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I have a Morgan Monroe Rocky Top from 1999 (?) and want to put a Fishman M200 on it. Anyone? The current bridge is 13/16ths tall on the bass side and 25/32nds on the treble. Will the Fishman fit? I haven't found anything on the height range, of it yet.
Thanks in advance Michael
Someone will have to modify the new bridge to fit the curvature of the top of the mandolin you have ..
As I remember, you should be able to keep the bottom part of your old bridge and drop the saddle from the Fishman on top. There should be plenty of adjustment available, and you won't have to do the laborious fitting of the bridge feet to the top of the mandolin. That said, I wouldn't go for the Fishman; I've had much better results with an AKG C411 as a contact pickup, and with K&K mandolin twin as an installed pickup. The Fishman is bulky, complex and suffers from severe piezo 'quack' that needs a lot of EQ to make it work acceptably.
Thanks Tim
That sounds like great advice RE the bottom of the bridge. I want to try out my Aura Spectrum with this mandolin. I also have heard the K&K and know what you are talking about, quality-wise. Is that pair mounted on the bridge or the body? I can appreciate the difference from my own experience on acoustic guitars. I do want to experiement with the Aura, however, since I am only recording mandolin at this point(not gigging). I've been thinking I would try BOTH at the same time on this basic import. I did pick it from a pile of 9 others, as the best of that lot, and had it set it up by my best pro guy.
I will check out the AKG C-411, also, as I had a pair of C-414b/uls and C-480b CK61's(before Chapt7 LOL) and recorded all my acoustic instruments with them or my SM81 pair. I don't have those mics anymore and no separate room -yet-(just a bedroom in the house) and want to see how much "noise rejection" this method provides. I did just buy 3 new mics, tho I have yet to use them (this week I will!); Mojave MA200, CAD e100s, and Kel Song Sparrow (which sounds really nice on my acoustic guitar).
Thanks Michael Parson-McNamara
Hi Michael
The K&K mounts on the underside of the top on the inner edges of the F-holes. Fiddly, but a DIY job. You have to drill the endpin hole to mount the jack socket assembly, which is why I didn't use it on my performing mando, a Gibson F5 Fern. It sounds great on a decent Asian import that I still play as a backup. The AKG C411 is a tiny contact condenser mic that mounts with putty on the top, just behind the bridge. Best sound I've found from a pickup; it replaced a Fishman (which I've still got lying around somewhere) and an LR Baggs Radius, which suffered from a lot of handling noise and 'thump'. I'm interested in your idea about using the Aura system on a mandolin, and I'd love to hear how you get along with it.
Best wishes
Tim
@ mandroid
I am aware of that. I did guitar repairs for myself and my students for many years. I am only new to this forum! LOL
RE the K&K ... a friend has it on his guitar and I was very impressed with how much it sounded like his guitar only louder.