Electric mandolins

[salamander]

I'm looking at buying either a Kentucky or a Gold Tone electric 4 string. I was wondering if anyone had any prefereces or opinions either way. There are neither of these in the stores near me.
Thanks, Eric

[Ed Goist]

Hi Eric; welcome to the Cafe!
The following is a very informative reply I received from Robert Fear of folkmusician.com to a very similar inquiry I sent to him.
In the end, I decided to spend a little more, and I got a JBovier EMC-4 which I absolutely love (you can see pics in the link in my signature).
Anyways, as you'll see from Robert's detailed reply he knows both of these mandolins well. For what it's worth, I would not hesitate to buy from him. (NFI - no financial interest).
-Ed

From Robert Fear:
"I don't have the GME in stock, but I am "somewhat" familiar with it. The couple I have had were pre-sold and blew through with only some short testing. The Gold tone is good quality. Solid bodies like this are much nicer than the acoustics at the same price point. It seems to follow the trend in electric guitars. Some of the $200-$300ish electric guitars are surprisingly nice.

The Overall build quality is good.
The pickup appears to be lower grade, as I imagine the pots and wiring are. They seem to work fine though. If I were out to get the best tone possible, I would probably swap out all of the electronics. For something to play around with and maybe do some home recording, it is fine as is.

The tuners are adequate. They are pretty much what you find on the lower end Electric guitars. Not great, but they hold a tune.

I don't recall it being a heavy radius. I think this has standard mandolin wire. It has been a while since I saw one though.

I have had much more experience with the Kentucky. The Kentucky is also good quality. The fret wire is larger. The KM-300E uses a lipstick pickup vs. the stacked humbucker on the GME-4. I never compared them directly and never ran the GME-4 though an electric guitar amp. I have tried the KM-300E through a few things, including a 5150 half stack. muuhuhhaha It sounds good for country, blues, and rock that doesn't need a heavy crunch. It will overdrive nicely, but more like a telecaster than a les paul.

Either of these would be priced without a case, and include setup (mainly fret work). The Kentucky's have pretty solid fret work. Just a little unlevel and not slightly rough. Much better factory setups than the acoustics. : )
The Gold tone is not setup quite as well from the factory. Not an issue when I am done with it.

Myself, I would take the Kentucky. Both are nice.

The Gold tone gig bag is not all that nice, so I would choose another brand. The Boulder Alpine F-style bags for well, though these are rather pricey.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks!
Robert"

[mandroid]

I take it salamander, unfamiliar with the rest of the site, didn't scroll down here:
http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/fo...ring-Electrics

[salamander]

Thanks, I will go to that forum, new here and didn't realize, thanks