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Thread: Electric E strings

  1. #1
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    Default Electric E strings

    Lately, my E strings on my solid-body f-style mandolin are not as responsive as they used to be. Normally, I play mostly acoustic or acoustic-electric mandolins. I do have this electric made by a local luthier about 15 years ago. He passed away in 2007. He concentrated on guitars and was experimenting with this mandolin. It came out pretty good,

    Anyway, originally, it had a Saga (I think) lipstick pickup. I replaced it with a Seymour-Duncan Telecaster-style pickup. All of the electronics have been replaced. Everything was fine until a few days ago. The E strings now have considerably lower volume The tone is fine. It's only the volume. Equalization and tone controls offer only minimal improvement. I'm playing through a Red-Eye preamp and a Roland AC-90A amp.

    I've ordered some D'Addario nickel strings because everyone tells me they're better for electrics but I'm wondering if the pickup is going south on me.

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    In looking at the picture, the angle of the photo indicates the strings aren't over the pickup but they really are.
    Last edited by DHopkins; Mar-14-2018 at 8:49pm. Reason: Add'l info
    David Hopkins

    2001 Gibson F-5L mandolin
    Breedlove Legacy FF mandolin; Breedlove Quartz FF mandolin
    Gibson F-4 mandolin (1916); Blevins f-style Octave mandolin, 2018
    McCormick Oval Sound Hole "Reinhardt" Mandolin
    McCormick Solid Body F-Style Electric Mandolin; Slingerland Songster Guitar (c. 1939)

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  2. #2
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    Default Re: Electric E strings

    Loose the RedEye for a magnetic pickup, the impedance is no where near a match. You should be able to plug straight into the amp using the Seymour PU.

    When you replaced all the electronics did you replace the pots. A 250k pot would be right for a tele pickup. Was there a high pass on the old volume control that would keep the highs when you turn the volume down. It's a resistor and capacitor solder in parallel across the volume pot. If it is not turned wide open without it the highs suffer and since this is a mandolin it may be more noticeable on the E string.
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  3. #3
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    Default Re: Electric E strings

    Both pots were replaced and they're 250k. I replaced the capacitor. There was no resistor before and I didn't add one. (Actually, I'm partially color blind and I try not to mess with resistors because of the color banding but that's another story.) I eliminated the Red-Eye and the volume seemed to be pretty much equal on all strings, albeit very low also on all strings. I think I'm still gonna need the preamp. I have a Behringer and a K&K so I'll try one of those. Early on, I had a loud hum because of grounding issues. The original wire wasn't working and I put in a dedicated line to the metal tailpiece. That solved that problem.

    I apologize for my ignorance. I realize all this is not rocket science--if you do it a lot. I don't. I do, however, have a little more than basic knowledge of electronics from working in amateur radio. Audio circuitry? Not so much.
    David Hopkins

    2001 Gibson F-5L mandolin
    Breedlove Legacy FF mandolin; Breedlove Quartz FF mandolin
    Gibson F-4 mandolin (1916); Blevins f-style Octave mandolin, 2018
    McCormick Oval Sound Hole "Reinhardt" Mandolin
    McCormick Solid Body F-Style Electric Mandolin; Slingerland Songster Guitar (c. 1939)

    The older I get, the less tolerant I am of political correctness, incompetence and stupidity.

  4. #4
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    Default Re: Electric E strings

    How far is the pickup below the strings, too much space and you will loose volume, to close and the magnet will interfere with the strings staying in tune. You might also try putting a piece of metal on the pickups that goes across all four and making it like a blade pickup. It will help if strings are not over the pole pieces and should stick magnetically. There are also wiring diagrams on line to check that it is wired correctly. It's easy to put a wire in the wrong place.
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  5. #5
    Registered User Tom Wright's Avatar
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    Default Re: Electric E strings

    Because you say you notice a recent change I would discount the associated electronics. Think if you have placed the mandolin near a large electric motor or loudspeaker

    Magnetic pickups can be demagnetized inadvertently if allowed too close to things like substantial electric motors. I accidentally demagnetized a Ryder pickup when I was experimenting with extra magnets and waved a large one over the Ryder. It lost most of its volume.

    Fortunately, the same magnet was sufficient for re-magnetizing the Ryder, placing it overnight in the field was enough to restore all signal strength.

    If you have a handy magnet, you could loosen and move the strings aside, and let the pickup soak in a strong field for a while.

    I can't think of anything else that would cause a change in the response of the pickup. Alnico especially seems easy to demagnetize. A guitar repair guy told me he went to a gig on the subway and parking his guitar near the heater fan motor was enough to kill it until he restored the magnetization.
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  6. #6
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    Default Re: Electric E strings

    I didn't think of it before Tom's post, but if you used a soldering gun, instead of an iron, the gun is an electro magnet. Always use a soldering iron when working on any magnetic pickup or it's wiring.
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  7. #7
    Dave Sheets
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    Default Re: Electric E strings

    The sudden drop in the output of the E string is really odd, it does sound like a sudden failure of the pickup or the onboard electronics-As Tom says above, the only thing I can think of that would do this to the pickup is demagnetization. The electronics on an electric instruments with a magnetic pickup are really simple, so there isn't much that can go wrong there. A failure in the capacitor though might do something like this, if the capacitance changed greatly, it would alter the frequency response of the system. Since replacing a capacitor is relatively cheap and easy, try that, if you can find a replacement cap easily enough. E strings are usually just plain steel wire, it's hard to imagine any sudden changes in the strings themselves that would cause this.

    Good luck!
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  8. #8
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    Default Re: Electric E strings

    Okay, guys, that might be it...maybe. I did use a soldering gun for the work, BUT, the solder work was about a month ago and I noticed the volume problem early this week.
    David Hopkins

    2001 Gibson F-5L mandolin
    Breedlove Legacy FF mandolin; Breedlove Quartz FF mandolin
    Gibson F-4 mandolin (1916); Blevins f-style Octave mandolin, 2018
    McCormick Oval Sound Hole "Reinhardt" Mandolin
    McCormick Solid Body F-Style Electric Mandolin; Slingerland Songster Guitar (c. 1939)

    The older I get, the less tolerant I am of political correctness, incompetence and stupidity.

  9. #9
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    Default Re: Electric E strings

    Quote Originally Posted by DHopkins View Post
    Okay, guys, that might be it...maybe. I did use a soldering gun for the work, BUT, the solder work was about a month ago and I noticed the volume problem early this week.
    All right. I'm having second thoughts. I think I remember thinking about adjusting the pickup height because the E strings were a little low not long after the solder work, I'll re-magnetize it and, coupled with the nickel strings, see if that improves it.
    David Hopkins

    2001 Gibson F-5L mandolin
    Breedlove Legacy FF mandolin; Breedlove Quartz FF mandolin
    Gibson F-4 mandolin (1916); Blevins f-style Octave mandolin, 2018
    McCormick Oval Sound Hole "Reinhardt" Mandolin
    McCormick Solid Body F-Style Electric Mandolin; Slingerland Songster Guitar (c. 1939)

    The older I get, the less tolerant I am of political correctness, incompetence and stupidity.

  10. #10
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    Default Re: Electric E strings

    Voila! It worked. I have a magnet that worked perfectly. It's actually 2 dot magnets, all quite powerful, mounted on some kind of a strip that only allows the magnetism in one direction. I have no idea where I got it. It's a magnet so, naturally, I kept it on the fridge. Where else? Anyway, the magnets were spaced almost perfectly for the A and E pickup poles. After 36 hours of letting them do their magic, I hooked the mandolin up to the amp and it appears to be even across the board, so to speak.

    Thanx, guys.

    (Sorry, Pops1, I still needed the preamp.)
    David Hopkins

    2001 Gibson F-5L mandolin
    Breedlove Legacy FF mandolin; Breedlove Quartz FF mandolin
    Gibson F-4 mandolin (1916); Blevins f-style Octave mandolin, 2018
    McCormick Oval Sound Hole "Reinhardt" Mandolin
    McCormick Solid Body F-Style Electric Mandolin; Slingerland Songster Guitar (c. 1939)

    The older I get, the less tolerant I am of political correctness, incompetence and stupidity.

  11. #11
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    Default Re: Electric E strings

    Whatever works, glad you got it going.
    THE WORLD IS A BETTER PLACE JUST FOR YOUR SMILE!

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