Eastwood mandocaster

[bulldog]

Ok. I just ordered one of these electric mandos. To be clear, I have "no" great expectations for what I will receive. It is after all, a $299.00 chinese made mandolin. However, as a fledgling builder of mandolins, and electric violins, I am going to try and modify this one into much better shape. Im planning on replacing the frets, radiusing the board, changing the nut, and possibly upgrading the pick-ups to a pair of Duncan or Dimarzio Strat pickups. This may do the trick.
What I would like to know however is, does anyone have any experience with this particular instrument? I was planning on using a reissue fender mandocaster, but I dont believe them to be much better, and at a higher price.

[Eddie Sheehy]

It's not as good as a Mandobird - though the Mandobird has a weak E string sound. The neck of the Mandocaster is chubby -deep not wide. It's hard to get the intonation correct on the G strings - I had the bridge at an acute angle that flattened the spring and it was still off. Apart from that it was fun. I moved it on and kept the mandobird.

[thistle3585]

This is a quote from a thread several months ago about one I took in on trade.

"I would say that the fit and finish is very impressive. It really looks like its well constructed, and much better than any other imports in that price range. I would say that it is evident that a guitar builder designed it because it really is a small guitar. The neck is really thick and clubby, which is just personal preference but the previous owner concurred. The electronics are lacking just like I've seen on every other import. Chronic weak E and just not balanced across the strings. The three way switch doesn't really give much tone variance. I think the scale, and distance between the pickups, really limit the amount of available tone difference to even work with. Both pickups are single coil, so you basically get the same tone from both. The humbucker mode gives a little warmer tone but not much better. The bridge intonates pretty well. It just doesn't have the ability to be fine tuned, so if you use a set of strings too much different from the stock size then you may have some trouble. Personally, I just couldn't get beyond the thick neck and small frets. My hands aren't big enough to make the reaches for the 3 and 4 fingered chords.

Overall, if they had just spent a little more money on the electronics package then they would have nailed it except for the neck. Again, personal preference. With the right amp, you could pull out a better tone but for an entry level instrument I'm not sure how many people would be willing to make that investment. I think a wiser investment would be an electronics upgrade and a cheaper amp.

Here is what I would do to this one; shave the neck down to a slight "v" shape, put a humbucker in the bridge position and leave the single in the neck with the 3 way switch, upgrade the pots to 500K, install a new bridge and refret with larger fret wire."

I never did that work to it. It just wasn't worth my time and I didn't believe I'd get my money out of it. I think it would take an additional $150.00 plus time to make the improvements that you are talking about and I don't think it will ever be a $450 instrument.

If you want to learn about solid bodies, then I'd suggest getting a cheap solid body guitar off ebay and disassemble it. Thats how I learned. I'd also recommend Hiscocks book on building electrics.

[bulldog]

Just a follow-up. I recently received the mandocaster, and it is not that bad. It does need work however. New bone nut, larger frets, and probably switch the pickups. Nothing huge though, and when done I think that it may be a keeper for those mando "thrashin" gigs.