Acoustic electric

[Baron Collins-Hill]

a woman i am teaching is interested in an acoustic electric mando around but not above $900. its kind of a funny market that i dont know much about. all i know about are the cheap ebay styles, the sub par fenders, and stuff like the Phoenix jazz which is out of her price range.

any ideas?

thanks,
baron

[Christian McKee]

She's playing a regular acoustic instrument now? Perhaps she'd be happy just mounting a mic or bridge pickup on whatever she's already got. Schertler, McIntyre, and various others make some nice options, and a good tech/luthier could do an endpin jack or something similar.

Taboot, Taboot!

Christian

[DaveNB]

The Godin A8 sounds pretty descent. I have played a couple in stores and they were well set up out of the box and sounded acceptable without amplification. They run about 600 to 800 dollars depending on what finish is on them.

[JHo]

I agree with Taboot. If she has a good instrument already, and/or if a $900 instrument would be a step down, I think I'd lean toward installing a pickup of some sort to the instrument she already has. Even the Schertler is well within that range with preamp and all. Then again, a McIntyre feather with a decent preamp is an even more economical alternative.

[Baron Collins-Hill]

i think she is more inclined towards a new instrument all together. she has an inexpensive mandolin that doesnt seem to have any solid wood in it at all. would an option be to get a more decent mando and have a tech get it singing with a mcintyre and a preamp through the endpin? im not sure what that would end up costing and if the mando could be decent enough without going over the $900 mark.

thanks for the help,
baron

[JHo]

I might pick up a used Eastman A style and drop the electronics into that. That would still fit the budget, and I feel the Eastman As are a lot of instrument for the money, especially used ones.

[mrmando]

There are used Ovation MM68s selling in that price range on Craig's List and so forth. She should avoid the cheaper MCS148 and Applause mandolins, but the MM68 is a good instrument. The Godin is nice, but doesn't have sound holes and doesn't make much noise when not plugged in.

Also look for a Tacoma M1E, M2E or M3E. The E indicates that it has a built-in pickup.

Elloree Instruments in Louisiana can build her an acoustic/electric for $575-675, depending on which style she prefers. It's a custom no-frills builder that uses all solid woods and is a lot of bang for the buck.

If she gets a good instrument around $800, she won't want to play her stinky one any more. She can dump it on eBay for $75, and then she'll have enough to buy a McIntyre and get it installed.

Where are you located? I know a local shop with a nice Breedlove OF that can be had for $800 and would be a good candidate for a McIntyre, Fishman or Baggs installation.

[Chippster]

I really cannot recommend the Ovation, because it uses ball-end strings and your string choices are very limited. I like my Fender FM62E just fine and my old acoustic is a '58 Gibson A-50 with a Fishman bridge. The Gibson sounds better acoustic, but the Fender sounds better plugged in. One thing you've got to take into account is the fact that a good acoustic mandolin won't necessarily be a great sounding acoustic/electric mando! I really don't like solid bodies except as single string instruments. My Fender sounds 100% better when i put a tube preamp between it and the PA ! Just my opinion YMMV.

[mandroid]

My humbucker pickup improved FM61 fender electric could change hands for less than 900.
more electric than acoustic, but there is a sound-chamber surrounding the thru the body ferrule, [and an f soundhole]
type bridge mounting block.

PM at will..

[EdSherry]

It depends if you want it to sound good unplugged as well as plugged-in. #I like my Godin A8 a lot for "acoustic"-sounding amplified work, but it has virtually no acoustic sound when unplugged.

Of the off-the-shelf acoustic-electrics, other than the Godin, the only one I've had any good luck with is the Fender FM-62E:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product....6040879

(NFI.)

Personally, I've never liked the Ovations, though YMMV.

If you want an instrument that sounds good both plugged-in and acoustically, I'd second the suggestion to buy a decent acoustic mando (used Eastmans are good) and have a pickup (Fishman, Pick-Up-The-World, McIntyre, etc.) retrofitted. #

I would not try to install a preamp in the instrument; IMHO, you're better off with an outboard preamp.

[mrmando]

I really cannot recommend the Ovation, because it uses ball-end strings and your string choices are very limited.

Not really ... when it's time to change strings, just clip the balls out of the old ones. Then you can buy any set of loop-end strings you want and stick the old balls in the new loops. I have to do this with my mandocello. It's not an Ovation, but it's set up for ball-end strings.

Or another solution that might work for some ball-end tailpieces: The first time I took the bridge cover off Blondie, my Kent e-mando, I discovered that someone had devised a novel way to put loop-end strings on it. This clever person had taken a small metal rod, about the thickness of a toothpick, and run it through the loops of all eight strings. The string tension held it in place just fine. One disadvantage would be that you'd have to pretty much change all the strings at once. Or at least to replace a broken D or A string, you'd have to loosen all the strings enough to pull the rod out to one side. I went ahead and changed Blondie over to ball-end strings, but I still thought the rod was an interesting solution.