Don't hate me but ....stagg mandos.

[mado-line]

Are they really really bad? The electro accoustic ones? Because I would normally avoid Stagg, for no other reason than I avoided their electric violins. But there is one for sale for not much and I was thinking that for fun it might be ok? I'm not a serious player but if they are really awful then it wouldn't be fun at all...... Don't hate me. :redface:

[F-2 Dave]

If wanting a stagg would make people hate you, then I wouldn't want one. It would discount all of the legitimate reasons there are for people to hate me.

[mado-line]

But I feel like I'm asking people "a fish finger would do instead of smoked salmon wouldn't it ?"

[F-2 Dave]

You just need to try them out in person. You might find a decent sounding one. Most of us started on budget instruments.

[JeffD]

I think as soon as you decide on an electro-acoustic instrument, (in general, there are exceptions), you have decided against high end acoustic aesthetics. (And, some would argue, high end electrics as well).

[Folkmusician.com]

I know countless full-time pro players (no other income), that use budget instruments that most hobbyist scoff at. It really has nothing to do with the instrument, assuming said instrument is setup well. :)

Now a poorly setup instrument is another story.....

[mado-line]

I have a good luthier
:popcorn:

[Ted Eschliman]

My stores ordered eight or so four years ago. One was good, two were just barely okay, three were absolutely horrible, and two we just had to throw away because the tops caved in.
Roll the dice. You might get lucky.
Maybe.

[allenhopkins]

... there is one for sale for not much...

So if it's terrible, you're not out much. What the hell...

[Folkmusician.com]

My stores ordered eight or so four years ago. One was good, two were just barely okay, three were absolutely horrible, and two we just had to throw away because the tops caved in.
Roll the dice. You might get lucky.
Maybe.

Ok,

I vote for ordering at least 4 (but preferably 6), take them to your luthier, and see if he can set one up nicely. Return the rest. I suppose this could be done one at a time. You might get lucky on the first couple. :)

In my opinion, that is all it really comes down to with the cheapie instruments. "IF" you can get it setup, it will probably be fine or at least for a while (until the top collapses). If it can't be setup for whatever reason (bowed neck, etc.), then you know immediately. A good portion of issues will be caught during the setup.

At that point:

So if it's terrible, you're not out much. What the hell...

[fentonjames]

where i work, we took a chance on some electric guitars, banjos and mandos. that was 3 years ago. we never reordered and still have several electric guitars, that we have had at cost for over a year now. bridges were in the wrong place on the electrics so bad they couldn't be intonated without moving the bridge studs themselves. not easy on tune o matic types. other issues were high frets, bad necks, stripped tuners. every time one sold, it was "thank god another one is gone."

i'd keep looking for something better.

[Jess L.]

Maybe I'm missing something here (wouldn't be the first time), but of the currently-produced Stagg mandolins I see only two acoustic-electric models, and both have a magnetic pickup (single-coil pickup, like an electric guitar). The Stagg website shows the M50 E (http://www.staggmusic.com/en/product_detail/m50_e.html?backp=1) and the M50 E WH (http://www.staggmusic.com/en/product_detail/m50_e_wh.html?backp=1). Not sure what model the OP had found.

Now I could be wrong here, but I was under the impression that single-coil pickups get their sound *only* from the strings themselves, same as with a solid-body electric instrument. So the tonal quality of the wood doesn't really matter??? My understanding is that it's *not* like a piezo pickup on a Godin :confused: (???) or something, where the piezo arguably retains at least *some* of the 'natural' acoustic sound of the instrument.

So if that's true, then I would think (correct me if I'm wrong) that the quality (or lack of quality) of the sound produced when using a single-coil-pickup instrument in electric mode, would mostly depend on the *amp* you were feeding the sound to (and what effects and sound-modeling you were using, EQ, etc).

And, I suppose, the quality of the pickups themselves, although I have no idea what the difference is between 'good' and 'bad' pickups. I think the pickups on my electric instruments are undoubtedly low-end stuff but at this point, so far, in my electric adventures I can't tell the difference. ~:> :grin:

But I would imagine that, for instance on Stagg mandolins with single-coil pickups, the pickups could probably be replaced with better ones *if* that would make a difference sound-wise (don't know).

Now, it's also my understanding that if a single-coil-pickup mandolin was changed over to use piezo pickups instead (such as K&K or whatever), instead of the pre-installed magnetic pickups underneath the strings, that would be a different set of circumstances where the acoustic properties of the instrument's wood (whether good or bad) presumably *would* have at least *some* effect on the output sound.

That's basically all I 'know' (not much) :redface: :whistling: about electric instruments, even though I plunk around on an acoustic-electric mandolin (piezo pickup, the cheap stick-on variety), as well as electric guitar (it has a standard magnetic pickup, I tune the guitar in 5ths (GDAE etc) and play fiddle tunes on it like a tenor guitar). I run both of those instruments through the same guitar amp - an old Roland Micro Cube with the sound-modeling knob set to "Acoustic". The amp probably has more to do with the final tone, than the instruments themselves. I use that setup not necessarily because that's the best thing to do (I have no clue), but just because it's handy :cool: and I don't have to buy any additional gear, :grin: I can just use the stuff I already have around the house.

Hopefully other people will chime in with more authoritative info about magnetic pickups like those two Stagg acoustic-electric mandolins I saw on their website. Although I don't know if the instrument that the OP found had that style of pickup.

[Jess L.]

... bridges were in the wrong place on the electrics so bad they couldn't be intonated without moving the bridge studs themselves....

Yikes. :disbelief: :crying: I've heard of this stuff before with a different brand, but I still don't understand it... is it cheaper to manufacture or something? Can't think of any other reason why an acoustic-electric mandolin manufacturer would stupidly put a non-intonatable bridge, it's *not* like the bridge is supposed to be glued on like flat-top acoustic guitar bridges are... the beauty of mandolin *should* be its ease of adjustability, just slide the bridge back if the notes fret too sharp. But if that is not an option due to inept design, then yeah I'd agree with you that it would be a "pass", keep looking to find a better brand.

An aside and somewhat off-topic, for solid-body electric instruments I'm a big fan of the Strat-style bridges, :grin: :mandosmiley: tons of adjustability in all dimensions (up/down, back/forth), although I guess that wouldn't work on a hollow-body instrument.


... other issues were high frets, bad necks, stripped tuners...

Eek.

[almeriastrings]

The problem with Stagg is that you get the worst of both worlds.

A shockingly awful 'acoustic' mandolin with equally horrible, cheap and nasty electronic parts as well.

They have put out out (I say put out out because they don't actually make anything themselves - they just buy the cheapest stuff they can find and have their name stuck on it). No consistency as to actual source or models (apart from being consistently junk). There have been some non-electrified mandolins over the years.... horrible sound, dreadful intonation, and prone to imploding. On one I encountered you could actually feel the top sinking in as you attempted to tune the the thing up.

[Johnny60]

Never owned one, but have played one once. Never again. It was dire in every single way - rough fret ends, dreadful finish, crap tuners, no bass or mids to the tone, just shrill trebles.

One word - awful

Save your money and buy a KM150 from a board sponsor or someone who will give it a professional setup.

[fentonjames]

Yikes. :disbelief: :crying: I've heard of this stuff before with a different brand, but I still don't understand it... is it cheaper to manufacture or something? Can't think of any other reason why an acoustic-electric mandolin manufacturer would stupidly put a non-intonatable bridge, it's *not* like the bridge is supposed to be glued on like flat-top acoustic guitar bridges are... the beauty of mandolin *should* be its ease of adjustability, just slide the bridge back if the notes fret too sharp. But if that is not an option due to inept design, then yeah I'd agree with you that it would be a "pass", keep looking to find a better brand.

An aside and somewhat off-topic, for solid-body electric instruments I'm a big fan of the Strat-style bridges, :grin: :mandosmiley: tons of adjustability in all dimensions (up/down, back/forth), although I guess that wouldn't work on a hollow-body instrument.



Eek.

the posts for the tuneomatic were 1/4" from where they should be. with moving the saddles to the extreme, it still wouldn't intonate. you can get away with it on a strat/tele type bridge (somewhat), but the tuneomatic only gives you a small distance for intonation. if the posts are in the wrong place, you're screwed.

[Steve Ostrander]

If you are handy and can set up yourself and file the fret ends, etc. maybe its worth it. But the odds are against it.....

[pops1]

An electric guitar will sound different with just a different finish. A solid body guitar with a solid color most likely has bondo under the color for a quick easy paint, while the same guitar from the same manufacture with a clear finish where you can see the wood will be warmer sounding than the painted one. Had a pro who got several guitars from a company some painted some clear, all the clear ones were warmer because, my guess, the lighter finish and less mass in the body. Consistently warmer. A swamp ash tele will be warmer than a maple tele, etc. all else equal.