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Thread: Bridge pickups

  1. #1
    Registered User Elliot Luber's Avatar
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    My knowledge of electric instruments is really limited to guitars, where I know a enough to cause trouble. Anyway, I always felt that the trademark Fender sound really came from the Telecaster's bridge pickup, but I see most electric mandolins don't have one. 1) Why is this, and 2) what impact do or would one have on the sound? Thanks.




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    The higher range of the mandolin means that as the pickup moves closer to the bridge the sound gets brighter and thinner, as it does on a Tele, only on the mandolin it becomes TOO bright, and un-useable sometimes, so some luthiers leave the bright pickup off and go for a fatter neck pickup sound.

    This is a matter of taste of course. For some, even the Fender Mandocasters of old are too trebly, the pickup located about a third of the way between neck and bridge. But in the hands of Sam Bush they sound just right, don't they?

    I have a Stevens Paul Glasse model 5-string with two humbuckers. About the only time the "bright" pickup is on is
    in conjunction with the neck pickup for a sort of 335--B.B. King type sound..

  3. #3
    coprolite mandroid's Avatar
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    OTOH, bridge saddle pickups, such as the RMC [my sample], and a magnetic coil

    pickup, in neck position, offer a good combination option,
    particularly if sent thru

    separate EFX signal paths and then blended back together.



    writing about music
    is like dancing,
    about architecture

  4. #4
    Is there a "talent" knob? Christian McKee's Avatar
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    I second Don, with a slight modification: I don't think they get too bright (you can always roll a little high end off,) I think they get too thin. There's just not enough mid range resonance to be pleasing to my ear. But that's really mostly the case when playing leads or melody parts. When I play the role of a rhythm guitar in a rock band using my 5 string mandolin, I'll often switch over to the bridge pickup for the additional articulation, and the ability to bang out big, clangy chords without sounding like a metal player. In short, it lets me get a little more of that telecaster sound!

    Christian
    Christian McKee

    Member, The Big North Duo
    Musical Director, The Oregon Mandolin Orchestra

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    Registered User Perry's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by
    But in the hands of Sam Bush they sound just right, don't they?
    Yeah they do! but Sam always has a fair amount of overdrive/distortion applied. I've never heard him play his elecric with a clean tone. He was actually toying with the Eric Clapton Crossroads pedal last I heard.

    Best electric mando pick-up I heard is the P-90's that are on the Em-200's Woah!

    I had a mid-fifties and that pick-up was one of the most musical I ever heard.

    Sold the instrument and the pick-up. I'd like to have that pick-up in my Schwab; I'm not crazy about the Bartloni's; maybe good for jazz but they don't sound good in a rock/blues context IMHO.

  6. #6
    Is there a "talent" knob? Christian McKee's Avatar
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    I'd love to know about the back end of Sam's signal chain. Amp, effects, etc... Anyone?

    Christian
    Christian McKee

    Member, The Big North Duo
    Musical Director, The Oregon Mandolin Orchestra

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    Registered User Elliot Luber's Avatar
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    Thanks. This is very helpful so far. Yeah, what do folks put on the back end for a mandolin? Do you double notes that already had double strings?

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    Sam talks about his setup in his recently released concert video. I think he travels with a Marshall amp. Years ago I saw him running a SansAmp pedal straight into the board. Now it's the Marshall, mic'd into the house...Back in the early Newgrass days he did use a clean sound, maybe with a Phase 90 along for the ride.What's that song, is it "Empty Bottles"?? Tells the story of a musician's life...He also played actual Telecaster on "These Days". These songs came out before most of us were born...you know...

    I agree about the musicality of those Gibson solidbody 8 strings, that's a real nice sound, unique, and mandolinnish.
    I recall a good deal of hum, but, even so...Oh, the ones that got away!

    Ricky Skaggs used to play clean Fender sounding electric. Check out his Highways and Heartaches album...Hiway 40 blues, etc. I think that's a Joe Glaser custom mandolin replete with great sounding single coils, string benders and all.

    I like the single string sound, sort of "electric guitar in fifths". Distortion is fine, a fat jazz tone is fine or a bendy blues thing...For an eight string, more authentic mandolin sound I'll just use an amplified acoustic, the kind with a transducer installed in the top of the bridge. But I think it's all good and with all the types of pickups and tone controls it seems like the possibility of getting just what you want is there.

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