On the Ryder train

[Ed Goist]

Thanks very much for the report Todd!
I'd love to see that mandola...acoustic or electric?

[Jerry Turberville]

WOW, that mandola sounds interesting. Thanks for the report Todd!

Ed, are you sitting by the front door waiting for the delivery????

[rico mando]

I think he has a tent set up at his local post office

[granite]

The mandola was a four-string solid-body electric. Everything was black except for the hardware, including an ebony finger board. The finish was impeccable. Bridge and fingerboard pickups could be switched from humbucking to single coil. I bet it sounded as good as it looked.

[Ed Goist]

...snip...Ed, are you sitting by the front door waiting for the delivery????

I think he has a tent set up at his local post office

Just now received a text from home...The Ryder was just delivered!
It's been very cold between here & Maine, and Steve told me that the Nitro lacquer finish is still curing, so I'll likely allow the box to fully acclimate until either late tonight or early tomorrow morning.
Fortunately, I am off work tomorrow to begin a long weekend!
Hence, there will be much picture taking and high volume shenanigans over the next few days!
I'll be sure to report back.

[Chinn]

Congrats Ed! I'm sure you're like a kid at Christmas!

[rico mando]

Wait until tomorrow bro after work . you do not want that mandolin to change temp very quickly now .

[Ed Goist]

I was somehow able to wait until this morning to open the box. Better safe than sorry.

Wow...What a great e-mando!

Workmanship, fit, and finish are excellent, but these Ryder custom stacked humbuckers are totally off the hook! They're full and rich at lower volume and hot and aggressive when the amp is overdriven. They eat the PUPs on my Tele for lunch! They really bring the Super Champ XD amp to life. The tonal profile of the Ryder is completely different (and more complex) than that of my Telecaster...I look forward to finding the new "just right" amp and effects settings for the Ryder.

Of course, the benefit of any custom build is that you can get the exact playability specs you want, but Steve has absolutely nailed it for me on the Ryder. Neck profile, nut width, string spacing, action, fretboard radius, fret size, and intonation are all pretty much spot on for me.

In terms of appearance, I think the Ryder is just striking! The quilted Maple body overlay, the premium Ebony fretboard (one of the nicest I've seen), the Ebony peghead overlay, and the vintage tortoise pickguard all work beautifully together visually.

If I can find our camera I'll take some pics today & post them here.

[Tom Wright]

Welcome aboard, Ed. Will enjoy your report after you get familiar with its tone possibilities.

[Ed Goist]

[Barry Canada]

Hi Ed,
Looks great!
I am sure your will love it!
I wish you lots of healthy picking in this new year!
Regards and best wishes for 2012

[Rodney Riley]

Wow!!!!!! Bee-You-Tea full!!!!! Remember to take your hands off of it and eat at least once a day!

[Chinn]

Ed, do you know anyone that replaces laptop keyboards... I just drooled all over mine!

Wow, great wood selection, beautiful construction. Absolutely awesome!

[Jerry Turberville]

WOW!! That's beautiful........(numerous oooohs and aaaahs).

[Ed Goist]

Here's a sound check on the Ryder after a few hours of noodling...
Some Yank inspired 12 Bar Blues in G, some Blues 7 Chords, and finally letting the wolf run some...
This is the first day with the Ryder & I've been without an e-mando for 4+ month, so please be gentle.
Man...This is going to be fun!

[Chinn]

Gorgeous looking and gorgeous sounding instrument Ed! Congrats.

[Bill Snyder]

Ed, beautiful mandolin and a good, clean, electric sound from it.

[Tom Wright]

Gorgeous instrument.

We would enjoy hearing a pickup- and tone-setting demo, i.e. bridge, both, neck, and tone control up, partial, and down.

[Ed Goist]

Gorgeous instrument.
We would enjoy hearing a pickup- and tone-setting demo, i.e. bridge, both, neck, and tone control up, partial, and down.

Thanks so much Barry, Rodney, Chinn, Jerry, Bill, & Tom!

Tom, ask and ye shall receive! Here are a couple of demo videos for the pick-ups & the tone control.
Again, both pick-ups are Ryder custom stacked humbuckers, and the amp is a Fender Super Champ XD on the clean channel with both the bass & treble set at 5 with no effects.

I do wish I had better recording equipment (my videos are recorded through my laptop's internal mic using the Dell webcam), as these videos really do not do this fine instrument justice.

[Jerry Turberville]

Oh yes!! very nice tone! Of course I'm chomping at the bit over here waiting for mine......
It sounded to me that the pickups were very well balanced, volume wise. Am I hearing this correctly? Most of the emandos I've owned seem to be quieter on the bridge pickup. This would be a welcome development for me.

Oh yeah, are you having fun yet?????

[Ed Goist]

Oh yes!! very nice tone! Of course I'm chomping at the bit over here waiting for mine......
It sounded to me that the pickups were very well balanced, volume wise. Am I hearing this correctly? Most of the emandos I've owned seem to be quieter on the bridge pickup. This would be a welcome development for me.

Oh yeah, are you having fun yet?????

Hi Jerry; every time I open this thread I look forward to seeing the magnificent sunburst and quilted maple of your 'in progress' Ryder EM-55. So stunning! Is it still scheduled for delivery this month?

Yes - I would say the pick-ups on my Ryder are very balanced. The neck PUP has as much punch as the bridge, no doubt. Also, I'm pretty amazed by the tonal range of this e-mando when one uses the tone control on the PUPs. I have rarely done this on my electrics, and I'm very glad Tom suggested dialing the tone knob during the PUP demo video. That was very revealing (thanks Tom!).

The tone sweep on both pick-ups when dialing the tone knob is substantial. With that, and the three-way PUP selection switch, I'm confident I have all of the tonal possibilities I could ever need. These Ryder PUPs are as good as any I've heard on any instrument.

Jerry, it looks like yours will have two standard-sized humbuckers (?). Will you be going with the standard switch, or are you going for some coil splitting?

[Jerry Turberville]

Steve said he hoped to be done sometime after the 10th. I'll be checking with him in a few days. Yes, It will be wired for splitting coils on the neck pup. Almost had the midi installed, but it just wasn't in the budget.
I meant to ask did you get the nice custom case he recommends? I'm curious to see if it's as nice as what I'd read about them. Of course, I can't remember the case name at the moment.....

[Ed Goist]

Very cool Jerry! With those split coils on the neck PUP you will have an incredible amount of tonal options! Very nice.
Since the Ryder was already stretching my budget for this project, I passed on the extra $270 for the custom Cedar Creek Case Co. case. Since I'm not a gigging musician, that case seemed like overkill.
I've been casually looking for a good gig bag/hybrid case for the Ryder. I think I'll be going with the Mandolin Rockbag by Warwick. The dimensions look like a great match for the EM-44, and the specs make this bag looks like a good hybrid bag/case that provides decent protection.
All I'll need from the bag is protection for the instrument when I go to jams or mandolin camps.
Anyone have any other suggestions for a decent aftermarket bag/case for a Ryder?

[Tom Wright]

...Most of the emandos I've owned seem to be quieter on the bridge pickup...

Bridge pickups are always less output than equivalent neck pickups, given the smaller string movement. Thus you see Strats with humbucker/single coil combos, and the Tele setup has a larger pickup at the bridge position. Ed's bridge pickup is some distance from the bridge, which means more string movement than on emandos with pickups close to the bridge, and it is set a bit closer to the strings (compared to neck pup) to compensate for the remaining output difference.

For mine I set the neck pickup flush with pickguard, and bridge pickup up a bit, approx half the distance to strings. Both are tilted some to emphasize the E.

[Soundfarmer Pete]

[B]I've been casually looking for a good gig bag/hybrid case for the Ryder. I think I'll be going with the Mandolin Rockbag by Warwick. The dimensions look like a great match for the EM-44, and the specs make this bag looks like a good hybrid bag/case that provides decent protection.

Best gigbags I`ve ever come across!!!! Standard issue with non Custom Shop Warwick basses......plenty of padding.