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Thread: New (to me) Jbovier EMC

  1. #1
    Registered User Jeff Budz's Avatar
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    Default New (to me) Jbovier EMC

    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.

  2. #2
    Registered User mando.player's Avatar
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    Default Re: New (to me) Jbovier EMC

    You may be able to lower the pickup a bit. I am also in the "don't like to pick over the pickup" camp. I'm assuming that you've tried all of the pickup positions. Is the fret board really flat? That's surprising.
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  3. #3
    Registered User Jeff Budz's Avatar
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    Default Re: New (to me) Jbovier EMC

    Yeah, really flat board, but I can deal with it. I know it was the reason Ed was selling his.

    Not much difference between the pickups because they are so close together. It's like having a strat with only a middle and bridge pickup. When I play strat (or any electric guitar or the FM-60E) I use the neck pickup 90% of the time.

    The EMC has a great country lead tone and is great with distortion. I figure it was designed for those purposes.

    I lowered the pickups a bit and it helps, but if I were keeping it I would scoop the last few frets of the fingerboard and pick up there.

  4. #4
    Work in Progress Ed Goist's Avatar
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    Default Re: New (to me) Jbovier EMC

    Jeff, I'm sorry the EMC isn't working out for you.

    As you mention, the nearly flat fretboard did me in on mine...Jeff Coward says that the boards of these have a radius of about 14". With the narrow fretboard on a mandolin, that's very nearly flat. You could really only notice the radius down at the bottom of the board.

    I was able to get used to the minimal picking room fairly quickly, but I've noticed that I leave very little of the pick exposed under my fingertips. Still, it was something I had to watch fairly regularly.

    I had no problem with the tone. I played on both pick-ups just about all the time, and almost always played with distortion.

    It was that nearly flat fretboard that was the deal-breaker for me.
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  5. #5
    Work in Progress Ed Goist's Avatar
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    Default Re: New (to me) Jbovier EMC

    I just re-checked my message from Jeff Cowherd (sorry about the bad spelling of his name above...I was auto-corrected!) on the fretboard radius on the EMC. Jeff says, "the radius is slight (14" - 16")".
    To provide some idea of how flat that is on a narrow mandolin board, check out this graphic:

    Click image for larger version. 

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    BTW, I'd just like to add that Jeff Cowherd is a super guy to work with.
    c.1965 Harmony Monterey H410 Mandolin
    "What a long, strange trip it's been..." - Robert Hunter
    "Life is too important to be taken seriously." - Oscar Wilde
    Think Hippie Thoughts...
    Gear: The Current Cast of Characters

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    Default Re: New (to me) Jbovier EMC

    Neck radius is not something that has attracted my attention. The distance between the strings and neck pickup was an issue at first, but I have simply adjusted my picking and it is no longer an issue. The closeness of the two pickups is something that I have thought about, but much of my playing is in the center position so I think of it as one large humbucker.

    I like the neck and the overall fel of the instrument. Not at all feeling buyer's remorse.

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    Default Re: New (to me) Jbovier EMC

    I've had mine since August, and I absolutely love it! Although the JBovier Emando is far different than playing an acoustic instrument-in any number of ways-I didn't have any difficulties adjusting to the aforementioned issues others seem to have experienced. Just like beautiful women, most mandolins are different in one way or another; that's a big part of the charm when you finally find the right one.

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