Have owned mine for about 4 years now with no issues. A great starter and all around mando. I have compared it to mandolins costing waaaaay more. Although I am an Eastman fan the RM-75 is a fairly well crafted & decent sounding mandolin at a fair price (good set up required as always). I'm even thinking of doing some upgrades to see if I can get a little more volume and a woodier tone. Although I have played it out professionally it is primarily reserved for practice and camping trips now. Anybody have any mandovoodoo performed or any other upgrades on one of these yet?
Had my RM 75 for about a year now. Put and LR Baggs on it, and use it to play "out". Found that the Para DI really give the sound a nice boost. A very good mandolin for my purposes.
Wow, that's pretty neat. I've been afraid of installing a pickup on any of my mandos. I really like what I get playing through instrument mics when amplification is required. My Rover is the dark burgundy model that supposedly derived from that Michigan maple bought by Saga (but not used) for one of the higher end Kentuckys. I'm told they did one run on this model but not sure. I see they have the RM-75's in a sunburst finish and am wondering if they're from the same lot of maple. I've emailed Saga Instruments for more info but have yet to see a reply. As far as upgrades I'm thinking: cast tailpiece, bone nut, and new bridge. I'm considering some mandovoodoo but have yet to hear any "before & after" recordings on that. I bought a James tailpiece (not yet installed) in gold and will most likely change the tuners & any other hardware out to gold when I ever get around to it. RRTT, what genre of music are you doing with the baggs pickup on your Rover? cutterflys
Classic rock, blues, and some originals
cutterflys - sorry was in a hurry yesterday. I play in a 6 piece band - 3 guitars, bass, harmonica, & drums. I recently joined as the 3rd guitarist and play mandolin on may 1/4 of our songs. Mando songs on any given night might include Willin', Bertha, Ripple, Cry Love, You Must Go, Just a Little Roadhouse, ... We sometimes do "acoustic only" shows where we do more mando songs like Jerusalem, City of New Orleans, and more songs in this vein. Have a Kentucky 505 w/o any pickup that I play at home. It has a better natural sound, but I like the Rover for playing out.
Hi RRTT Been dabbling with some music of that sort myself of late but keeping it all string band. I switch back and forth between mando and guitar depending on how bluesy or rockish things get. Understand the need for a pickup getting on top of the drums in your case. I primarily play bluegrass, semi pro I guess you'd call it since we get paid (www.stoneyrunstringband.com). Yep, that K505 - another keeper. I don't yet find the need to step up to a real expensive mandolin as all the ones I own are still way better than I am a player of them. I still pull some new & exiting sounds out of that Rover from time to time too. My other mandos are Eastmans MD505, MD515 & 815V. I now do my own set up work though not a luthier by any stretch. Doing some set up on an Epiphone AJ-45 guitar right now. Oh, do you have the sunburst Rover or the burgundy?
My Rover is the burgundy finish also - have to admit that the look of this finish helped sell me on this mandolin. Although I can't complain at all about the sound. The neck on the Rover is also a little wider than the Kentucky, and that makes it more comfortable for me as I also switch between 6 string acoustic and electric and acoustic 12 string. I feel like you about the quality of my mandolins - they are plenty good for my abilities. But having a serious case of GAS/MAS, I do sometimes dream of owning a really nice mando.
Just curious RRTT What stings are you using on that Rover? I've been using Elixer Med due to my acid sweat. They've been a fairly decent sounding string and last a while for the most part. I've been experimenting with Sam Bush Monels on the 815V, nice and woody with good treble tone & volume. I can only get about two good summer time gigs with them (maybe 10 hard hours including practice). I also love the sound of D'Addario but they just won't last for me. I recently purchased some Black Diamond coated & uncoated to experiment around with, I heard they have made much improvement to their strings as of late. The Martin Bluegrass Strings also stand out, ecspecially on the Rover.
Interesting you should ask - I just changed strings on it this morning in prep for a show tomorrow night. I have used D"Addario J74's on all of my mandolins since I started playing them about 3-4 years ago. But, this morning I put a set of Gibson Sam Bush Signature Series on it. I figure that since tomorrow is our last outdoor show for the season, I can always go back to D"Addarios before the next show in 2 weeks. I usually don't changes strings this often, but sometimes I just like to experiment a little bit - sometimes successfully and sometimes not. Have you ever tried J75's? I use mediums on my 6 string acoustic dreadnought and much prefer the sound of them to lights, so I was thinking about giving mediums a try on the mando.
Haven't tried the J75's, only the J74's which I liked other than their longevity. Been using Elixer lights on all the guitars, love the slick feel, longevity & tone. We're starting to do a couple of songs with me on guitar so I may have to go to mediums to get a little more volume. We just started "Carolina In The Pines". I'm countering the other guitar in open D tuning capo 3 (true key of F). Makes for a pretty good mix, sounds alot like Wanda Vick's (bluegrass) version of the same song. I'm going to install a set of those Black Diamond coated mediums on my Eastman 505 tonight, break them in and see how they sound. If they sound good I may even try a set on the Rover. I'll keep you posted.
I've never tried coated strings on a mando, so please do let me know what you think. Had feedback issues with the Rover on Saturday night - hoping it was because we were late setting up and didn't get to spend as much time on sound check as usual. I don't think it would be related to the string change.
Yes, doubtful it was related to string change. I've been using Elixer Mediums because of their longevity & fairly decent sound but as my ear becomes more discerning I'm always on the hunt for woodier sounding strings with good volume. I put the set of Black Diamond coated (med) on my Eastman 505 the other night. They didn't sound too bad right out of the box. Since I took all the strings off at once this time to clean & oil the neck I just tuned it to pitch, set intonation and hung it on the wall to acclimate. I'll give them about a two hour breakin tonight. I have two gigs this weekend over on the eastern shore of MD so I plan to use it with these strings but will bring my 815V as backup just in case. I'll let you know how they fare. Oh, still using Elixer mediums on the Rover but plan to experiment a bit in the near future.
The Gibson sounded too tinny for me so I took them off and put on the J75's. Initial impressions are positive.
Well, mixed feelings on the Black Diamond coated. They fared very well on the prettier stuff we do with a nice mellow tone, chop, pop & woodiness. My pick just slid right off them which is another thing I like about coated strings. However on the more driving bluegrass they seemed to lose some volume and ting as compared to the Elixers, D'addarios or Gibson monels. I will probably use the Black Diamonds on this mando for a while and pick it up when we go to the prettier tunes.
Playing an acoustic only show this Saturday, so the J75s will get a good workout. This will be a good test because 1) we do more mando songs in this format, and 2) it will be "competing" only against one guitar and a bass.
Best of luck with your show RRTT. We're playing Sunday for a block party near my home. Only a one hour spot but a gig none the less.
Like the sound of the J75s - think they are probably a keeper on the Rover. Will stay with J74s on the Kentucky at least for now.
I am a newbie with an RM-75. I put a Cumberland Acoustics bridge on it (spent quite a while sanding and fitting it to the top) and an AXL tailpiece (two of the tabs broke off on the stock tailpiece). I have J74s on it, and am going to try EXP74s when the Grover 309 tuners I ordered get here. I am pretty pleased with the mandolin (probably a lot more pleased with it than it is with me!).
Hi Michael Are those Grover 309's an exact replacement or will you have to plug some screw holes? I bought a James tail piece for mine but have yet to install it, maybe when I decide to do the bridge and tuners. To be honest, it plays so well now I'm hesitant to do any upgrades. Oh, I've never broken any of the tabs off the stock tail piece, I seem to recall a thread somewhere about that - was that you?
Yeah, that was me, if it was a thread in the past week or two. Two of our sponsor vendors (The Mandolin Store and FolkMusician) both came out and said they have seen lots and lots of failures of that tailpiece, to the extent they both have a case of replacement ones in stock from Saga. Chances are if yours haven't broken yet they won't though, it seems to happen either during initial setup or shortly thereafter. The additional mass of the tailpiece gives the mandolin better, clearer tone and sustain. If you already have a James (nice!!) I'd put it on at the next string change. As far as the Grovers.... I won't know until I get them (FQMS charges $8.95 for shipping and then ships Parcel Post!), but if I have to I will plug the old screw holes with broken off toothpicks and white glue and drill new holes. I don't like the stock tuners (Pings?) at all.
I had bought some grovers for mine but the plate that everything mounts on would have stuck out past the wood on the under side. I have no issues with the originals, just thought that gold tuners to match the James tail piece would look nice on this mando. let me know how you make out with those tuners. Thanks Allen
I agree after looking at dimensional drawings on the StewMac site, the Grovers are going to hang off ... so I will send them back to FQMS. It looks like maybe the worm-over Schallers may fit. I emailed LMI to ask them what they think.
I'll be sending the Grovers back. LMI says the Schallers won't work because they don't make a worm-over version, just a reverse geared one. Roger Siminoff says the Gotoh 303-N he sells WILL work, and I think it will too. Almost twice the price of the Grovers, but it looks like it's those or stick with the stock Pings, and I hate those, so I ordered from Siminoff.
Yea, thought you might run into a snag there. Let me know how the Gotoh's work out - are they in gold?
I ordered nickel ones, but he has them in gold too.
Please let me know how they fit up when you get them. Thanks Allen
Ooops!
The Gotohs arrived this afternoon from Siminoff. All of the shafts lined up right, all of the screw holes except the top one are the same too. I had to drill a pilot hole for the top screw. The stock bushings just fall out of my mandolin when you turn it upside down, really sloppy fit. The Gotoh bushings are just a TAD bigger than the stock holes, so I used a rat-tail file to carefully fit them to a medium press fit. The bracket clears the bottom edge of the headstock with room to spare too, unlike the Grovers. These are definitely the upgrade tuners for this mandolin. Too bad they are so expensive... they cost almost 1/4 of what the entire mandolin plus case cost me! Siminoff's prices are higher than ebay dealers plus he charges $11.50 for "shipping and handling".
Nice! Thank you for the pics and the description of the process needed. Happy playing!
I note also that the mandolin stays in tune much better with these tuners, and also that there is way less slop / backlash and they are harder to turn (even though I lubed them with Tri-Flo and rotated them a bunch before installing them). They are simply a much more precise set of machinery than the stock Ping tuners.
Nice job, may have to order a set for mine in the future. I really don't have a problem with the current tuners but When I change out the tail piece I'd like to go to all gold appointments. Allen
Hello fellow Rover pickers! I recently purchased the Rover above from Michael, and I absolutely love it! I can't really speak of which improvement made a difference, or even compare it to a stock RM-75! I played it in a jam yesterday for the first time and was stunned! I did not have to kill myself to be heard over the banjo, which was really nice!! I started a thread in the General forum to kinda track my progress with videos every so often. Check it out! And enjoy the first installment!! The rest will be better, I promise! http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/sh...-Git-n-Started -Jeff
