I'm going to buy my first electric mandolin. What do you think, better the Epiphone's Mandobird or the Fender's Mandocaster? And in both cases, 4 or 8 strings?
thanks.
I'm going to buy my first electric mandolin. What do you think, better the Epiphone's Mandobird or the Fender's Mandocaster? And in both cases, 4 or 8 strings?
thanks.
There have been a bunch of threads on this topic, try looking around a bit. Generally speaking it depends on what kind of music you want to play - loud "traditional" mandolin music is best played on an eight string, but if you want to get into sounds that blur the line between mandolins and electric guitars, four or five strings are better suited. Of course, that's one guy's opinion.
Christian
Restating above reply ...
Q with a Q: what music do you have in mind ? a need to amplify your 8 string playing in a loud stage environment is one indication .
NB: real Fender Mandocasters are $2K+ as they have not made any for decades,
and so are collectible priced.
Encouraged to read up in the archived posts? there are many ..
reading there you will find many have felt compelled to modify their M-Birds .
writing about music
is like dancing,
about architecture
Plenty of information at emando.com. You will not find a 4-string Fender, either original or imported, that even approaches a Mandobird for affordability. There are 5-string and 8-string imported Fenders from a few years ago; they're decent instruments but a bit noisy. The Fenders and Epis use different pickups and don't sound that much alike.
I'd aim a little higher and look at Eastwood, Blue Star, Jerman, Elloree, etc.
Emando.com: More than you wanted to know about electric mandolins.
Notorious: My Celtic CD--listen & buy!
Lyon & Healy Wood Thormahlen Andersen Bacorn Yanuziello Fender National Gibson Franke Fuchs Aceto Three Hungry Pit Bulls
Well, i'll play something more like rock than other musics.
Then you probably want a 4- or 5-string, solid body. What's your budget?
Emando.com: More than you wanted to know about electric mandolins.
Notorious: My Celtic CD--listen & buy!
Lyon & Healy Wood Thormahlen Andersen Bacorn Yanuziello Fender National Gibson Franke Fuchs Aceto Three Hungry Pit Bulls
Check out the Godin A8
Nice instruments....the most acoustic sounding and feeling emando I know of. I sold mine as I wanted something for very quiet late night practice and it was way too loud acoustically for that.....a decision I know I will regret. If you dropped a magnetic pick up in one I bet it would be a real "do it all" kinda instrument. Not what everyone is looking for in an electric but if an acoustic vibe does it for ya these are a lotta bang for the buck. Only caution I'd offer is the bridge is glued on and I found changing from the stock strings to my preferred TI flats impossible due to the radical intonation change.
jeff bonny
Italian, eh?
I wonder if there might be any Fender FM-984s or SB-4s still floating around Europe. (You can read more about those at Emando.com.) They were fairly inexpensive in Europe, but most of the batch that hit the United States sold for collector prices.
Also keep an eye on European eBay sites (UK in particular) for Alden Mandocasters ... very similar to the Eastwood Mandocaster, but distributed mostly in Europe as opposed to U.S./Canada for the Eastwood. They have 8 strings but you can always remove four of them.
I just sold an American-built 4-string electric by Terry Bales to someone in Brescia ... but the problem in importing from America is that postage and import duty will consume a third of your budget.
Emando.com: More than you wanted to know about electric mandolins.
Notorious: My Celtic CD--listen & buy!
Lyon & Healy Wood Thormahlen Andersen Bacorn Yanuziello Fender National Gibson Franke Fuchs Aceto Three Hungry Pit Bulls
Nice.
But i have some doubts about 5-strings. How do you play them? Are similar to a classic mandolin or entirely different?
It's like a liuto, only an octave higher! Or a tenor mandola plus a mandolin in one instrument.
Some players mute the C string or skip over it when chording. Some learn mandola chords and leave the E string out. Some use partial 2- or 3-note chords all over the instrument and mute whatever strings they're not using at the moment. A few learn 5-string barre chords and do a lot of shifting.
Emando.com: More than you wanted to know about electric mandolins.
Notorious: My Celtic CD--listen & buy!
Lyon & Healy Wood Thormahlen Andersen Bacorn Yanuziello Fender National Gibson Franke Fuchs Aceto Three Hungry Pit Bulls
I wonder if there are any vintage Eko electrics floating around Italy?
Emando.com: More than you wanted to know about electric mandolins.
Notorious: My Celtic CD--listen & buy!
Lyon & Healy Wood Thormahlen Andersen Bacorn Yanuziello Fender National Gibson Franke Fuchs Aceto Three Hungry Pit Bulls
Ok, now the final question? Is an 8-string emando played with half string the same of a 4-string? (sound quality, comfort ecc.)
yep if you buy own a 4 string and buy a pack, you get two sets....
there's probably slightly different preferences as to particular gauges (light,med, heavy etc) but that is differs more with players preference anyway. opinion will vary about gauge and tone/playability etc
I don't have any experience taking an 8 string instrument, and stringing it with 4 strings (I think that's what you're asking?) It sure seems like it would work just fine, I think the only issue might be the nut slots would be slightly to one side or the other. Small differences, but we're talking about small instruments...
Christian
It works for Jeff Bird and Johnny Gimble. You can't do a good mandolin tremolo with single strings, but if you're playing rock music, you probably won't need to worry about that.
Emando.com: More than you wanted to know about electric mandolins.
Notorious: My Celtic CD--listen & buy!
Lyon & Healy Wood Thormahlen Andersen Bacorn Yanuziello Fender National Gibson Franke Fuchs Aceto Three Hungry Pit Bulls
I have a Gibson an EM150 like A 50 that has been partially converted to a CGDA 4 string electric,
re slotting the replacement nut and a different bridge
.. combined with a magnetic pickup and Control Pots installed ..
re-centering the strings for equal spacing helps.. its worth the effort.
writing about music
is like dancing,
about architecture
J Bovier emandos should be available in a few weeks. Don't know the exact price point but they look promising IMHO. If I was in the market, I'd wait for their arrival.
Wye Knot
The OP is in Italy and has only 300 euros to spend. A JBovier will cost him twice that much by the time it gets to him.
Emando.com: More than you wanted to know about electric mandolins.
Notorious: My Celtic CD--listen & buy!
Lyon & Healy Wood Thormahlen Andersen Bacorn Yanuziello Fender National Gibson Franke Fuchs Aceto Three Hungry Pit Bulls
converting an 8 string to a 4 string i would think that recut nut and probably a different bridge would be required in order for string spacings to feel right...
lining up an Epi'bird 8 next to 4 the 4 string's neck is somewhat narrower - along with the fretboard and headstock of course..
how many euros to the pound? RUMC has Aldens on ebay for 190pound, and clearwaters (appears to be the same bar cosmetics) even cheaper
these would give you the feel of playing an 8 string mando, but output an electric sound...
Risa in Germany still in business? they offered some interesting little electrics for modest prices.
writing about music
is like dancing,
about architecture
Another solution :
you can purchase in France (here) the Saga e-mando kit... It will cost 170+10 shipping, and keep some money to upgrade the pickup, if you want (I didnt do this, because the actual pickup is good enough for me), or to buy a great amp...
Dιjΰ Vu 5s 'Clockwork Orange 2' Emando - 'Clockwork Orange 3' Octave Emando - Goodtime Tenor Banjo - Former Framus mandocello
Kasuga M50-Godin A8-Martella bowlback-Dunhuang Liuqin-Thόringer walddoline-2 Bφhm waldzithers-electric waldzither-'Gelas' mandolin-domeback mandolin-Clearwater upgraded EMando
"A gentleman is a man who can play the bagpipe and who does not."
Duplicate post...see the next one...
Chuck
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