I took delivery of a white EMC yesterday and spent a few hours with it last night. I bought it to replace my Fender FM60E which I like the sound and playability of, but feels cheaply made and don't much care for the 5th string.
The EMC is well built and pretty, but I am not liking it much. Here are the complaints:
- The 24 fret neck and dual P-Bass pickups leave very little room for the pick. I'm constantly clicking on the neck or the pickup. There is about 1/2 inch of space between the pickup and neck that is the "sweet spot" that I have to hit.
- Due to the long neck, the position of the "neck" pickup is pretty far back. I was hoping to be able to achieve a "neck pickup strat" sound, but the EMC is stuck with a "bridge pickup tele" sound. This must be what the original mandola steers sound like, but I get a much bassier and warmer tone from the neck pickup of my FM-60E with it's shorter fingerboard and further spaced pickups. (the difference in sound is also affected by the semi-hollow construction of the fender, but pickup placement is the big issue here IMO). I just can't get a clean tone that I like out of this instrument. It does rock with overdrive, however.
- Much smaller issue: The fingerboard is flat as a pancake, not what I would expect for a electric instrument. I knew this going into it, but was still supposed. Also, there is a strange "hump" built into the base of the headstock that gets in the way of my thumb when playing in the open position.
Overall, I'm pretty disappointed with this unit. I was hoping for a "strat" to compliment the "ES-335" of my FM-60E. Instead I got a telecaster without a neck pickup, not what I was hoping for. This is probably the intention of the design, so I'll chock this up as a learning experience. Perhaps I'll grow to like it, or perhaps I'll move it along in a few months.
Bookmarks