4-string advice

[jlsmandolin1952]

Yea, finally back at it Andrew. I'll be in touch soon. Hope all is well with you as well.
Bill, LOL on the sanding. Patience Patience Patience!
John

[Bill Stokes]

Here is my new 15" Moongazer Mandola. Tom shipped it exactly when he said he would; it got here 2 days later. That was last Thursday, and I got right on it. I just love this thing. Although, I'm heavy-handed with it; tend to push it out of tune.



Also there's something weird going on with the pots or pickup; akin to what Chinn mentioned in his thread. (I saw a mention of reverse-wound Almuse pickups somewhere...) Will sort that out later. I'm having too much fun with this to get back into the wiring just yet.

This was the ideal choice for me. The instrument plays real easy, feels good.

Thanks to Tom Morici!

[Soundfarmer Pete]

What kind of problems are you having with the pots or pickup please?.....
Also, what pickup?(can`t see because your hand is in the way)........sounds pretty nice to me!

[Shelby Eicher]

Bil,
It is a Seymour Duncan 'lil' 57 Strat pickup with a tele top (pole spacing) not using the 2 outside poles. It also has an Alnico mag wound to 7.5 ohms.
Cheers,
Shelby

[Bill Stokes]

What kind of problems are you having with the pots or pickup please?.....
Also, what pickup?(can`t see because your hand is in the way)

I ordered the "Classic" on Tom's recommendation for the best clean jazz pickup. The sticker on it said Almuse MG4HC.

The pots dial backwards, compared to standard pots. What would normally be all the way up, is off. So, resting my thumb on top of the volume knob, with it set at the middle of its sweep: rolling my thumb to my left it goes quiet. Roll thumb to my right (like I would normally do to back off the volume) cranks it up louder. Tone pot works the same.

The 3-way switch works, but I'll never use it. I'd sooner wire this thing to use both coils at full output, all the time.

I have looked around on this site, but cannot find where I saw something about a pickup with reverse wiring. No slight intended! The pickup is terrific. Balance is amazingly even; I noticed how the magnets vary in size.

Possible that I screwed up the wiring (but I don't think so.)

It's a quirk, and not detracting from my playing enjoyment. Like I said, I love this Mandola.

Side note: what to name it? Briefly considered "Nelson Mandola," but that's too flippant.
I found out about the term "Mandoliola" recently! Love it.
But since this is a solid-body electric, made in USA (except for pickup) I decided to call it a Mandoliana-dana.

Back to practicing...

[Tom Wright]

It is easy to reverse the volume and tone control direction. You move the wire on the outer tab to the opposite side, leaving the center tab wire alone. The diagram on the "Jerman Wiring Diagram" thread will be useful to compare with. The one on Chinn's thread looked reversed.
http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/sh...wiring-diagram

[Bill Stokes]

It is easy to reverse the volume and tone control direction.

Thanks. I'll probably do that today.
Also, I ordered the "Moongazer" pickup; not the "Classic."
It would be fun to try them all...

[Mandolyst]

Hi Bil,

Your new Moongazer Mandola looks and sounds great! I have been thinking about getting one like yours but I could not find any video on the web showing the finished product and what it would sound like. Your video is the first I have found.

I was wondering if you are using flat wound strings or round wound strings in your video? Also, what approach did you take to put a finish on the body ( paint, stain, steps involved, etc.)? Did you have to solder the wiring together? Other than the Moongazer pickup, did you get any other optional features?

Any suggestions for someone just starting this project?

Thanks so much for posting your video...it was exactly what I was searching for. Great job!

[Bill Stokes]

Thanks very much. All I did was assemble the kit, so if it looks and sounds great the credit goes to Tom at Moongazer.

Funny you ask about flat-wounds. I just put some on yesterday. For that video, it has the round wound strings that came with the kit: C .050, G .038, D .020, and A .014.

My finish work is amateur to say the least. I tried a walnut stain, but didn't like how it looked. Black paint was plan B, because I had just finished a headboard with good results. It's spray-can acrylic lacquer, topped with clear polyurethane. The nitrocellulose purists can feel free to tell me I did it wrong, but my headboard came out looking like a grand piano. Possibly due to the 75% humidity on the day I finished the mando, it isn't as glossy. Oh well, I'm more interested in how it sounds than how it looks.

I did the soldering, but Tom has a pre-soldered pickguard option. Only twenty-some dollars, and he will do it for you. That's what I'll choose next time.

Like you, I looked around on this website, and saw nothing but favorable comments on the Moongazer kits. When I got in touch with Tom, he answered all my questions, and patiently explained some elementary physics for me. (I'm still pretty ignorant about how these things work.) If you're thinking about one of these kits, just email Tom from his website.

While I really liked some of the other builders' mandolas, I had a skinny budget. Seems to me this was the best value option, with what I could afford. It doesn't look as beautiful as a real builder's job, because I'm not a skilled finisher. But I'm very happy with it.

Cheers. Keep us posted...
Bill