5-string emando, or electric dola - how low can you go?

[Jim MacDaniel]

I have been sans emando for a while, so I don't have one to experiment with at the moment, but how low have you been able to tune your lower course on either your 5-string emando, or longer scale 4 or 8 string emando or edola, before making the lowest course unusable or unable to tune due to too much slack? I ask because an emando or emando kit is on my birthday and Xmas wish list, and would love do be able to go as low as possible on my lowest course, without going too long on the scale length (e.g., a short scale 70's Japanese long-scale emando, such as a Kent, would be fine). I know the laws of physics apply, and will set a limit on just how low I tune it, but I am also under budgetary constraints (<= $500 max), so a custom build is out of the question (as is a Pentaula, should one come available on the market ;) ).

So, how low can you go? (Queue Calypso music :mandosmiley: )

[mandroid]

with a 0.05" wound string on 14" scale, C works fine .
with a 15" scale and an .056, one of them pentaulas, bottom is in A,
though I wish I could get just one of those Steinberger pull thru the headstock 40:1 tuners
as it is a bit of bother to get it to stay there.

[Jim MacDaniel]

What guages do you use on the top four strings of you emando in order to provide comparable tension and feel to the .05?

[Christian McKee]

I can't remember precisely what mine are off the top of my head, but they range from a .05 on the C, to a .011 or .010 on the high E. For a long time I even played a heavy (by mandolin standards) unwound D string for the playability of it, but have since switched to a wound string in the mid .020's to get a more even sound across the strings. Generally, my electric string guages are pretty close to my acoustic guages, and I think a bit heavier than many here would recommend.

Christian

[mandroid]

When I got My EM150, a 4 strung conversion (made out of an A50, with a different pickup type)
It came with spare string sets , essentially shifting the other 3 over ..
.. 49/40/26/14 D'Add nickel wound .. , haven't used up those sets yet, to try different

Johnny Gimble , I read, used 50-30-20-11 on his 150, more to the liking of his fiddlin' fingers ,
I guess.

Too thin an E = thin output , high C# on P5 is, so far, fairly thick ..

Heard SRV strung his guitars pretty heavy,

I know that my friend's Rosewood D Collings is strung heavy, he says that is where the desired tone is..

[John McGann]

Heard SRV strung his guitars pretty heavy,


True, but he was tuned low...1/2 or whole step...

[journeybear]

Then there's Dick Dale, who uses piano strings! :disbelief:

[Jim MacDaniel]

Hmmm... just thinking out loud, but if a standard scale 5-string emando's lowest course could be tuned as low as C without slop or tuning issues, then I assume a standard scale 4-string emando could be tuned CGDA like a dola. Anyone out there experiment with this tuning?

Since I'm particularly interested in achieving as low a tuning as possible in a rock format, this could do the trick for a 4 string instrument, but I wonder if I would miss the E string when rocking out -- although I could move up the neck for E and above. (I don't play too high up the neck now, so I'm thinking I might not miss it, but then again I don't play too much rock on my acoustic mandos now.)

[Daniel Nestlerode]

Jim,
I've tuned my Epi Mandobird as a dola. It takes a little doing with regard to the intonation of the C string and stringing it thereafter, but it works fine. And I do not miss the E. I have it at the 7th fret of the a string, and not having an open one makes for some interesting lines.

I was going to direct you to my blog where I was sure I had written about the conversion, but apparently I haven't. Maybe it's time I did.

Daniel

[Jim MacDaniel]

Thanks Daniel. What gauges are you using for your dola tuning?

[mandocrucian]

Since I'm particularly interested in achieving as low a tuning as possible in a rock format, this could do the trick for a 4 string instrument,

Get yourself a mini-guitar with a 17-19" scale length, and do a conversion to 5-string on it. Do not respace the nut, do not respace the bridge. Where the lowest bass string was - don't put a string - this will let you do low "truck driver bending licks" (pushing the string rather than having to pull it). Tune GDAEB or GDAEA an octave lower than mando. You are now essentially have a 5-string short scale guitar-in-an-alternate-tuning..

Details about conversions in Mandocrucian's Digest #13 (see link below).

This is the cheapest way to go letting you function pretty much as a guitar player. I shortend the scale lenght on mine to 17", but if you keep it longer, you'll get better responsiveness on the bass string. I also like to use fairly heavy strings - harder to bend major 3rds and up, but the stifferthe action, the "better" the tone quality (if you want SRV bite).

NH

[Daniel Nestlerode]

Jim,
String gauges for the Mando(la)bird:
.049, .038, .026, .013

I have just discovered that the eq settings for an electric mandola and an electric mandolin should be different. I know, "Duh." :) But until you run these two instruments through the same amp you have no idea how things will go.

To make this more of a no-brainer, the Mando(la)bird's pickup is position at the end of the fretboard while the mandocaster's pickup is about equidistant from fretboard to bridge. Likewise, the Mandobird has a P-90-like pickup and the mandocaster has a Fender single coil pickup. All of which make the stock Mandobird a bit more midrange-y than a stock mandocaster. So I've increased a difference that already existed by tuning the 'bird down a fifth.

Daniel

[Jim MacDaniel]

Interesting idea Niles -- any suggestions for a short scale guitar closer to 15" or 16" or so? (small hands ;) )

[mandroid]

your capo gets whipped out then...

there are those Epi mini electrics to use.. LP and V styles.

[Jim MacDaniel]

Now that Jeff Cowherd is offering a 5-string model on his JBovier Mandocaster clone (model # EMC-5, I think), I think I may stick with standard scale instrument. (Although I wouldn't mind a longer scale instrument for getting back into slide.)