5 strings 4 magnetic poles.

[santjo24]

So I have a 5 string mandolin with bartolini pickups (in P bass covers, I believe they actually are bass pickups) and my problem is that they only have 4 poles and the mandolin is 5 strings. the tone is great (obviously bartolinis are high end) but my e string is barely even making noise, and the sound is very un-even. I am thinking of getting a rail style pickup like a bill lawrence, but I havent been able to find any that would fit in the smaller slots. Does anyone have any ideas of existing pickups that would fit? or any ideas on this situation at all. heres a picture of the beast.

http://www.emando.com/builders/Moonstone.htm


Its the one on the bottom (that exact one to be precise)

[Michael Lewis]

How did this happen?

[mrmando]

So you're the fellow who bagged that one on eBay back in June. Can you remind me what it sold for? The subject came up in conversation recently. I seem to remember it was quite a deal compared to the usual selling price on a Moonstone guitar.

Moonstone made only seven "Moondolins" all told. Some reportedly had eight strings. The only two I've come across were 5-stringers.

As to how this happened, perhaps some careless owner swapped out the original pickups for the 4-pole Bartolinis.

As for a solution, here are some suggestions:

1) Have you looked at the EMG Select pickup? One of the better-performing rail pickups I've come across.

2) Contact Steve Ryder, who makes custom mandolin pickups.

3) Or maybe someone can ID the pickups on the other Moonstone mandolin pictured at emando.com:

[John Flynn]

Just a thought here. I put a Bartolini half P-Bass pickups on a Mandobird I had in an attempt to solve a weak E string problem, but when I did, it did not help at all. Thanks to luthier Andrew Jerman here on the Cafe', I discovered that it was not the pickup. It was the pots and capacitor. He sent me a .022 capacitor and 500K pots. Once installed, those made the E string really come out loud and clear. He said if I wanted even more E response, I could even go to 1M pots, but I didn't think it was necessary.

[Martin Jonas]

Martin: Have you tried one of those EMG Select humbuckers in an emando? What's the tone like? I'm toying with replacing the single coil lipstick in my Kentucky KM300E with a humbucker and that looks an attractive option. Up to now I had planned to try the Dimarzio Pro-Track (based on Ken Olmstead's good experience on his 300E), but that's a lot more expensive and potentially too similar to the Guitarfetish rail mini-humbucker I have in my Amazing.

I guess what I'd really like to try is a four-pole P90 like the one in the old Gibson EM-200 (which sound fantastic in recordings), but I never see any of them around, and the thought of just using the middle four poles of a six pole doesn't really appeal.

Martin

[santjo24]

if I remember correctly I got the mandolin for around 650-700. It came with the original warranty and case. The frets were in very poor condition, and I got the bridge sanded down for lower action. After fixing those things, and putting on a set of new strings (whoever owned it last put on some REALLY high gauges and the c string was floppy) the mandolin felt wonderful...... except for this pickup situation. I read the thread on capacitors, and that will be the next thing I try after switching the pickups...... but 4 poles and 5 strings just does not work.

[thistle3585]

Martin, The GF mini doesn't compare at all to the ProTrack. I had an instrument where I swapped out pickups and recorded sound samples for my website and the GF was much more crisper and cleaner than the pro Track. I'd describe the ProTrack as having a more complex tone.

Santjo24, you are fortunate to have a pickup ring system to work with, so you should have lots of options including ganging up some pickups under a pickup cover. You can buy pickup covers and literally glue or mount a dual blade humbucker to it.

[mrmando]

Martin: Have you tried one of those EMG Select humbuckers in an emando? What's the tone like?

My old Gerry Collyard emando had one and so did the "Rigelcaster." I'm not sure how I would describe the tone, but I was pleased with it.

[Martin Jonas]

Thanks Martin and Andrew: all useful info.

Andrew: your description of the GF pickup does match my experience -- it's indeed a crisp and clean tone, and I'm really looking for something warmer and jazzier for the 300E. I'll have to recut the pickguard anyway, so it won't make much of a difference to the work required if I try either a mini or a full size humbucker. I see from your web site that you're using the DiMarzio Cruiser (DP186) rather than the Pro-Track (which I think is the one Mann uses). Is that because the DP186 is less hot?

Martin
(and apologies to Santjo24 for hijacking the thread)

[MANNDOLINS]

You may want to check out the Bill Lawrence P-46 http://www.billlawrence.com/Pages/Pickup_Window/p46.htm...originally designed for a 4-6 string bass each p size pickup has 5 poles. I used them on a couple of early prototypes with good results. They are single coils though, so they hum. Good bang for the buck especially if you need two.

[santjo24]

Thanks alot jon, I actually think I will try those. The moonstone is not going to be my main instrument, so I was trying to avoid getting custom ones made, and these look like a good alternative. I will probably figure out the string spacing before I go through with it though.

P.S as soon as I get the money saved up I am going to NEED one of your baritone mandolins, I have been eying them for quite some time and they sound absolutely amazing. We have emailed back and forth about it for some time now. Hopefully I will have the money within a month or two, I hope your taking orders. I want that mandolin to become my main instrument.

[thistle3585]

Martin,
I most often use the Cruiser, DP186. I like its tone much better than the ProTrack, DP188. Its probably personal preference, but the Cruiser is a bit more cleaner and I think its more versatile combined with a coil switch. To me the ProTrack has too much low end, but I think thats what jazz musicians want.

For what its worth, musiciansfriend.com has them for not much more than a builder pays direct. In fact, they have some scratch and dents on sale right now for $59.00.

[Martin Jonas]

Andrew -- all good info. Unfortunately, both the Cruiser and the ProTrack are vastly more expensive in the UK than in the US and none of the US online outlets will ship them to the UK (this appears to be a condition imposed by DiMarzio on their official outlets). In the UK, these pickups cost around twice what they are in the US.

Martin

[GEH]

Have you tried one of those EMG Select humbuckers in an emando? What's the tone like?
I'm toying with replacing the single coil lipstick in my Kentucky KM300E with a humbucker and that looks an attractive option.

Hi martin!
Did you replace the lipstick on your KM300E with an standard guitar pickup?
Humbucker in single coil format?
Can you recommend special models?

Thanks
GEH