Solid body or semi-hollow?

[djweiss]

Can someone give some general explanation between the tonal difference between solid body and semi-hollow e-mandos?

I'm looking for the Tiny Moore sound, like heard on Back-to-Back...I would describe that as smooth, fat and mellow. Maybe it's Tiny more than the gear?

Also, humbucker or single-coil?

Thanks,
Darren

[Daniel Nestlerode]

DJ,
Tiny Moore's axe was made by Paul Bigsby. Solid body, maple, 5 string, single pick up made by Bigsby as well.

He settled after a while here in Sacramento and there was at least one guy who made replicas/versions of Tiny's Bigsby. If you dig around eBay, you'll see one pop up every once in a while. Martin Stillion may know a lot more about this subject than I do.

But as Grisman says, tone is in the hands. So you can get a TM kind of emando and play it, but you will still sound like yourself.

Daniel

[mando.player]

Not sure about semis but I was really surprised how my hollow EM5 sounded when I got it. As obvious as this seems, it sounds quite hollow

I suppose that organic would also apply. I'd say a solid body is definitely going to have more sustain. You could get a rail type humbucker with a switch to run it in series or in parallel. That would give you the HB tone and a single coil tone. Don't forget about the amp. That can make a big difference in the final tone too.

[mrmando]

DJ,
Tiny Moore's axe was made by Paul Bigsby. Solid body, maple, 5 string, single pick up made by Bigsby as well.

He settled after a while here in Sacramento and there was at least one guy who made replicas/versions of Tiny's Bigsby. If you dig around eBay, you'll see one pop up every once in a while. Martin Stillion may know a lot more about this subject than I do.

Well ... I do have one ... the maker's name was Jay Roberts. I'm not sure, but there may some tone chambers in it, although it doesn't have soundholes. It definitely sounds Tiny-ish. I find it hard to get that sound out of your typical solidbody slab instrument. A Fender FM-60E (semihollow) sounds more like Tiny than, say, the Bacorn or Ryder solidbodies I've got on hand.

[Daniel Nestlerode]

Yeah, I thought the Tiny Moore mandos would have been chambered, but Andy Babiuk says they're solid body. So that's what I went with.

Babiuk's The Story of Paul Bigsby is a great book. Not nearly enough about Tiny Moore's mandolin, though.

Daniel

Dnaiel

[djweiss]

Any more thoughts on solid-body vs semi-hollow for that Western Swing tone?

[Daniel Nestlerode]

ONe thought...
Have you looked into Johnny Gimble? He's a Western Swing guy too. Played an A4, I think, tuned like a mandola (CGDA) with only 4 strings. Much easier than trying to find a Tiny Moore mando.

Daniel

[mandroid]

He , Johnny Gimble, played an EM 150, F hole' short neck electric version, of an A50,
converted to a CGDA 4 string,
not an A4, .. an oval sound hole body ..
But A 40's and 50's are, somewhat like oval hole types, a fingerboard-on-the-body type construction,
rather than elevated fingerboard construction .

[Daniel Nestlerode]

I stand Corrected.

Daniel

[mrmando]

Johnny's mandolin is not an EM150, it's an A50 with an added pickup. Originally a Sears & Roebuck pickup IIRC.

Jon Mann's semihollow electrics do the Tiny-twang very well ... or, if you're on a budget, check out the Fender FM-60E.

[mandroid]

so it wasn't a P90 ? like on TG150's and EM 150's
I recall reading [here?] that Johnny got Leo to rewind the pickup, making it a Fender pickup after that.

FWIW,
conversion A50 I got, is good , pickup: Seymour Duncan 4 pole stacked humbucker dual coil
narrow enough to fit between tone bars , midway between fingerboard and bridge.