Searching for the Sound ...

[mtm]

I saw Bill Frisell the other night (jazz guitar)... yes, it's not mandolin, but he has a very distinctive sound that I've appreciated for a long time. Got me thinking that many notable electric guitarists have their own, identifiable sound, which I assume comes from the guitar and all the effects gear: Frisell is constantly fiddling with his gear, which his fans accept and perhaps might find endearing.

So, the question is ... do you electric mandolinists have a 'sound'? Are you still searching? As a beginner, I'm simply trying not to sound awful, but thought it would be interesting to hear how you all go about 'finding a sound'....

[Pete Martin]

First and foremost is knowing what you want to sound like. Then find the gear and more importantly playing technique that delivers that sound.

[mtm]

not so much worried about ME getting a sound ... interested in the process of others, and what you've arrived at.... but thanks.....

[JeffD]

I would like to sound as far away from sucky as possible.

[Charlieshafer]

I find that on electric, with more effects pedals plugged in in a chain, I can achieve Jeff's goal (it's a shared one) and fool people into thinking I'm trying to sound like that, or whatever it is it sounds like. I have strung up an old cruddy Telecaster with heavy strings, turning it into an electric mandocello. With that, and a LOT of reverb, delay, and roto-emulator, I am now the king of "New Age Spaghetti Western Suck." You get to play very few notes in an awful long time, which suits me well.

[Pete Martin]

not so much worried about ME getting a sound ... interested in the process of others, and what you've arrived at.... but thanks.....

I have two sounds I look for.

1) Wes Montgomery on "The Incredible Jazz Guitar of" recording. I come pretty close with a 66 Ampeg Gemini II and a Jonathan Mann EM4 or EM5. I use Thomastic Flatwounds and a heavy pick just behind the pickup.

2) Don Rich on Buck Owens old recordings. Don played a Tele thru mostly a Blackface Fender style amp. I use a solid body J Bovier electric mando with a Marsh Big Texan (64 Vibroverb clone). I like the amp but have not found the mandolin to have the sound I want. I am seriously getting a Jason Lollar Charlie Christian telecaster pickup and having it installed on this mando.

For gigs, as those 2 amps described are heavy and big, I use a Quilter MicroPro 200, which is 200 watts solid state and weighs 19 pounds. Great sound and I only need to make one trip to the car!

[SternART]

I dig Bill Frisell........and you're right he fiddles with his sound.
I saw the recent tour behind his John Lennon covers CD, and he
had very good tone that night.

[JackTripper]

I don't have an electric mandolin (yet); but, when it came to guitar, I had fun with with everything from the thickest fuzz to tone so thin it sounded like it was coming out of a transistor radio. I'd love to be able to nail down a "me" sound (and have always admired musicians that have found theirs), but I think my ideal tone changes from day to day.

[thistle3585]

There are clearly some musicians that have an identifiable sound and that is reflected in the equipment as well as their technique. I'm not a big fan of "The Edge", but I was impressed with his setup and little blurb that was shot at his studio in "It might get loud". I have a customer working on his fifth or sixth emando trying to find the sound that he hears in his head. I don't know if I'll be able to meet his needs but sometimes it seems as much of a curse as it is a gift. Typically, when people buy an instrument from me, I ask them the style of music they play so that I can "fit" a pickup and electronics package to them. I just received an order for a five string from a different musician to play in a C&W band. Not sure what that "sound" is yet but hopefully we can come up with something.

[mtm]

Yes, Andrew, I read a Frisell interview and he pretty much said what you mentioned ... he fiddles with his gear so much because he's not hearing what's in his head, i.e., 'searching for the sound'. I went for a Fender MandoStrat, which suits me just fine at my very beginner level, and I'm enjoying it as much as my acoustic ... although I'm giving the acoustic more attention because I think it's best to learn on ... and I have a LONG way to go. I also agree with Charlie ... the electric with effects is much more forgiving than the acoustic. I'm just using GarageBand effects and a line out to a Kustom amp so I can hear it (better than headphones). I worked up "You Are My Sunshine", the first tune I learned to play, to a "Frisell-ish" vibe and made a respectable showing for my skill leve (IMHO). I also really like Frisell's take on "Shenandoah" (on a live cd from japan) and worked up my own version on the Fender, which my wife actually 'got', but after re-listening to Frisell's, it's pretty lame ... I won't be sharing with the Cafe any time soon!!! Found a youtube of him playing it, and don't really recognize it as "shenandoah" until about 3:26, which I find appealing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Svzv-YkUzdk).

So Andrew, have any of your clients been able to describe what they are after, beyond "a C&W sound", in a way that influenced how you crafted the instrument? I would imagine it's a difficult thing to describe beyond "I'll know it when I hear it".

Anyway, look forward to hearing how others approach 'the sound', what you are after, an if you've gotten there ....

There are clearly some musicians that have an identifiable sound and that is reflected in the equipment as well as their technique. I'm not a big fan of "The Edge", but I was impressed with his setup and little blurb that was shot at his studio in "It might get loud". I have a customer working on his fifth or sixth emando trying to find the sound that he hears in his head. I don't know if I'll be able to meet his needs but sometimes it seems as much of a curse as it is a gift. Typically, when people buy an instrument from me, I ask them the style of music they play so that I can "fit" a pickup and electronics package to them. I just received an order for a five string from a different musician to play in a C&W band. Not sure what that "sound" is yet but hopefully we can come up with something.

[vwfye]

I went on a quest for pedals to get that sound in my head. After hours of demoing, I stumbled on a modeling amp that gives me one of the 2 I was looking for via a pre set. The other I am getting closer to with the manual settings... That sound I hear daily in my head drives and haunts me...

[thistle3585]

MTM,
I don't really build for sound in the manner that you would for an acoustic. There are a number of things within the building process of solid bodies that can affect the sound such as increasing or decreasing sustain and how the string degrades.

[mandroid]

The CGDA 4 string modified A50 , EM150 sound is good.

The little bit of resonance vs a solid body..

[Tom Wright]

Frisell always tends toward a transparent, spacious sound, and his various Fender guitars are good for that, with the clear single-coil pickup tone and the long ringing sustain. I tried to emulate that in my Shenandoah, inspired by Frisell.

In my early guitar days, I tried to sound like the players whose songs I was playing, which led to certain equipment choices (Fender). But when our band's repertoire needed an extra fret (22 instead of Fender's 21) and hum-cancelling pickups (bad club wiring) I switched to Gibson. From then on, I was finding the sound that worked for the music I was playing, trying Les Paul Deluxe (mini-humbuckers), Travis Bean, and eventually Yamaha (Santana model).

More recently, when I chose a 5-string emando maker, I went with Ryder because he had a Fender-type construction on his solid body model, and he had humbucking single-coil pickups, thus giving me the features I preferred. I could specify pickup location to emulate the Stratocaster layout.

I can achieve a wide range of tone, and I choose according to the music I am playing--dark and fat for jazz, open and twangy for country, hard-edged for rock. For now, though, I am enjoying the Ryder magnetic pickup I use on my 10-string, which gives a fat, big-box tone useful for jazz and other styles for my school-show trio.

[Londy]

I would like to sound as far away from sucky as possible.

I second that.

[mtm]

Frisell always tends toward a transparent, spacious sound, and his various Fender guitars are good for that, with the clear single-coil pickup tone and the long ringing sustain. I tried to emulate that in my Shenandoah, inspired by Frisell.

In my early guitar days, I tried to sound like the players whose songs I was playing, which led to certain equipment choices (Fender). But when our band's repertoire needed an extra fret (22 instead of Fender's 21) and hum-cancelling pickups (bad club wiring) I switched to Gibson. From then on, I was finding the sound that worked for the music I was playing, trying Les Paul Deluxe (mini-humbuckers), Travis Bean, and eventually Yamaha (Santana model).

More recently, when I chose a 5-string emando maker, I went with Ryder because he had a Fender-type construction on his solid body model, and he had humbucking single-coil pickups, thus giving me the features I preferred. I could specify pickup location to emulate the Stratocaster layout.

I can achieve a wide range of tone, and I choose according to the music I am playing--dark and fat for jazz, open and twangy for country, hard-edged for rock. For now, though, I am enjoying the Ryder magnetic pickup I use on my 10-string, which gives a fat, big-box tone useful for jazz and other styles for my school-show trio.

Nice Shenandoah ... that was on guitar, right? I'd like to hear a mandolin adaptation.....

[Ed Goist]

When it comes to electric players, I think it's easy to underestimate the effects technique, touch and feel have on tone because of the equipment and gadgetry that goes along with playing an electric instrument.

However, when it comes right down to it, I'd say the tone is mostly right there in the players' fingers.

[Tom Wright]

Nice Shenandoah ... that was on guitar, right? I'd like to hear a mandolin adaptation.....

I guess the post is ambiguous, but the Soundcloud page says it is an electric mando; I used my Ryder 5-string.