembling the banjo and mandolin only in terms of its four course stringing.
The Banjoline has six strings arranged in four courses and it has a scale length similar to that of a plectrum banjo. The two lowest courses consist of pairs of two strings and the two highest courses consist of two single strings. The Banjoline was intended to be tuned like a plectrum banjo (from low to high, CGBD). The strings were also described as octave base, unison third, single, second and first.
The pair of strings on the lowest course consists of one low C and another C an octave above it. The strings in the next highest course are tuned to the same G. The next two courses consist of single strings tuned to B and D. This makes for a tuning of CcGGBD.
Eddie Peabody introduced the banjoline on The Banjo Wizardry of Eddie Peabody, with two songs, and recorded two LPs using the Banjoline for Dot Records. They are entitled Eddie Plays Smoothies and Eddie Plays More Smoothies.