E-mandolin inspirations and tips

[Ausdoerrt]

So I recently got my used Mandobird VIII up to speed, but after trying it out I didn't make the transition from acoustic to electric as easily as expected - it's really a different beast compared to an acoustic mando.

Now, it's worth noting that I got it primarily to play in my celtic-punk band. I've used an acoustic w/ piezo for a while, but constant feedback and/or low volume has been getting to me. So I figured, a solid-body should take care of that.

Any suggestions to make the transition easier? I don't really need/want it to sound like a second electric guitar. That said, if there are any special, unique things an e-mando can do that's neither 'mando' nor 'guitar', I'd also like to know.

Also in this regard, are there any e-mandolinists I should definitely, absolutely listen to?


Thanks!

[JeffD]

I struggle with this very issue myself.

Playing an electric 8 string the tremolo is still very mandolinny when playing clean, but any overdrive at all and it sounds like noise.

I play a 4 string, so the only real mandolinny things are the intervals I reach for naturally all come from mandolin. (Its obvious from my playing I have never played guitar, much less electric guitar.) That and the lack of string bending.

[Ausdoerrt]

Yeah, I mean, so far I've managed to either get an 'inferior' mandolin sound (in terms of tone), or an 'inferior' guitar sound (in terms of range).

Any advice on how to make it work or at least where to look for inspiration would be nice - the thing looks too good on stage to put it into the "for weird experiments only" category


P.S. Though perhaps this will help you with the "muddiness" issue - I've found the Orange-style overdrive to give a pretty organic sound - well, for pretty much anything, mandolin included.

[Tom Wright]

The first issue for me is the attack on a solid-body tends to be too strong, too thick in tone, and rather uninteresting. Much lighter touch is needed; light pick helps, a different picking angle helps. I find the pushing-in stroke, also called rest-stroke, makes a good tone if the grip is flexible or the pick very light. The best location along the string will usually be different than on your acoustic axe. I use picking well onto the fingerboard for reducing the strong "pop", especially when strumming. A very angled pick at the bridge is another useful sound. For Celtic I would alternate between those two picking styles, moving to the bridge when taking the melody. The normal comfort zone tends to be the worst place, in my experience.

I find electric mando usually has too much midrange, which kind of hogs the spectrum. I use lots of bottom and cut the mids. That helps round out the attack.

Compression can make it behave a bit more like your acoustic, if used cautiously. Because the attack is so different from the acoustic, most guitar players like a trace of distortion, which they call warmth, from those tube amps. This usually ups the mids, so it is not always helpful with e-mando. But if the distortion is controllable down to nearly unnoticeable, you could consider having it always on , as the baseline tone, and compensate with appropriate tone settings so that it sounds sweet and natural. I found it pretty necessary for solid-body tone.

I'm now a full-time acoustic-electric player, using my flattop with mag pickup as my main instrument. The vibrational behavior of the top makes the attack much sweeter and richer, and I rarely use any effects. It's the best of both worlds, zero feedback, great electric sounds if I want, and fine acoustic tone with the appropriate speaker and tone settings. I use it amplified to play English Country Dance music, as well as jazz, blues, country and rock. I always blend in some electric with mic for recording.

[Ausdoerrt]

Some interesting thoughts, especially on the picking - thanks, Tom! Will try it out and report back. I did notice not liking the 1.14 Ultex pick quite as much on the electric as I did on the acoustic - sounds to tinny.

A flattop w/ mag was actually in the works for me before I saw the solid body mando in the local listings, perhaps I should get back to working on it sometime soon.

[Ausdoerrt]

As promised - reporting back!

So the idea to play closer to the bridge worked - it's a lot less noisy/muddy without having to palm-mute.

The "fingerboard strumming" I didn't like - first, too much pick sound (Mandobird's pickup is close to the neck). Second, it's about twice as loud as the "near the bridge" sound. The idea of having to have separate presets for strumming and melody just seems "eh" to me, considering how often I switch back and forth. Although it's probably a sensible thing to do.

Finally, the pick - oh yea! Haven't tried lighter yet, but pointier certainly helps - I've played around with a "Jazz III" type pick (tiny pointy teardrop shape), and it's made the mando easier to play and the attack more pronounced. Now I just need to learn how to hold on to the darn thing on tremolos

[mandroid]

Celtic-Punk... Dont the Dropkick Murphys have a Mandolin in them?

Looks like a lot of the time, by various members, but not always ..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dropkick_Murphys

[Ausdoerrt]

Yea, they do, as do quite a few other bands like The Mahones or Flatfoot 56 etc.

However, they tend to use acoustic+mic/pickup or acoustic-electric mandos. The bands I'm familiar with, at least.


P.S. To be fair, I've heard what sounds like solid-body mando on some Mahones songs, but it also sounds like sh*te to my ears :/

[Beanzy]

Here's something I did that helped. I pulled back both the tone and the volume on my electric 8 string and use a .73mm primetone pick. I then plug it into a 5w Ibañez practice amp and up the volume there. My normal inclination would be to deliver as much as possible to the amp, but I think that gives too much detail where a little less seems to come over better and I can lay into it more without it getting too nasty.
It's definitely not an acoustic replacement though, it's a different instrument sound to play with different techniques. I've even got mine sounding like electric pianist vamping chords when strumming :/ that could be a good or a bad thing.

I wonder if hollow-bodied electrics get closer or if that's just yet another tone colour again?