Epiphone mandobirds

[Ed Fowler]

Hey,

I'm looking at a Mandobird and just wanted to get some feedback on what they're like. Anyone else out there got one? Like it? Dislike it?

ed

[John Flynn]

They are OK, better than I thought they would be. The fit and finish are good and hardware is good. If you buy one new, it will likely need setup work to play well. Your first upgrade should definitely be the pickup. The one that comes on it is pretty rudmentary and the E string does not pickup well. A nice humbucker is in order.

However, if you are looking for an entry level, solidbody electric, that is upgradable, they are surprisingly good for the money. FWIW, I saw pix of some guy playing one on the Grand Old Opry.

[thistle3585]

John,
Hows the new pickup in your mandobird? Is it working well for you?

Andrew

[John Flynn]

For those of you who are reading this exchange, I bought a Bartolini "half" P-Bass pickup from Andrew and had my friend and luthier, Joe Mendel install it on my Mandobird. I had previously bought the Mandobird from Joe, BTW.

Honestly, Andrew, I can't tell a whole lot of difference. I think it sounds a little better, but I'm not sure if that is just me wanting to sound better because I upgraded. Joe thinks it definitely sounds somewhat better and he used to own the instrument. I am thinking about trying the rig "daveb" did described at the link.
http://www.mandolincafe.net/cgi-bin....ndobird

[thistle3585]

Yeah, I understand when you say that you want it to sound better. If I recall, I used an .022 capacitor and a 1 meg pot to balance out the strings and give it some kick. It was a little to "warm" or "jazzy" for my taste using a 250K pot.

I don't think its the Mandobird itself. If you can get one setup well I think its a good buy for the money. I think they've been selling on ebay in the $150 range and its really hard to buy just the hardware for an emando that amount of money.

Best of luck
Andrew

[rhetoric]

Ed I think I sent you a PM (can't tell). I have a mandobird if you're interested.

[daveb]

I have one I don't play, I made some mods to and it sounds great. I added a SD Mini Humbucker and a new bone nut.
PM me if interested.
Its been played a total of about 20 minutes. Nothing wrong but I just like acoustic sound.

Dave

[daveb]

another

[daveb]

one more

[Trip]

I got lucky and bought one from a member of the cafe that was setup great and I run it through a ton of effects with great success, but of course it sounds like a guitar not a mando.....the only thing I ve done is changing the pots and cap, and I didnt notice much differance.....I think the bird is the best bang for the buck instrument I have ever purchased...

[Yannick]

hello !

I need some help for choosing a new pickup for my cute mandobird. its E-string sound is sooo weak.
what pickups could fit to the mandobird, which doesn't need too much work (I am quite clumsy and don't want to cut in the instrument...).

Johnny, does your Bartolini sounds equal on each string ?

Y.

[daveb]

I don't know of any "good" pickups that will fit in the same cutout as stock. They are non adjustable and held in place with a piece of sticky foam.
Others that have made changes may have more info, I had to enlarge the cutout on mine. (see pics on this post)

David

[Yannick]

Thanks for your answer, David.

I found also this page : http://sjryder.com/pickups.htm
has anyone tried it ?
He sells single-coil for 50$...

Friendly,

Yannick

[wichitamando]

Yannick,
I've got both a Ryder single coil and humbucker in my emando. They sound great.

[John Flynn]

Johnny, does your Bartolini sounds equal on each string

No the E string is still weak, just like with the stock pickup. It evens out some when you turn the tone pot all the way to treble, but then I don't like the whole sound as much. I am going to try Andrew's suggestion of a change in pot and capacitor and see if that helps, but it will probably be a few weeks before I get to it.

[Spruce]

I like mine....

[Yannick]

Thanks for the responses. I think i will ask for a Ryder one.

Spruce, your mandobird is sooo lovely ! but... why and how ?
and what is this bridge ? since i was planning to move mine, i would be interested into getting something like this. except that i have 8 strings...

friendly,

Y.

[Spruce]

Why and how what....?

What, does it look a little, ummmm, used?

[mandroid]

Belt-sander do a bit of chamfering off the corner that falls under your right forearm ? nice quick distressing treatment, anyhow..

[Mastersound]

Quick and easy mod to the E string polepiece (if it's a ceramic pickup) replace with longer polepiece! Some people even lift the polepiece by a mm or so, the theory being that even with the air gap beneath the steel slug it's still within the magnetic field.

I've modded a few using longer steel slugs and the output is measurably greater, but getting much amplitude from such a thin highly tensioned string is always going to be a chore.

I'll have some alnico P-Bass / Mandobird pickups with the higher E magnet from my pickup winding guy (Peter from PTAudio) soon... he's been promising them to me for 6 months now! Once I have them in my hot little hands I'll let people know on here. The plan is to offer them at a fairly modest introductory price so people can try them and hopefully give us some meaningful mojo-free plain English language feedback.

[John in T-ride]

Hey Daveb, When you put the mini humbucker in the mando bird, did you change any other electronics? Do you know whether the pots are 250 or 500's? capacitor change? are there wiring switch options possible? I assume that it comes with the mounting ring? thanks, John

[bigdaddyguitar]

Try a Seymour Duncan "Quarter Pounder" replacment for precision bass . Use half of it . Fits right in existing hole . No cutting or modifications . It screams .

[Mandodan12]

around how much should i expect to pay for a new replacement pickup and installation on a mandobird?
I mean a decent pickup, not sure of specific brands...but if i am going to do it at all it certainly has to be noticeably better.
thanks

[thistle3585]

I would suggest swapping out the pots first. Put some 500K to 1 Meg pots in it and I think you'd see a noticeable difference. You should be able to do that yourself for about $10.00 and 20 minutes. Search the electric section. There have been quite a few discussions regarding modifications to Mandobirds.

[Mandodan12]

cool thanks