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Thread: Hot Dot

  1. #1

    Default Hot Dot

    After somewhere around 20 years hanging on the wall I decided to string up my first mandolin. While I had it apart I took this shot of the Barcus Berry Hot Dot I inlayed in the bridge base. It was intended to inlay in an acoustic guitar bridge but this worked out.
    I didn't know anything about preamps and it sounded awful anytime I plugged it in, picking up touching or moving the instrument as much as picking up the strings.
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  3. #2
    Registered User Pete Braccio's Avatar
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    Default Re: Hot Dot

    Does it sound any better running it through a modern pre-amp?

    Pete
    Pete Braccio

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  4. #3

    Default Re: Hot Dot

    Well, this is the first time in decades it has had fresh strings. I have a nice Raven pre here so I could give it a try.
    By the way, this spring is this mandolins 35th birthday. Rather thin sounding. Kind of old timey. I think it's the back being too stiff myself.
    Sigh... Sideways again.
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  5. #4
    Registered User Pete Braccio's Avatar
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    Default Re: Hot Dot

    Now that it has fresh strings, give it to someone else to play (who doesn't have "history" with it) to get a fresh perspective. Sure is good looking though.

    Pete
    Pete Braccio

    "The Rules: Play nice and don't run with scissors"
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  6. #5

    Default Re: Hot Dot

    You know, the reason I even decided to string it up is that I'm going to a jam camp this weekend and thought I'd take it along to show some others folks.

  7. #6

    Default Re: Hot Dot

    When you consider how little I knew about woodwork and mandolins it did come out pretty good. Straight Siminoff book but I wanted to try a lot of things like the inlay. The bridge height came out right and the neck was straight with the body. Oh, yeah, there was this feature too.
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  8. #7
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Hot Dot

    Most people don't have the joy of being able to show anything they built that long ago. I think it's great that you still have it.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

  9. #8
    Professional Dreamer journeybear's Avatar
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    Default Re: Hot Dot

    Back in the dawn of history (1979) I had two Hot Dots installed in my bridge - each in one foot - then out through a 1/4" endpin jack on my pretty new F-12. They were state-of-the-art at the time, and once I started putting it through a guitar EQ/pre-amp pedal it sounded all right. After many years of getting by with this set-up I gave a Fishman bridge a whirl in the early 00's. It was so much better-sounding and stronger a signal. I still have that same arrangement on my mandola, but somehow it really sounds awful when amplified, much worse than the mandolin did, which is a shame, since it is such a beautiful-sounding instrument acoustically. I really ought to get a Fishman bridge or similar for it.

    Anyway, that's a fine-looking mandolin, and you should look into upgrading the pickup for it.
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

    Furthering Mandolin Consciousness

    Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!

  10. #9

    Default Re: Hot Dot

    I've told the story numerous times, but it's part Nugget. Mike did the finish for $250.

  11. #10
    Registered User Pete Braccio's Avatar
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    Default Re: Hot Dot

    Great idea on bringing it to the jam camp. I'm liking that back carving as well. She's got a lot of personality, your #1.

    Pete
    Pete Braccio

    "The Rules: Play nice and don't run with scissors"
    http://www.braccio.me
    Check out my web site for:
    Jack Tottle music files
    BBC Virtual Session files
    O'Neill's PDFs
    ITM Tunebooks, and more

  12. #11
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    Default Re: Hot Dot

    The original Barcus Berry "Hot Dot" pickups came along before anyone had heard of acoustic amplifiers and before preamps built specifically for upping the level of guitar pickups were available. They did however produce a "box" which many people thought was a preamp.

    Having a friend who worked in a music shop, I was able to borrow one. I took this to another friend with a degree in electronics and we took the thing apart to see what it did. We were both surprised at how little it contained (for the price). The device was basically what I believe is known as a FET buffer which simply varies the imedance of the amplifier input to make it suitable for the pickup which has a very high impedance - too high for most inputs available at the time.

    A modern acoustic amp is likely to have a more suitable input and I would expect the hot dot to sound better than it did although I would expect the handling noise to still be a problem. I did have a pair of hot dots in a Martin Guitar bridge some years ago but was never able to make them sound good enough to be used, even with a modern acoustic amp.

  13. #12

    Default Re: Hot Dot

    Think I heard a HD was part of Sam Bush's rig.

  14. #13
    Professional Dreamer journeybear's Avatar
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    Default Re: Hot Dot

    I would imagine that may have been the case, some time ago - like back when that was all that was available. Everyone had to have them. There are more options now, and surely Sam can afford to have the best. I don't recall the over-sensitivity you mentioned, but my rig did pick up a lot of pick noise.

    When I started going to bluegrass festivals in the 80s (well, mostly just one - Winterhawk), I was knocked out by Tim O'Brien's sound. He told me it was a blend of piezo pickup and Lavaillier mike, out through a stereo jack, into a preamp (a high end one, of a size and with a display that looked like a Peterson strobe tuner) that mixed each single to his desired balance - and a little reverb. It was a great sound, which I immediately mimicked, standing in front of a Shure 57.
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

    Furthering Mandolin Consciousness

    Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!

  15. #14

    Default Re: Hot Dot

    It was in the 2010 Café interview with Sam where there's a list of his gear and says his mandolin has a HD.

  16. #15

    Default Re: Hot Dot

    It was in the 2010 Café interview with Sam. There's a list of his gear and says his mandolin has a HD. I was surprised too.
    Thought that first one didn't go through.

  17. #16
    Professional Dreamer journeybear's Avatar
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    Default Re: Hot Dot

    Wow. Well, as is often the case, whatever works, works. Could also be that over the years since they started, B-B has made some improvements on their HD.
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

    Furthering Mandolin Consciousness

    Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!

  18. #17
    Registered User bernabe's Avatar
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    Default Re: Hot Dot

    Darren Shumaker, who ran front-of -the house for Sam for a few years and is now with the McCourys has one in his mandolin. He was the mandolin player for the group I currently play for and we were both at the bands 26th anniversary show at the Charleston Music Hall this past December. He was there, set up and checked before I got there and we were alternating every few songs anyway so I played his mandolin and rig to keep it simple. He had it dialed in through a Tonebone and some other gadgets and sounded really good. One thing about Sam is they push the internal mic as much as possible in the house depending on the venue and FB, so what we hear in the audience and what he hears, from mostly PU on stage, is totally different. Outdoor venues are mostly if not all internal mic in the house.

    Journeybear, they haven't made them in a very long time so you have to hunt for old ones. Theyre quite rare. You occasionally hear of one or two popping up for sale, still new in the box from where a store went out of business years ago and theyre still sitting around somewhere collecting dust.

  19. #18
    Professional Dreamer journeybear's Avatar
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    Default Re: Hot Dot

    Thanks. I haven't even heard them mentioned in a long time, so hadn't given them much thought before this thread. Maybe I should check out the market for selling slightly used ones. Hmmm ...
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

    Furthering Mandolin Consciousness

    Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!

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