# Octaves, Zouks, Citterns, Tenors and Electrics > Four, Five and Eight-String Electrics >  On the Ryder train

## Jerry Turberville

I noticed in another thread the Barry and Ed are also waiting for their Steve Ryder mandolins.  Rather than disrupt that post I thought I'd post a picture he sent me of the EM 55 he's building for me.  I hope I added the attachment correctly.  I can't wait to get it!

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## Ed Goist

What a beauty!
*Congratulations JLT!*
_(...I'm a patient guy, but I'll admit, the wait on my EM-44 is driving me crazy!  ...Oh, and to make matters even worse, my new amp is arriving today!)_

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## rico mando

well at least we know steve is being kept busy  and yes she is quite a looker

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## Jerry Turberville

Ed,
I must have missed you mentioning the amp.  What did you get?  I'm with you on the patience and crazy!!

Thanks Rico!  I really makes my palms sweaty looking at it!!

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## Ed Goist

Hi jlt;

I just picked-up a Fender Super Champ XD..._The little hybrid amp that could_...  :Smile: 

Oh, and that finish on your EM-55 is magnificent! That bright burst on the quilted top is just spectacular. I can't wait to see and hear more about it!

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## rico mando

If for some weird reason you find you do not like 5 string emando  PM me  :Mandosmiley:

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## Elliot Luber

Sweet instrument.

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## Jerry Turberville

Okay, the Champ XD.  It's a neat little amp.  Lots of different amp models in there.  One thing I did that really improved the sound is run it through a pair of 12 inch speakers.  I looked at a Champ "12" about a month ago.  It was an early 80's model with the pull boost and all.  Just a great liitle rock amp, but I just couldn't justify it.  The poor guy was really needing to sell, which I see alot of around here.  I felt bad for him, but I have very little disposable income since I retired.

Rico, I think I will have a very hard time parting with my new mandolin.  It will be the 5th electric I've owned.  I've sold two.  I sold the Kentucky 4 string and my  Roberts Tiny Moore model.  I'm real sorry I sold my Roberts, but it was a different time.  So, I'll just have the three (five string electrics); The Fender FM60E, The JL Smith and the Ryder EM 55.

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## rico mando

Its okay i all ready have one ryder myself and a fender fm60e

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## Ed Goist

> I noticed in another thread the Barry and Ed are also waiting for their Steve Ryder mandolins....snip...


The Ryder train should be pulling into my station by the end of the year. 
Can't wait!  :Grin:

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## Tom Wright

Ooh. Can't resist taking an enhanced look at that candy.

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## Barry Canada

looks incredible! I am sure you'll love it. Mine has really grown on me...
cheers

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## Malcolm G.

OK Ed, there's pretty and then there's drop dead gorgeous!

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## Ed Goist

Thanks everyone! I'll take more photos once she arrives.
Tom, thank so much for the image enhancement! That make a big difference. Now...can you do that with my playing?  :Smile:

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## Elliot Luber

Beauty for sure!

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## Bert Deivert

what kind of wood is that on the top Ed? Does he build 8 strings too? I am kinda traditional.... ;-)

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## Ed Goist

Hi Bert; my Ryder Em-44 has an Alder body with a Quilted Maple top overlay. It has a bolt-on Maple neck, a radiused (10") Ebony fretboard & Peghead overlay, a natural gloss finish with vintage red tortoise pickguard, and 2 custom Ryder stacked Humbuckers with a basic 3-way pick-up switch (neck/neck+bridge/bridge).

Here is Steve's e-mando page. 

His EM-18 (Very nice!) is his 8-string model.

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## granite

I have an EM-18 that should be completed any day now.  I live close enough to Steve's workshop and was able to stop by a play a few of his mandolins.  They were all beautiful and sounded great, but really liked the "mandoliny" sound of eight strings and the look of the EM-18.  It will have a piezo bridge pickup as well as Steve's humbucker.  It should be a lot of fun.

Todd

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## Jerry Turberville

That's gorgeous Ed.  Mine has been delayed until Jan.  There was a problem with the neck set, so he has to redo it.  Things happen.  It will just be that much better when I do get it!
Hope you and Todd get your emandos soon.

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## Ed Goist

Thanks jlt! I'm sorry about the delay on your Ryder, but I'm sure it will be fantastic when it arrives!

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## mandroid

Seems when I sent my P5 in for a few mods, Maine has to warm up to do the Lacquering, 
Shop just too cold, 
so that is, some what,  a seasonal induced scheduling.

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## granite

Maine doesn't warm up 'til April....

Ed, I am hoping to get to the shop today.  Looking forward to seeing your mando in person if Steve hasn't shipped it yet

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## Ed Goist

Hi Granite...Hoping you get a chance to check it out today! If so, let us know what you think.
Thanks.

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## Jerry Turberville

Good luck on your trip to Steve's.  Let us know about all the nice emandos you see.  Mine is in there somewhere!

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## granite

Jerry and Ed,
I picked up my EM-18 last night and Steve let me take a peek at your mandos.  They look incredible in person.  Ed, he said yours is shipping out today...Your going to love it.  He also had a jet black mandola there that was really special as well that is off to England. 
Todd

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## Ed Goist

Thanks very much for the report Todd!
I'd love to see that mandola...acoustic or electric?

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## Jerry Turberville

WOW, that mandola sounds interesting.   Thanks for the report Todd!

Ed, are you sitting by the front door waiting for the delivery????

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## rico mando

I think he has a tent set up at his local post office

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## granite

The mandola was a four-string solid-body electric.  Everything was black except for the hardware, including an ebony finger board.  The finish was impeccable.  Bridge and fingerboard pickups could be switched from humbucking to single coil.  I bet it sounded as good as it looked.

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## Ed Goist

> ...snip...Ed, are you sitting by the front door waiting for the delivery????





> I think he has a tent set up at his local post office


Just now received a text from home...The Ryder was just delivered!  :Grin: 
It's been very cold between here & Maine, and Steve told me that the Nitro lacquer finish is still curing, so I'll likely allow the box to fully acclimate until either late tonight or early tomorrow morning.
Fortunately, I am off work tomorrow to begin a long weekend!
Hence, there will be much picture taking and high volume shenanigans over the next few days!  :Mandosmiley: 
I'll be sure to report back.

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## Chinn

Congrats Ed! I'm sure you're like a kid at Christmas!

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## rico mando

Wait until tomorrow bro after work . you do not want that mandolin to change temp very quickly now .

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## Ed Goist

I was somehow able to wait until this morning to open the box. Better safe than sorry.

Wow...What a great e-mando!

Workmanship, fit, and finish are excellent, but these Ryder custom stacked humbuckers are totally off the hook! They're full and rich at lower volume and hot and aggressive when the amp is overdriven. They eat the PUPs on my Tele for lunch! They really bring the Super Champ XD amp to life. The tonal profile of the Ryder is completely different (and more complex) than that of my Telecaster...I look forward to finding the new "just right" amp and effects settings for the Ryder.

Of course, the benefit of any custom build is that you can get the exact playability specs you want, but Steve has absolutely nailed it for me on the Ryder. Neck profile, nut width, string spacing, action, fretboard radius, fret size, and intonation are all pretty much spot on for me.

In terms of appearance, I think the Ryder is just striking! The quilted Maple body overlay, the premium Ebony fretboard (one of the nicest I've seen), the Ebony peghead overlay, and the vintage tortoise pickguard all work beautifully together visually.

If I can find our camera I'll take some pics today & post them here.

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## Tom Wright

Welcome aboard, Ed. Will enjoy your report after you get familiar with its tone possibilities.

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## Ed Goist



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## Barry Canada

Hi Ed,
Looks great!
I am sure your will love it! 
I wish you lots of healthy picking in this new year!
Regards and best wishes for 2012

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## Rodney Riley

Wow!!!!!! Bee-You-Tea full!!!!! Remember to take your hands off of it and eat at least once a day!  :Smile:

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## Chinn

Ed, do you know anyone that replaces laptop keyboards... I just drooled all over mine!

Wow, great wood selection, beautiful construction. Absolutely awesome!

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## Jerry Turberville

WOW!! That's beautiful........(numerous oooohs and aaaahs).

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## Ed Goist

Here's a sound check on the Ryder after a few hours of noodling...
Some Yank inspired 12 Bar Blues in G, some Blues 7 Chords, and finally letting the wolf run some...
This is the first day with the Ryder & I've been without an e-mando for 4+ month, so please be gentle.
*Man...This is going to be fun!*  :Grin:   :Mandosmiley:   :Grin:

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## Chinn

Gorgeous looking and gorgeous sounding instrument Ed! Congrats.

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## Bill Snyder

Ed, beautiful mandolin and a good, clean, electric sound from it.

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## Tom Wright

Gorgeous instrument.

We would enjoy hearing a pickup- and tone-setting demo, i.e. bridge, both, neck, and tone control up, partial, and down.

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## Ed Goist

> Gorgeous instrument.
> We would enjoy hearing a pickup- and tone-setting demo, i.e. bridge, both, neck, and tone control up, partial, and down.


Thanks so much Barry, Rodney, Chinn, Jerry, Bill, & Tom!

Tom, _ask and ye shall receive!_ Here are a couple of demo videos for the pick-ups & the tone control. 
Again, both pick-ups are Ryder custom stacked humbuckers, and the amp is a Fender Super Champ XD on the clean channel with both the bass & treble set at 5 with no effects.

I do wish I had better recording equipment (my videos are recorded through my laptop's internal mic using the Dell webcam), as these videos really do not do this fine instrument justice.

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## Jerry Turberville

Oh yes!! very nice tone!   Of course I'm chomping at the bit over here waiting for mine......
It sounded to me that the pickups were very well balanced, volume wise.  Am I hearing this correctly?  Most of the emandos I've owned seem to be quieter on the bridge pickup.  This would be a welcome development for me.

Oh yeah, are you having fun yet?????

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## Ed Goist

> Oh yes!! very nice tone!   Of course I'm chomping at the bit over here waiting for mine......
> It sounded to me that the pickups were very well balanced, volume wise.  Am I hearing this correctly?  Most of the emandos I've owned seem to be quieter on the bridge pickup.  This would be a welcome development for me.
> 
> Oh yeah, are you having fun yet?????


Hi Jerry; every time I open this thread I look forward to seeing the magnificent sunburst and quilted maple of your _'in progress'_ Ryder EM-55. So stunning! Is it still scheduled for delivery this month?

*Yes* - I would say the pick-ups on my Ryder are very balanced. The neck PUP has as much punch as the bridge, no doubt. Also, I'm pretty amazed by the tonal range of this e-mando when one uses the tone control on the PUPs. I have rarely done this on my electrics, and I'm very glad Tom suggested dialing the tone knob during the PUP demo video. That was very revealing (_thanks Tom!_).

The tone sweep on both pick-ups when dialing the tone knob is substantial. With that, and the three-way PUP selection switch, I'm confident I have all of the tonal possibilities I could ever need. These Ryder PUPs are as good as any I've heard on any instrument.

Jerry, it looks like yours will have two standard-sized humbuckers (?). Will you be going with the standard switch, or are you going for some coil splitting?

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## Jerry Turberville

Steve said he hoped to be done sometime after the 10th.  I'll be checking with him in a few days.   Yes, It will be wired for splitting coils on the neck pup.   Almost had the midi installed, but it just wasn't in the budget.   
I meant to ask did you get the nice custom case he recommends?  I'm curious to see if it's as nice as what I'd read about them.  Of course, I can't remember the case name at the moment.....

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## Ed Goist

*Very cool Jerry!* With those split coils on the neck PUP you will have an incredible amount of tonal options! Very nice.
Since the Ryder was already stretching my budget for this project, I passed on the extra $270 for the custom Cedar Creek Case Co. case. Since I'm not a gigging musician, that case seemed like overkill.
I've been casually looking for a good gig bag/hybrid case for the Ryder. I think I'll be going with the Mandolin Rockbag by Warwick. The dimensions look like a great match for the EM-44, and the specs make this bag looks like a good hybrid bag/case that provides decent protection. 
All I'll need from the bag is protection for the instrument when I go to jams or mandolin camps.
Anyone have any other suggestions for a decent aftermarket bag/case for a Ryder?

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## Tom Wright

> ...Most of the emandos I've owned seem to be quieter on the bridge pickup...


Bridge pickups are always less output than equivalent neck pickups, given the smaller string movement. Thus you see Strats with humbucker/single coil combos, and the Tele setup has a larger pickup at the bridge position. Ed's bridge pickup is some distance from the bridge, which means more string movement than on emandos with pickups close to the bridge, and it is set a bit closer to the strings (compared to neck pup) to compensate for the remaining output difference.

For mine I set the neck pickup flush with pickguard, and bridge pickup up a bit, approx half the distance to strings. Both are tilted some to emphasize the E.

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## Soundfarmer Pete

> [B]I've been casually looking for a good gig bag/hybrid case for the Ryder. I think I'll be going with the Mandolin Rockbag by Warwick. The dimensions look like a great match for the EM-44, and the specs make this bag looks like a good hybrid bag/case that provides decent protection.


Best gigbags I`ve ever come across!!!! Standard issue with non Custom Shop Warwick basses......plenty of padding.

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## Jerry Turberville

Hopefully I added the attachment correctly.  It's on it's way into my hands.  There will be no discussion of robbing the Danville train, until I've recieved my EM 55.  I have a banjo and know how to use it!

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## Ed Goist

*Gorgeous!* Congratulations Jerry.
I am sure you will love it!

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