Replacement Pickup for GME-4

[Graham Vest]

So I bought a Gold Tone GME-4 electric mandolin a while ago off of craigslist. It's fun to fool around with, but the stock pick-up is quite weak, especially the E string. It was especially hard to drive volume-triggered effects, like an envelope follower.

I had searched around for replacements and finally, following advice found here, contacted Tom at Moongazer about a replacement from Almuse. There was an uncovered Tele-style neck pickup listed on the site, and mention that a covered version was available. He now has placed a link on their page for a covered neck-pickup. There is a $10 up charge for the covered version.

I'll let you know about the conversion as soon as it arrives.

Graham

[Graham Vest]

So the pickup arrived today and I put it in...What a difference! It's a true single coil, unlike the stacked "humbucker" that's the stock pickup on the Gold Tone. The almuse is louder, much more definition and...there's an e-string! It really has an even output.



Looking at this picture you can compare the magnets. The Almuse (bottom pickup) has graduated magnets for each pole. Note the difference between the E string (on the left) and the G string. With the cover it's an easy drop in replacement that maintains the original look



I just spent some time playing it through a Fender Blues Junior and it is a serious improvement. Much more responsive, it drives effects well (even the envelop follower, with the e-string!) really a lot more fun to play. Thanks to Almuse and Moongazer!

Graham

[Ron McMillan]

Congratulations. Almuse and Moongazer certainly seem like the places to go for electric upgrades.

[Soundfarmer Pete]

Thanks Graham, glad you like it.....perhaps I ought to think about adding that one to my range

[Verne Andru]

Nice. Glad you like the improvement.

Don't forget that, while a bit wider, you can also use Stratocaster and Telecaster pickups with emando's. Once you go there you open up a whole ton of options with more competitive pricing. I replaced the single-coils in my Fender 5-string with a couple rail humbuckers and now can go from country twang down to serious rock and roll, almost metal. And I use a Lace resonator guitar pickup on my Paris Swing [my avatar] and it works great. I don't find the extra width an issue at all.

[Bachnr]

So glad to hear you were able to upgrade. My GME-4 is also weak on the e string.

Which model did you get? How difficult is the installation? Soldering involved?

Thx!