custom build - what pickup?

If you were deciding on specs for a custom-built mandolin, what one pickup would you select?

Electric or acoustic?

What sound do you want? Jazz, rock, something else?

Ford F150 works for most uses.

Given the category, I assume electric. I always put in a vote for Steve Ryder's stacked-single-coil pickups. I have them on four instruments, two solid bodies and two Buchanans. Although any single will be a lower output signal than a side-by-side, this is not an important issue with modern amplification and sound possibilities. And while one can use tone controls (and preamps, stompboxes, etc) to get a fat humbucker tone out of a single it is not really possible to do the reverse.

(A magnetic pickup cannot sense the harmonics that have nodes right at the pickup location, so two coils set next to each other will lose a large set of highs, while the single will miss only those in one place. This is why they are much brighter in tone.)

I also really like these for soundhole pickup use. With a deep midrange cut they sound very acoustic, but have no feedback issues. And I can switch to an electric/jazz sound with effects and EQ as needed.

Thanks Tom!

A T.K. Smith reproduction of the Bigsby pickup on Tiny Moore's five string would be my first choice. Not cheap, but cool as can be.

Remember with a push/pull knob and/or a switch, you can get the hb to go to a bunch of different options. For some it us a question of blades v. poles. Member Soundfarm Pete is the person behind Almuse Mandolins, and his different pickups get a lot of respect. I upgraded to one previously, and Stealie was built with one.

I have a Lace sensor in one of mine.. "gold" model made for Fender,

I think the edges of the pickup are the rails in Lace. (or that's the way the magnetic field happens)


EMG humbucker was cheap from Stew Mac,... these are both Strat style..




...

I like rail style mini-humbuckers (same size as a strat pick-up)- no worries about the pole piece aligning and the ability to switch from humbucker to single coil etc.
Cheers Gary

Bill Lawrence humbucker but only from http://wildepickups.com
[There is an inferior copycat pickup also called Lawrence]
Attachment 158473

+1 for the Wilde Bill. The L-45S was my upgrade for Bessie. Loved it. FWIW, Jerman #11 came with a twin-blade DiMarzio (Fast Track?) that also worked great.

Seymour Duncan does sell a 4 pole pickup too. may have to order it and wait for them to make it.

people use 1/2 of the Fender type P Bass pickups too..

Hey,

I would talk to Steve Ryder. He is a pro and great guy. I've used Seymour Duncan custom pickups with my old Kerby Aycock custom 5 string. They were great but a little dark with my rig at the time. I like to color my tone with a clean boost or overdrive and I've found Steve's pickups work well with tube amps and solid state amps. I've posted is a clip of my EM-35 at a low volume.

Good luck - Hendryx

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ln1bh5zAnw&t=1s

I've been using twin Strat sized, tapped humbuckers by Schaller on my 5 course 10 string for many years. They are more popular in mainland Europe than the UK but work really well.

http://www.almuse.co.uk/index.html

http://www.almuse.co.uk/mandolin_pickups.html

You really need to check out this web page not just for the pickups but also for Pete's cool mando builds.