Converting an Acoustic to Acoustic/Electric

[Luke C]

Hello all,
I have an Epiphone MM-30 that I am considering converting to an acoustic electric. My plan is to install a P bass pickup on the top.

Does any one have experience with this type of thing? I am wondering if the top will be weakened too much by cutting a hole for the pickup, etc.

Any insight would be appreciated.

[mrmando]

I would hesitate to do that. Get a vintage DeArmond pickup, or some other pickup that wouldn't require cutting into the top. Or get a piezo pickup. Or -- sell the Epiphone and buy an electric mandolin.

[mandroid]

There is an 'A' fender mandolin like product with a plywood top and a magnetic pickup built into the top.
made around the pickup , may be able to find a used one for cheap, as they were not very dear in price at new, full retail.

Of course if you are serious and willing to make a make a bigger investment,
there is a Weber 8 string Maverick electric in the classified today.

[Paul Busman]

I just ordered one of these as a beater gig mando :

http://www.rondomusic.com/md30vt.html

It seems too cheap to be true, but I bought a bass guitar from Rondo Music for $100 and it's killer good.
I'll report in here when I get the mando.

[dandhr61]

why not mount a pick up in the soundhole in an oval hole model? like LR Baggs and likeness do for guitars if thats the route you want to go. though a piezo or likeness sounds like the best way to do the job. I think your man fear here is cutting through a tone bar.

[journeybear]

Or -- sell the Epiphone and buy an electric mandolin.

Spoken like a true emando enthusiast!

I'd be real reluctant myself to do anything as radical as cut a hole in the top of a delicate instrument. Sure, that's just what Gibson did with the EM150s and EM200s, but they had decades of experience, and even so I'll bet they lost a lot of prototypes before they sorted everything out. If you're determined to do this, try and find one of those and see what Gibson did with the bracing.

I prefer non-invasive approaches. I've been enjoying the Fishman M100 bridge tremendously on my 1917 Gibson A. It's got a good strong signal and faithful tone reproduction (esp. for a piezo), and with an EQ/gain pedal for final tone tweaking and enough boost, you should be able to hold your own in electric settings.

[mandroid]

I bought a professionally converted A 50, with a Custom wound 4 pole pickup ,

stacked coil humbucker.. just fits neatly between the tone bars , it's half way between the fingerboard and bridge.

It is like a strat pickup not as big as a P bass half . and only 2/3 as long.

the EM150 has its P90 on top and thru the soundboard , reinforced when the instrument is built.

4 string CGDA tuned , with 4 extra knobs..

[Luke C]

Thanks for the insight everyone. My idea is to have a product similar to the gibson electric/acoustic models with tone and volume knobs. I got my hands on an inspection mirror so I can have a look at the bracing, and see what's in there. I can't see or feel tone bars from the F holes. I definetly want to be 100% sure the top can handle it, before I do any cutting. I have a Baggs Radius so I am not desparate to electrify. More of an idea for a project than anything.

[mrmando]

Look at some photos of old Gibson EM150s and you'll notice three big screws going through the top. Those are part of an extra bracing system, which I presume is there to reinforce the top after it was weakened by having the pickup hole cut.

My Old Wave mandola had a "Dimebag Darrell" pickup added to it -- but I guess there was enough clearance under the strings that a hole wasn't necessary. There must be a small hole under there for the lead, but there's no cutout for the pickup itself.

[mandroid]

I think the Charlie Christian pickup ones used those screws to adjust the pickup height , too

one knob on each side of the top [top one may get bumped playing I'd Guess]
rather than both on the lower side..

The more recent EM150s used the dogear P90 in a 4 pole configuration,
share that pickup with TG150 of the same era

I think they added another layer of wood under the top on the P90's where the pickup went.
never handled the earlier versions..

[Luke C]

I found a link for those P-90's:

http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgur...a%3DG%26um%3D1

They aren't cheap though!

[igowing]

If only they made 5 pole p-90s. I might require one of those for my beater acoustic though.

[mandroid]

$140.00 seems like a custom wound price ,
won't hurt to ask how much to wind one around 5 screw poles, and drill the cover to suit.
may be a touch sensitive to pay for it.

many times rail core pickups get used for that reason 4.5.6 same pickup works ..

[igowing]

I use a lace sensor gold/blue dually at the neck position of my baritone I built. I have the dually switchable for either humbucking or split to either the gold or the blue lace sensor. The blue lace sensor does give a pretty decent p-90 growl.