Morgan Monroe Electric Coil Pickup Mandolin

I saw this old Dixie Chick DVD where the violin/mandolin playin ‘Chick’ had an electric mandolin – no, not some ancient old acoustic thing with piezo or microphonic pickups , but a true little wildass electric mandolin, like some crazy little ‘fender’ something or another.  Well, I hadn’t even known such things existed!

 

Well, I just had to have one.  Searches on line revealed Amuse in the U.K., and while their gallery showed some absolutely gorgeous electric mandolins, they all seemed to be sold.  It seems one has to order an Almuse Mandolin against some time in the Future.  But I was a bit more eager.

 

I went to Amazon and there were some nice-looking electric mandolins, buried in the multitudes of piezo-pickup’d acoustics… looking like something in Grandpa’s closet next to the box of Playboys from the Sixties.  Particularly note-worthy was the Eastwood Mandocaster – looking like a little Fender Telecaster.  But I would get all the way through the process of purchasing the darn thing, when I would be alerted that they DON’T SHIP.  Now why in blue blazes does Amazon work with companies that DON’T SHIP.  Is there something that Amazon has forgotten about their original Business Plan?  So may all Eastwood Mandocasters be tossed into the Eternal Flames.  But I had to keep on looking to find something.

 

The apply named Mandolin Store came to my rescue with the Morgan Monroe electric Mandolin, which looks a lot like the Eastwood Mandocaster, though its Sun Burst design seems a bit lighter in color.  It was less than $400 and they, god bless them, would SHIP.  The emails from the Mandolin Store were kind, courteous and thoughtful, and I received the Mandolin in not much more than just a few days – very quickly considering where I am.   And, no, I did not have to clear the Jungle for a Parachute drop.

Yes, there are some quality issues with the Morgan Monroe Electric Coil Pickup Mandolin. 

 

I had ordered extra D’Addario flat wound strings, because, being so used to violin and the steel flats that come with electric violin, that using round wounds would certainly have been extremely uncomfortable.  While changing out the strings, I noticed that the bridge height adjuster for the fattest string had collapsed on one side, but I was able to screw it back up, so I did not think it was much of a problem.   On a subsequent change of strings, going from loop-end strings to ball-end strings, the bridge thing collapsed again.  Hmmm?  Was it vibration unscrewing it slowly or were the threads slipping when the tension was removed?  But, anyway, once under tension, the threads seem to hold.  If the problem creeps back, I might have to use epoxy to hold the screw in place.

 

Remember, this is a very inexpensive entry level electric instrument.  We can’t expect much.  It IS very handsome, though.  It looks great!  It needs to be checked for tune almost between every song, but one figures that out very quickly as since the mandolin is tuned in four pairs, it is obvious when any of the strings begin to walk away from tune with one another – first there will be warbling in the tone and then an OUCH of obvious dischord.  But tuning back with an electric tuner is easy as PI, but remember to be gentle and pick each string of a string pair separately.  It is the final test of the string tune that is easy… each string pair should ring together brilliantly… the slowest warble of phase difference being acceptable, because, well, it is one of those things that make the electric mandolin a real ‘Screamer”. 


EDIT, NOTE ON TUNE STABILITY:  When I went from 'loop' end strings to 'ball' end strings, I remembered to tightend up the tuning mechanism nuts, which were all rather loose.  Anyway, either because of the tightened nuts or the new ball end strings being more stable than loop end strings, the mandolin is far more stable in its tuning now.  I no longe have to worry about falling seriously out of tune during one song, though it may still be good to give a close listen at about every 3 or 4 songs.  
 

Oh, the frets!  The sharp edges of the frets stick out from the side of the neck… a friend of mine yelled “Fish Hooks!” when he felt that.  I don’t know what could be done about that.  Just sanding would take down the wood before working off much of the metal.  I guess one would have to use a jeweler’s file to take down each fret edge separately, and that would be very timely indeed.   My solution is to watch where I slide my thumb and fingers, that is, it is one of those things you can learn to live with.

 

The intonation adjustments worked, and I was able to get the same note from Open down to Double Dot, an octave different of course.   Oh, the fretting does get a bit sharp and flat here and there as the distances between frets probably was not calculated and machined absolutely perfectly… another instance of China still doing its best to get things right, but not quite yet.  But, it is all Close Enough.

 

Oh, the pickups!  If only they had wound the second pickup opposite to the first, then you could select both pickups and put them at equal volume, and the AC Line Hum would have cancelled out in Mirror Image Phase Equality.  But both pickups were wired in the same direction and so there is a good deal of AC Line Hum, more or less depending on how you face or turn away from the fluorescent lights.  And the Pickups have so much microphonics… that is what happens when you simply wind the magnets but don’t seal them up in a thick blob of epoxy or resin… they become like little microphones.  I thought they were piezo pickups at first, the way they would respond from simply knocking on the wood.  A good sealed coil pickup should not “clunk clunk clunk”  from knocking on the body of the instrument.

 

But, all that aside, despite all the little difficulties and criticisms, this thing IS an electric coil mandolin.  Wow!  What rock and roll potential!  The paired strings Whale… of is it spelled Wail, or Wale?  Anyway it is a Whale of a sound for such a small thing.   One would think it a terrible High Registered instrument, but it’s not.  Remember that many lead guitar players do much of their work way down on the neck.  So this is the same territory where the Mandolin earns all of its bread and butter.  Oh, but I did tune my mandolin down a bit.  Mandolins are traditionally tuned to G  D  A  E, just like violins – seven frets between each string, where guitars are tuned to five frets between strings.  And while I was able to get that tuning, it did however feel very tight, and the strings were hard to push down, and I had not the slightest degree of ‘slinkiness’, and so I went from G to F, lowering my tune two frets down across the board.  My Musical Friends say this is one ‘Step’, but I argue with them endlessly.  For instance, why is it one STEP from G to F, when there is a F# in between, accounting for two full FRETS, but it is also one STEP between F and E, but with no sharp or flat in between, there is only just the difference of one FRET.   So One STEP can mean One or Two Frets depending on whether one has a sharp or flat to ignore that comes in between (oh, just to prove I am not entirely ignorant of Musical Theory, there are only two pairs of notes that have no sharp or flat coming betwixt, and they are B and C, and E and F).   Anyway, don’t say STEP.  Say FRET, and then everyone should be able to understand… even those without Degrees.    So, anyway, to make it easier for myself, my mandolin is tuned a bit lower.  If you get a mandolin and think it a bit on the high side, and wonder why I thought it was just fine, well, then, do what I do and tune to F  C  G  D  (Food Can Go Down) instead of the traditional G  D  A  E (God Does Allthings Everywhere).

 

Oh, a friend of mine said you do not need to order special mandolin strings.  Look at a pack of mandolin strings – particularly the string diameter info, and then look at a pack of guitar strings.  Hmmmm.  Some of the strings are very close, no?  This Morgan Monroe mandolin can take loop ends, threading the ‘needle’ through the bridge hole, or you can use ball ends which I think is easier and give a surer tune from the start, as loop ends take a while for the loop to pull all the way up.  If you use guitar strings, as I do, you can use the 10, the 14, and then skip a string, go to the 28 and the 38.  D’Addario is great for strings and you can go over their size and tension charts and come up with almost a perfect string for any application, given a bit of trial and error.

Anyway, for the money I paid, the Morgan Monroe is absolutely amazing.  In just a few weeks, I have put about 50 hours of practice on it, and I have yet to find any limits on its rock and roll voice.   Playing my guitars afterward, well, they sound a bit ‘thin’ by comparison.

 

But, yes, I already have an order in with Almuse, in the U.K., for a custom built mandolin (and a mandola that can tune a string size lower… the same as from violin to viola).  I’ll be getting Humbucker Pickups and quality that promises much better detail all around.  But until it, or they, arrive, you know I am going to be playing the livin-bejezus out of my little Morgan Monroe, and have a great deal of fun doing it!   And thank you to the nice people at the Mandolin Store.