Electric Mandolin pickups

[Walker Bailey]

I am immenently going to commence work on my first instrument project; the electric mandolin. Ive drawn out the patterns and figured out the list of electronics I would need. But i do have a few questions. First of all, can i use a standard humbucking guitar pickup? and, does anayone have any recomendations for wood i should use?
Walker Bailey

[pops1]

You can use anything you want, but remember it will be part of the sound you will get. I would try a kent armstrong floating jazz pickup. i've done that and it works nice. keeps it off the top so you don't dampen the top and you don't have to cut a hole in the top like gibson did. lower impedance pickups (5 or 6k) will usually give a cleaner sound than a high (10 or 12k)

[mandroid]

Solid body? maple is heavy , but redwood , or similer coniferous tone wood would be lighter
Ash & Alder somewhere in the middle ..

I'd suggest Strat format , as they don't take up much space on the instrument, stacked humbuckers
same space a single coil. OOdles of products in the marketplace in that pattern .. to pick amongst.

[Rick Turner]

If you like single coil pickups, try half of a P-bass pickup. Or use a pair wired in reverse wound, reverse polarity and they'll hum cancel when both are on.

[TomMorici]

Great suggestions so far.

It may be tricky to use a standard humbucker pickup, the problem ls in the pole pieces spacing. The rail style pole piece pickups are a very popular choice. There is a good selection of single coil format humbuckers with rail
style poles. They range from clean to scream, it helps to know what you are after.

There are many wood choices that will work, but for a slab style instrument,
Alder is hard to beat, resonant, light weight, easy to work, and very small pores. Looks good with a natural finish, and great for paint.

Tom

[Rhinestone]

I put Lace Sensors on my Eastwood Mandocaster - the "Hot Gold" model.
It's a drop-in replacement. I like 'em a lot. Fat - with a modicum of twangulation. Not a lot of hum from those single coils either and you gotta love that. It makes that instrument come alive.

[Chris Keth]

Any pickup built with a rail, such as the lace sensors, rather than polepieces will work best with the mandolin. Polepieces need the string spacing to match up closely with them. There are also quite a few small, boutique pickup makers who are perfectly capable of making you a custom pickup that fits your string spacing. You can tell them what kind of sound you want and they can do it with pretty good accuracy.

[thistle3585]

I'd check out Tom's website, www.moongazermusic.com. He has quite a bit of information and electric mandolin related products to get you started. Very helpful. I use alder, mahogany and walnut for bodies and anything that is eye catching for tops.

[amowry]

Kent Armstrong will make custom pickups with any pole spacing at a reasonable price, especially if you supply him with the mockup.

[Walker Bailey]

Hey, thanks for the information guys. I actually ended up getting a block of mahogany for my body, and im going to saw it very soon.Its not going to be stanadard strat like body however, it actually has a large scroll on the top end and a strat like horn underneath. ill be sure to post picks when im done:grin: