# Octaves, Zouks, Citterns, Tenors and Electrics > Four, Five and Eight-String Electrics >  Electric Mandolin Tips and Tricks

## JeffD

I am an electric newbie.

I never played electric guitar growing up, and mandolin is the only stringed instrument I can play. I recently purchased a Fender MandoStrat 4 string, and now I have a "practice amp" to play with.

So one thing I notice is that most of the threads regarding emandos are discussing gear, instruments and/or gizmos.

Not many (that I can find) discussing playing the dern thing.


Not having played an electric instrument before there is a lot for me to learn.

Some observations:

Tremolo is flat out stupid. There is so much sustain for as long as I want it and longer, tremolo just muddies things up.

Hammer-ons are dicey depending on that darn reverb. 

Pull-offs just don't work. I don't know why.

Double stops with care. That second string adds so much stuff to the sound it is a bigger transition. On acoustic I go back and forth between single note and double stops, on emando the difference is so huge that it sticks out. If need to be more tasteful about it.

Four finger chords are just way too much sound. (Or am I showing how old I am). Double stops and three finger chords do everything I need to do.


So are these electric newbie observations universal, or less than accomplished technique? What other pitfalls can I avoid?

----------


## Finger Stylish

For me, it will be a trial & error type process. Strings, amps, size room you're in, a whole lot of things can require technique tweaking.
I haven't been playing a straight electric long as well, but I surmise it isn't going to be as easy (sound wise) as standing in front of a condenser mic and letting your hand go play. 
  Finesse and patience and will be required for me to feel good about it.

----------


## JeffD

Have to treat it like its just a different instrument. Not a mandolin, just tuned like one.

----------


## bayAreaDude

> Have to treat it like its just a different instrument. Not a mandolin, just tuned like one.


That's pretty much my view.  Shapes/patterns on the fretboard are the same but playing it is nothing like playing acoustic mandolin.

And then the amp and pedals are just as much of an instrument as the mando itself, at least regarding getting a good tone.

Pull-offs can work better with more gain.  I use lots of double stops.  Really though, I think of it mostly as a lead instrument and just fit in double stops occasionally without really playing chords in a rhythm context like you might do playing acoustic or of course playing electric guitar.

----------


## bobby bill

I experimented with a four-string Mandobird last summer.  One of the things I noticed is that I really needed a lighter left-hand touch and I had to concentrate on a more direct 90 degree fretting attack or else I would bend a lot of notes unintentionally.  In fact, I would sometimes bend the low G string right off the fret.  I agree that the tremolo has less of a role (unless you get into some Ventures stuff).  I found myself playing some slower things (like Stormy Weather) and just really concentrating on hearing the notes ring out.  I do play lots of 2 and 3 note chords with that.  I also had a little problem with my E string being a little quieter than the other strings and that is probably just a set-up problem that I haven't resolved.

I also know nothing about gear.  I borrowed an amp.  I even borrowed a wah-wah pedal (that was a riot).  But at the end of the summer when the rest of my acoustic band returned, they advised that maybe (ahem) I should go back to something that sounded more like a mandolin.

----------


## Bill Stokes

> Hammer-ons are dicey depending on that darn reverb. 
> 
> Pull-offs just don't work. I don't know why.


I rely on hammer-ons and pull-offs a good bit on the electrics.  (2 mandobirds w. different tunings and a 4-string e-mandola.)

Generally, I agree with you about chords; even double stops can distort.  Depends on what effects you're using, and how much overdrive.

But isn't it fun to wail on an electric?  A different animal from the acoustic for sure, but a cool change.

----------


## JeffD

I am putting my pedal adventure on hold until I get a handle on all what I have. I got a modeling amp that has 24 presets out of 8 classic amplifiers. I don't know my amps, but an electric friend of mine sure does. "OK, that's a Marshall, that's a VOX...."  just from listening.  So for now I am just messing with the presets, and various settings.

----------


## JeffD

Slides and hammer ons really depend on how that reverb is set. What acoustically sounds so cool can quickly sound like a sound riot on the electric.

----------


## darrylicshon

it sounds like your amp will work fine , i have been playing electric guitar for a long time, so i have lots of amps to use. But i like using my smaller battery operated ones that have onboard effects, that's all you need. Keep practicing and your pull offs and the rest will come did you get it set up , when i got mt mandostrat i had to file down the nut slots and lower the action, after that it played great

----------

zedmando

----------


## zedmando

My Mandobird is still due for some set up--and I will be lowering the action--not right down, but down a bit & maybe make the neck angle a bit steeper.
But  maybe I don't seem to have as much trouble with some of the other stuff due to my guitar background?

----------


## mandroid

OK this is all about single string (4~5) Not 8 string electrics, right?
 since  clean amplified 8 strings are a different thing,
 than a 4 string thru   effects pedals

----------


## Tom C

I got a 4 stringer. I never played guitar and have all the same issues OP stated. I thought it may work good with electric band friends have but nobody seems to want another "Guitar" player. -As that what is come down to sounding like. Theyd rather have the acoustic mando. So I got a better pickup.

----------


## Pete Martin

A single course electric instrument IS a different animal.  Good advice to think of it as a different instrument altogether.

1) Know the sound you are seeking.  If you don't know this, the next stuff is next to impossible.

2) Learn to pick much lighter to achieve #1.  Your tone is now in a combination of your hands, pickup and amp, not just in your hands anymore.  Lots of experimentation will be needed, especially in the amp.  Always keep #1 in mind.

3) MUCH lighter left hand touch!!

If you don't know what #1 is, maybe do a lot of listening to e mando and e guitar players until you find something you like.

----------

Dolamon, 

ronwalker49

----------


## chasray

I agree with Pete. I'll add a lighter touch has been difficult for me. Make sustain your friend, and a tasteful string bend once in a while.

----------


## Soundfarmer Pete

Here`s a nice clip of a 4 string....very delicate..... and Nazareno is kind enough to list his gear at the end of the clip ...
https://youtu.be/SUzgyA5oV1s

----------

Bill Stokes

----------


## zedmando

I play 12 string guitar and 6 string--and there are some differences, but there are many similarities--the main thing that's trickier on a 12 string than a 6 string is bending strings.

----------


## Jon Hall

I recently bought a 5 string Goldtone. I agree with everything that's been said.  I don't care for the sound of the open A string but it will take  lot of practice to avoid it completely. Comping with a two string blues shuffle sounds pretty good. I've found that there isn't enough room between the bridge and the pickup for me to mute strings with my palm and not hit the pickup with the pick.

----------


## JeffD

Yea mine is a four string. I got it because I was curious and the price was right.




> 1) Know the sound you are seeking. If you don't know this, the next stuff is next to impossible.


Peter you are very right. 

And I think  going forward this is going to be a real challenge. In a way, I have a kind of a hole in my experience. My life time of listening to music did not include much rock. It did not include a lot of electric guitar. I think I am as culturally aware as anyone of the great guitar solos, in a general sense, but until very recently I never really listened with "musician" ears. 

I started my acoustic mandolin jurney in a similar fashion, for better or worse, many many years ago, and I had been messing with the mandolin for many years before I ever heard any recorded mandolin music of any kind. I shudder to think of the inefficiency of my practice time because I hadn't a defined sound I was chasing after. Were I to start over this is one thing I would do differently. 

So its all a new adventure to me.

----------


## David Lewis

The first thing to remember is 'it's not a little guitar', it's a solid body mandolin. All tips so far have been great - I'd add - learn your chord shapes - 3 strings, in particular. 

I feel sorry for the poster above whose band didn't get it - when I play my JBovier, I get lots of comments - lots of discussion, and lots of approval. 

My other piece of advice is to roll back the tone when you use pedals - they're really designed for guitars, and the overtones of the mando can become very ice-picky very quickly. I've found it's better to use an envelope filter or auto-wah, rather than a wah pedal - the sweep of the wah is too wide. Same (I'm guessing) with volume pedals. 

I use a Fender M-80 amp - treble wound back. I'm guessing most Fenders would be the same... The more mid-tones of the Marshall or Mesa Boogie might work better for you. 

Good Luck with it! Let me know how you go!

----------


## David Lewis

And, FWIW, I've never had any issue with hammer ons or pull offs. But that's just me. 

My mando rig is (since I've started..)

Polytune Tuner>Boss AW-3 (Autowah)>Marshall Guv'nor II overdrive (lots of mids)>Boss DS-1>Marshall Vibratrem>EHX memory toy delay.

(My guitar rig: Polytune, Steve VAi BAd HOrsie II wah>Jim DUnlop Fuzz>Boss BD2>Boss Chorus CH1>Boss DD6 delay (set to analog, usually))

----------


## JeffD

> And, FWIW, I've never had any issue with hammer ons or pull offs. But that's just me.


I think my problem is with the amp settings. I don't know what I am doing, and that reverb multiplies each hammer-on into sonic chaos.




> The first thing to remember is 'it's not a little guitar', it's a solid body mandolin.


I think that is really true. And it is difficult because there is not much cultural context for electric mandolin. Western Swing, I think, is the only musical genre where electric mandolin has a long and famous history. I can't think of another.

We have to make our own context.

----------

David Lewis

----------


## John Flynn

If you want to mess around with a bit of Rock 'n Roll sound, I like the double stop shape you can do two frets apart on adjacent strings, like xx42 sliding up to xx53, with the amp gained out. Simple, but fun. 

One thing I learned with my Mandobird when I had it is that you can change the whole tone of the instrument by changing out the pots and caps. I went from 250 pots to 500s and changed the cap, I don't remember from what to a "22" and it really mellowed out the sound.

----------


## David Lewis

Check out some rockabilly. Major matchbox had a solidbody. Also Sam bush, laps in seven

----------


## ricomando

It is a big  long journey , so many options with electronics . just have fun checking stuff out . amps ,effects processors , pick ups,  every day some new pedal seems to come out or some new effects processor . expect to buy lots of gear

----------

David Lewis

----------


## JeffD

> expect to buy lots of gear


I knew it. That always seems to be part of the solution.  :Laughing:

----------


## zedmando

> I knew it. That always seems to be part of the solution.


Of course--we are musicians after all.

----------


## crisscross

I have a Kentucky 4-string electric that I play through a Line6 POD. I'm not interested in distortion or any dramatic effects, the only effect I dial in is a little slap-back echo, so the major difference to an acoustic mandolin seems to be the number of strings.
The Kentucky has a lipstick pickup closer to the neck position which gives it a slightly warmer tone than the Fender has, ideal for jazzy tunes if you roll back the treble a bit.
I recorded "All of me" once with an ukulele in mandotuning https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsAdgzKw7SM and with my Kentucky electric https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4OyoYOLW6I (at about 2:00)
I play exactly the same solo, it just sounds a little different, but not to much. ( and I use some pull-offs)
But it's the same with electric vs. acoustic guitars for me. I treat my Tele more like an acoustic, while others make theirs scream like a little baby. :Wink:

----------


## T.D.Nydn

The plus side is that the electric mandolin and electric guitar has the potential to be the most expressive instrument ever created,the down side is the amount of equipment you need,,amps,preamps,tube amps,,processors(wait till you mess with those)..desktop processors are incredible nowadays,,but what always bugs me is the fact that when playing electric instruments,the amount of experimenting you have to do,,,it's endless.i finally at one point said its too much money,take all that electronic money,buy a great acoustic instrument and spend your time actually practicing..an acoustic instrument either works or it don't,their isn't like a thousand variables to worry about..

----------


## JeffD

> The plus side is that the electric mandolin and electric guitar has the potential to be the most expressive instrument ever created,the down side is the amount of equipment you need,,amps,preamps,tube amps,,processors(wait till you mess with those)..desktop processors are incredible nowadays,,but what always bugs me is the fact that when playing electric instruments,the amount of experimenting you have to do,,,it's endless.i finally at one point said its too much money,take all that electronic money,buy a great acoustic instrument and spend your time actually practicing..an acoustic instrument either works or it don't,their isn't like a thousand variables to worry about..


I am starting to see that what you are saying is not that far off the mark.

----------


## JeffD

Right now I am struggling with how horrible double stops sound. On acoustic I play a lot of double stops. On electric they come out twice as distorted as a single note.

So first I can't use my tremolo, next I have to abandon double stops. What is left that is mandolinny? 

Perhaps NH is right, a single string electric mando is a small electric guitar with different tuning. 

That doesn't mean that it isn't fun, its just not a mandolin.

I dunno.

----------


## T.D.Nydn

Jeff..it is really more like an electric guitar..but that means it can do electric guitar things,,,like..wicked vibrato,slides,and speed..you can fly on a single string.on an acoustic mandolin,the pick hand is ,I'm not sure how to put it ,like it's stronger and more direct,in an electric you can loosen up the pick hand a little and actually do more things..instead of tremolo,,turn that action into speed runs,
And use that sustain to your advantage,you will have a blast Jeff...

----------


## T.D.Nydn

Jeff,,,check out Bacorn guitars In the makers section.i think I'm going to order a mini Les Paul,,.you see these things? They are freakin awesome ,especially the price....

----------


## T.D.Nydn

If you really want to blow your own mind,,here's something you just can't do on an acoustic mandolin...learn how to "sweep" pick..

----------


## T.D.Nydn

Here's something else that's not been mentioned,,on the 5 string you can go to a lighter gauge string,,like 10's..and lower the action way down,,it might buzz a little when unplugged,but usually don't when plugged in( if the buzz is within reason)...loosen up on the right hand and you will be doing marvelous things on this instrument....

----------


## JeffD

I am thinking of lighter strings on my MandoStrat, because well, if I can't tremolo, or double stop effectively, I will go all guitar on it and try string bending.

----------


## Jon Hall

Although not a double stop, I play blues/rock shuffles on two strings and it sounds great on my 5 stringer. The amp affects the sound/tone much more than the mandolin. I was listening to a Tiny Moore recording of his Bigsby solid body mando. Tiny's tremolo sounded pretty good but mine doesn't sound that good. I'm guessing that familiarity with the equipment and refinement of technique will improve how my playing sounds.

----------


## Dave Greenspoon

I find that going to a more flexible pick a big help for tremolo on the e-mando. The (green) nylon medium Dava control pick and the Dava Rock Control Delvin tend to work better for me than a more traditional, 1.5 mm pick I'd use on an acoustic instrument. NFI on any product or company.

----------


## JeffD

Yea pick matters. On my electric none of my high end picks have any advantage. I use a tear drop celluloid heavy and it seem to work the best. I have some playing around to do. Ill try a medium and see.

----------


## Perry

I play double stops all the time on electric 4 string and to me it sounds fine....sometimes I'll use hybrid...pick and finger.... to sound the strings simultaneously or I'll play the double stops with quick alternate one string at a time picking...

I like to do a lot of sliding sixth note double stops like a  country electric guitar would

Although possible on an electric string bending can be tricky because of the short scale length.

I also use a Fender Extra Heavy instead of a Blue Chip type pick.

Avoiding the ice pick in your ear sound can be tricky...I usually almost always have some reverb (not too much)  and a bit of crunch. A quality tube amp is nice as is a 15" speaker. A smattering of delay can do wonders.

----------


## JeffD

So how do you get around the double stops being a huge increase in distortion with a hint of the harmony intended. Or is that just a "style" thing about electric music I just have to get used to.

Even on the clean sounding settings, any time two strings sound together, a world of bees and hornets is unleashed. If you expect them and want them its great, but if all you want is a little harmony to imply a passing chord, it is hard to get used to.

----------


## Soundfarmer Pete

> So how do you get around the double stops being a huge increase in distortion with a hint of the harmony intended. Or is that just a "style" thing about electric music I just have to get used to.
> 
> Even on the clean sounding settings, any time two strings sound together, a world of bees and hornets is unleashed. If you expect them and want them its great, but if all you want is a little harmony to imply a passing chord, it is hard to get used to.


I do a lot of chord stuff so double stops aren`t a problem .....I use a light (by mando standards) pick for everything.... Orange Tortex .75mm.
Maybe, if you turn the pre gain down and up the master volume to compensate, you`ll clean up the sound.

----------


## Perry

> So how do you get around the double stops being a huge increase in distortion with a hint of the harmony intended. Or is that just a "style" thing about electric music I just have to get used to.
> 
> Even on the clean sounding settings, any time two strings sound together, a world of bees and hornets is unleashed. If you expect them and want them its great, but if all you want is a little harmony to imply a passing chord, it is hard to get used to.


Sounds more like an issue with your amp?  Playing two strings at a time is done all the time on an electric guitar even way up the neck in mandolin range...why would an electric mandolin be any different?

----------


## JeffD

> Sounds more like an issue with your amp?


Likely I have something set wrong.I don't know. (I am so new to this I guess I don't even know what is normal and what is a problem.)

An electric guitar friend of mine is coming over this weekend to play with my amp and all its presets and I will pick his brains.

----------


## crisscross

Might be the pickup is too close to the strings. I have no problems with the sound of double stops bordering on distortion on my Kentucky electric.

Jason Annick plays a lot of double stops on his Saga electric, sounds just fine

----------


## bayAreaDude

> Right now I am struggling with how horrible double stops sound. On acoustic I play a lot of double stops. On electric they come out twice as distorted as a single note.
> 
> So first I can't use my tremolo, next I have to abandon double stops. What is left that is mandolinny? 
> 
> Perhaps NH is right, a single string electric mando is a small electric guitar with different tuning. 
> 
> That doesn't mean that it isn't fun, its just not a mandolin.
> 
> I dunno.


I'd suggest playing clean ( little to no distortion/od ) for a while with maybe just a tiny bit of reverb or delay.  Maybe start with a simpler amp like a Pro Junior - only two knobs.  Double stops are my bread and butter on the emando, sound great.  I like an amp with tons of clean headroom with at least a channel that offers nearly zero distortion unless the volume is ear splitting.  Emando sounds great clean with a little delay.  When I want distortion, a hint from a pedal does it or even set the amp just on the edge of breakup and then push it when desired with an OD pedal.  This pattern is common in the electric world - you'll hear stuff like 'pedal platform' or 'takes pedals well'.

Tone and volume knobs on the instrument itself also shape the sound and how the amp behaves significantly.

----------


## JeffD

I found it. (Actually I was shown it.) The preset that gives a clean signal no distortion. And on that setting I can do my double stops and ringing open string harmonies and it sounds great.

Tremolo still sounds stupid, (insipid, like tremolo always sounds to me when played on a single string) but with so much sustain who needs it.

And my electric guitar friend said that after I am done with my honeymoon playing with everything, I will likely settle down with three or four settings, clean, clean with reverb, and some kind of angry distortion, and distortion with reverb. He said right now I should ''make every sound you can with that thing, and try and remember which ones you like and what you did to make it.''

----------


## crisscross

> insipid, like tremolo always sounds to me when played on a single string


Maybe you should tremolo double stops.That sounds OK to me on my electric mando. :Wink:

----------


## mandocrucian

> Maybe you should tremolo double stops.That sounds OK to me on my electric mando.


How_ "electric"?_  Therre's a *big BIG*difference between playing a solidbody electric as a (substitute) amplified acoustic mandolin than as an ELECTRIC mandocaster (ala Strat, Les Paul or SG).

I've used my Epiphone 8-string _as_ an _amplified acoustic_, on occasions where I've busted a couple of strings on one of my Gibsons (with McIntire pickup).  That works better if you plug into the soundboard rather than an amp.

But bluegrass licks on an electric into an amp, especially with some distortion..... sorry, it's an *awful sound* to my ear (imo).

As far as doublestops (and triplestops) on electric....it's done all the time on electric guitars, and a solidbody electric mando  is just a small electric guitar in an alternate tuning.

----------


## David Lewis

It is a mandolin. Closer frets, different range, smaller neck. Smaller body. More treble in the tone. But I'm not going to convince anyone whose made their mind up.

----------


## JeffD

I wonder if I had purchased an eight string electric if the tremolo would sound better, and I think it would.

Double stop tremolo sounds ok, well a little lame with this particular amp setting. 

But again tremolo is not really necessary with so much sustain.

----------


## mandocrucian

*ALBERT COLLINS playing his 6-string electric "mando"*
*(Capoed) Scale lengths (approximate) measured off a strat neck*


11th fret = 13.5" (mandolin)

9th fret = 15" (Gibson mandola)


7th fret = 17" (longer scale mandola)

5th fret = 19" (standard mini-guitar scale)

_ But I'm not going to convince anyone who has made their mind up._

----------

zedmando

----------


## David Lewis

Neck width? String spacing? It's the little things that count. All together. 

And to be fair, I don't know mandolas.(i know what they are but I've never played one)

----------


## bayAreaDude

> I wonder if I had purchased an eight string electric if the tremolo would sound better, and I think it would.
> 
> Double stop tremolo sounds ok, well a little lame with this particular amp setting. 
> 
> But again tremolo is not really necessary with so much sustain.


I don't really think tremolo has much place on an electric amplified instrument unless you're doing the intro to wipeout.  It suits the acoustic mandolin, not electric.  BUT, the outro solo to comfortably numb sounds much better on an emando than an acoustic.

----------


## ricomando

> But bluegrass licks on an electric into an amp, especially with some distortion..... sorry, it's an *awful sound* to my ear (imo).


I agree bluegrass licks are awful to hear

----------


## mandocrucian

Neck width:.....  there are narrow necks, wider necks and extra-wide (Radim Zenkl) necks 
(I personally like the slightly wider pre-truss width of my Gibson 1919A a lit bit more than the trussrod F4, but I can play either.

which helps you get your preference for.....

String spacing:.... your repairman can adjust this to your taste with a new recut nut. closely spaced courses, wider spaced (if you want to do a lot of string splitting) 

You forgot fretwire thickness/height. (I like Stew-mac banjo wire on my acoustic mandos, but I'll play ones that have guitar wire. Not that big an issue for me.  Don't like those teeny original old Gibson mando frets....and the wear down way yoo fast too.)  

There's variety of neck widths and contours in both acoustic and electric guitars too. You can't tell me there isn't a noticeable difference between the feel of a Les Paul, a Tele and Strat.

Of course, there's an overly pervasive one-neck-size/width fits all attitude in the mando realm which ignores the player's finger length and width/thickness.  (Size 9....it's good enough for the politburo, so it's good enough for you.)

Instruments are like shoes.... you need to find the ones that feet your feet (hands)

----------


## crisscross

Just to demonstrate what I mean: at 1:58 I play some tremoloed doublestops on my Kentucky 4-string solidbody electric. Maybe not as smooth as on an 8-string but OK to my ear. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-GcCrOL8gA
I treat my e-mando like an electric jazz guitar player treats his electric archtop: no distortion, no effects (with the exception of some reverb), no string bending. :Wink:

----------


## JeffD

> I don't really think tremolo has much place on an electric amplified instrument.


I am coming to much the same conclusion.

----------


## JeffD

> Just to demonstrate what I mean: at 1:58 I play some tremoloed doublestops on my Kentucky 4-string solidbody electric. Maybe not as smooth as on an 8-string but OK to my ear.


Sounds great. I do a lot of tremolo double stops on acoustic. They are more problematic on electric.




> no distortion, no effects (with the exception of some reverb), no string bending.;


I may end up there, out of frustration. But I still want to at least try all the angry stuff, if only to see what it does.

It would help if I were angry I suppose.

----------


## crisscross

> But I still want to at least try all the angry stuff, if only to see what it does.


I put that episode behind me some years ago on my Squier Stratocaster. But I agree: almost everyone seems to have to go through a sound -experimentation phase.To check out the seemingly unlimited possibities. I wish you a lot of  fun with yours. :Wink:

----------


## Perry

Nice pics of the Ice Man. Albert Collins is one of those players whose tone is instantly recognizable...could be the different tension on those strings due to the capo? Or most likely the man himself. His album Truckin' is great....as is his later stuff.

Other guitar player's I can pick out:

Garcia
Willie Nelson
Santana
Knopfler
B.B.
Muddy

Mandolin players:
Dawg 
Monroe
Compton 
Bush

----------


## JeffD

> I put that episode behind me some years ago on my Squier Stratocaster. But I agree: almost everyone seems to have to go through a sound -experimentation phase.To check out the seemingly unlimited possibities. I wish you a lot of  fun with yours.


I suspect its a "phase" as well. 

It may be that this whole electric thing is just a passing phase as well. I am not sure. I had my acoustic out yesterday and I felt like I was back in control. It felt good that everything I needed to control was already in my hands.

We'll see. Its a lot of fun.

----------


## j430922

I have a fender 5 string......I have played it off and on.  The sound we are after, is better played on a guitar...the electronic stuff available out there is designed for a guitar.  I use my acoustic mando(Bulldog)now, it sounds like a mando, but in order to play with others in a band situation, I was forced to amplify.   The horrible penetrating squeal, soon led me down the path of reducing the treble, increasing the base control....I now use a stick on piezo pickup(placed at the top of the saddle...an Ibanez base amp...and just one effects pedal..a boss frv-1 reverb.  It has taken years to get to this point.

----------


## JeffD

I have always thought that what an electric guitar could do was make internal things explicit. So where you may not be sad or angry or frustrated enough to show it on the outside, the electric guitar could show your inside outside.

I am finding a niche for my electric mandolin in much the same place. Lots of real great old time tunes become anthems when played electric. The trauma and pathos and hard times that are hinted at in a great old time tune is made explicit and underlined when electric. 

I am taking the fiddle tune "Whiteface" and slowing it down and playing it on my electric, and I played it for some folks, a mix of musicians and non musicians, and it was a real head turner. Really got under folks radar right to their hearts.

It was as if I just stood by and watched the awesome power of a great tune and an electric mandolin. 

Not very guitar like at all, in its sound.

----------


## Joel Glassman

I tend to play 2 string chords, mainly the 3rd and 7th notes of the chord.
Maybe with a moving line against a held note.
Not a steady 2 or 4 beat sound or chop. That's for the guitarist to do. 
Its helpful to find recordings of 2 guitarists playing rhythm
in your style of interest. One is probably playing rhythmic fills or figures.
That's the electric mandolin part. [Playing the main rhythm part is Niles
Hokkanen territory.] I found it helpful to think of the instrument as a 
guitar. The sound of strings through an amp is the language of electric
guitar. Guitaristic sounds blend better in styles based on guitar. This is 
a problem with 85 years of solutions. I was unprepared by how difficult
it was to play R&B etc at jam sessions. Using mandolinistic elements later
can be interesting and unique. Side note--playing Dixieland Jazz was
a similar problem. As a swing player, I thought I could improvise a line 
in a polyphonic improv. section on violin. No sir! There's a right way and 
a lot of wrong ways. It generally clashed and sounded bad, even with open
ears and a whole lot of empathy on my part :^)

----------


## JeffD

> Not very guitar like at all, in its sound.


I should correct that. A friend brought over his electric guitar, and note for note there is not much difference. Small differences. What is distinctly not guitar like is the way I play, the notes and double stops I reach for and the intervals I use. Where I go and what I do. Very mandolinny.

----------


## lenf12

> What is distinctly not guitar like is the way I play, the notes and double stops I reach for and the intervals I use. Where I go and what I do. Very mandolinny.


Exactly as it should be Jeff. There may be some cross overs to electric guitar technique, especially with 4 and 5 string mandolins, but with an 8 string electric mandolin you're forced to think and play very "mandolinny". I think that using tremolo in this situation is perfectly valid but as always, let your taste be your guide. Yesterday at our weekly jam we (plugged in Martin CEO7, Telecaster, electric 8 string and electronic drums) played "Pancho and Lefty" and I can't imagine it without tremolo. 

Len B.
Clearwater, FL

----------


## JeffD

Brushing off this thread. I have explored the sonic landscape of electric mandolin and determined that I need help. All I am able to do is happen upon cool stuff and write down the settings. I don't know what I am doing or how I am getting to cool stuff, and I don't know what to change to make something lame into something cool. Its purely hit or miss, or do something that worked before.

This is no way for me to learn.

I am thinking to get an electric guitar teacher to walk me through things. Use this to get that, use that and this to get here. I want to be able to hear a particular sound - an electric guitar solo, a specific riff, and be able to put the right stuff together to get that tone. 

The French band Malicorn is one of my models.

The exploration is done, I need some structure, some pathways in the desert.

----------


## sonic

I know exactly how you feel.
I have a multi effects pedal which I manage to make worse most of the time when editing settings. 
Youtube would seem to be the place to find this info but sorting through the dross make it tedious.

----------


## lenf12

It may be time to simplify everything, strip it back down to just the essential. Go back to a "clean" sound with just the electric mandolin and the amplifier, perhaps a bit of reverb to sweeten things up and a "dirty" sound with either a distortion pedal or natural overdrive from the amp. The soundscape can get very complicated with so many pedals available and sonic directions you can take, it'll make your brain hurt. The guitarist I play with must have 10 or 12 pedals he uses all the time and he must think I'm not smart enough to want as many choices. Personally, I want clean and dirty and as few pieces of hardware as it takes to get those choices. My mandolin goes into an ART pre-amp to boost the signal and straight into a Fender silver faced Vibro Champ with a bit of reverb and a splash of vibrato. When I want dirty, I turn up the volume on the mandolin. Simple to a fault but satisfies my needs.

Len B.
Clearwater, FL

----------


## JeffD

How do you deal with the delay?

When I play an acoustic the sound is immediate. When I play my electric and I pick, the amplified sound delays ever so slightly the acoustic sound (the sound the emando makes when unplugged.) It is infuriating. I suppose I should just get used to the delay and listen only to the amplified sound. That is, of course, all that anyone outside of five feet away from me will hear.  But the instrument is right under me and the net effect of hearing both the acoustic sound and the electric sound an instant later is getting my timing off. Especially on faster pieces.

To be clear, this is not a delay effect or a reverb effect. No matter what setting, the sound out of the amp comes a moment after I pick, not when I pick.

Is this just something you get used to after a while.

----------


## Tom Wright

I am guessing your modeling amp is the culprit. Simple amplification does not cause delay. Dedicated signal processing can be fast but is likely to be sluggish if older design or not professional-grade. 

You may be very good at hearing latency even in a fast system, so maybe it's time to look at a different amp. The basics of overdrive and reverb/echo can be achieved without any major digital activity. I prefer to keep everything discrete--separate overdrive pedal, reverb pedal, amp head, speaker cabinet.

----------

derbex

----------


## JeffD

> You may be very good at hearing latency even in a fast system, so maybe it's time to look at a different amp. The basics of overdrive and reverb/echo can be achieved without any major digital activity. I prefer to keep everything discrete--separate overdrive pedal, reverb pedal, amp head, speaker cabinet.


Interesting. So I should bring my emando to the store and try out a lot of amps and compare the delay I hear. Or are you saying it will likely be a characteristic of most of the modeling amps I try, and I should go to an amp amp, and see how that goes?

Lots to learn.

----------


## David Lewis

> Interesting. So I should bring my emando to the store and try out a lot of amps and compare the delay I hear. Or are you saying it will likely be a characteristic of most of the modeling amps I try, and I should go to an amp amp, and see how that goes?  Lots to learn.


Simple is best. Multi effects and modelling amps I find complex. I suggest buying an overdrive, a delay and a compressor or a chorus. 

Boss is the one I recommend and all of those (the blues driver) the super chorus and the Cs 3 and the dd7 delay are the ones I use. 

Then experiment with each pedal separately.
I'll be back for using delay.

----------


## Jim Bevan

I'm all for going simple -- I figure that most audiences haven't heard an electric mandolin, and want to know what it sounds like unadorned.

That said, it's electric, and the amplification of it is half of the tonal picture. When I finally realized that, if I plugged into an amp and it sounded boring, then something at the basic level was wrong -- Hendrix, Stevie Ray, Clapton, Richards, they just plug a guitar into an amp and it sounds great -- I spent years (and $$!) trying to find a mando-amp-speaker combo that would be able to sound amazing just by itself. One of the things I eventually learned was to use the right size amp for the gig -- a 15-watt amp on 10 sounds better than a 50-watt amp that's using a master volume to control the distortion/volume ratio ('cuz power tube breakup produces a really lovely warm sound), and _way_ better than cleanly-amplified pedals that are trying to imitate overdriven amplifiers.

Before I made the big Philly-to-Chile move a couple of years ago, I sold off most of the results of my searches, and winnowed it down to two setups: a Jule Potter-modded Orange Tiny Terror with a Mercury Magnetics output transformer into a Celestion Blue, and a Dr Z Carmen Ghia with (maybe) some of the same mods (I'd have to ask Jule), the same MM transformer, and the same speaker. (The Mercury Magnetics kit comes with a power transformer, but I didn't use them 'cuz I had Jule put in voltage-switchable power transformers, and anyways, he says that the power transformer doesn't really affect the tone.) The Tiny Terror's my go-to rig, but the Dr Z is way-cool too -- I bought just the head and made a combo that's a lot smaller and lighter than theirs. (I also have the philosophy that a small-as-possible cabinet works just fine -- I'm not producing much low end, so the cabinet isn't really affecting the sound much.) I can't say enough about those Celestion Blues -- replacing the driver(s) in any cab/combo with one of 'em would be the single most significant upgrade you could make.

So, I have a 15-watt rig with some control (it can be switched to 7-watts, and it has a master volume) and an 18-watt rig. If I need more power than either supplies, I run the mando through a Lehle P-Split II into both of 'em.

The Tiny Terror, at the right settings, will produce a lovely clean sound at "rhythm" levels, and a lovely tube-breakup distorted sound at "lead" levels -- I don't need to touch anything. If all conditions are really perfect (which is kinda rare), I've been lucky enough to surf that edge where I don't even use the instrument's volume knob -- the dynamics of my playing are enough to deliver both the clean and distorted tones. 

(I do have a Fulltone Fat Boost which I rarely use, but it does the job when needed, and it has some eq in it which is handy -- I can roll off the highs for solos.)

What's my point?  :Smile:  Don't use pedals for tone -- find an amp that has the tone(s) that you're looking for. When you've got that going, then ya, if you're into it, add some compression/delay/wacko effects and have some fun, but don't waste your time and money on pedals in an effort to get a good overdriven-tubes sound -- get a good little tube amp and make it work hard. You'll get better results, and you'll have more mojo too.  :Cool:

----------

Rick Jones

----------


## Jim Bevan

I should add to the above: Before you do everything else, make sure that you're satisfied with your mando's sound. Listen to it, on headphones, through the most uncolored-sounding setup you have available, like a mixing desk, your stereo, or your computer's soundcard. If it ain't doin' it for you, upgrade your pickup(s), or, well, get a better instrument.

(An extreme example: While on tour in Nashville, I accompanied my guitarist on a Telecaster-hunting expedition. His first step was to try out a few "unplugged", to see how they sounded acoustically.  :Smile:  )

----------

lenf12

----------


## lenf12

Very good points Jim. I especially like the "unplugged" Telecaster suggestion. A good piece of wood will have some inherently acoustic properties that are apparent when played unplugged. My Stratocaster has an excellent one piece swamp ash body that is very musical and resonant even unplugged. (It makes playing late at night unplugged doable without waking the wife and neighbors). My Telecaster is a thin line design with semi hollow body and an f hole so it already has quite good acoustic properties.

If the instrument responds well unplugged, move on to the pickups to evaluate whether they have the sound you want plugged in. If so, great. If not, replace the pickups or get a different instrument. The last part of the signal chain is the amplifier. I'm a loyal Fender amp kind of guy so I knew that the Vibro Champ I use when plugged in would be quite satisfactory. It was retrofitted with a Webber 10" speaker a few years ago and really sings when the volume is ~7 to 8. I do use an ART pre amp to get a hotter signal to the amp than just the pickups alone. Apparently the pickups in my Morgan Monroe 8 string aren't very hot and I had to crank the amp up to 10 without the pre amp to be heard in the mix. It didn't sound so good all maxed out so adding the pre amp really helped boost the signal and I could back off the volume on the amp to 7 or so. At some point I'll upgrade the pickups but for now, it's a very straightforward setup and it sounds really quite good for a $200 (used) electric mandolin.  

Len B.
Clearwater, FL

----------


## JeffD

I knew this would happen and you are probably correct, but I am going to resist.  Or is it the only route?

With acoustic mandolin, once you have chosen the mandolin you want and it is set up and tuned, you work on technique. Everything you want to fix in your sound is already in your hands.

But even in this thread, which I thought of as an emando technique thread in a sea of equipment threads, even in this discussion there is the refrain - _fix it by buying something else_.

And for an electric newbie it is hard to sort out. The fellow with the hammer says that every problem is a nail. My guitar buddy says that every problem I have will be solved with a Mesa Boogie.

That said, I am trying things. I played through my brothers large tweed vintage (1957?) Fender amp, in his huge music room, and he played with his pedals. Great awesome fun.

----------


## Tom Wright

To help return to technique, there is a large component involved in tone. Pick use is very important---for example, I find the typical acoustic sweet spot location is where electrics get clunky and boring. I find I am either on the fingerboard, or near the bridge with a highly angled pick, or gliding across the strings with a very light touch for strums.

Your complaint about double stops involves technique but also gear, in the form of settings. When two pitches are played together there is a virtual note called resultant or difference which is the frequency shared as a number common to both. For example, notes a 5th apart share the note an octave below the lower of the 5th. A closer interval like a major 3rd shares a note much lower, and violinists are sometimes taught to listen for that resulting pitch to help tune 3rds to a more pleasing perfect version, since then the deeper note becomes clear and steady.

When you use overdrive (distortion) you compress the dynamics and those difference tones become very noticeable. Much of the power in power chords is the deeper bass note resulting from the stacked 5ths and 4ths combining to yield the resultant, made loud by the extreme compression of distortion.

3rds are really dicey, as they will show the effect of tempered scale and the difference tone will be loud, warbling, and ugly, if much distortion is used. To avoid the ugly tone you need minimal distortion, and best tonal results are with a bright tone going into the distortion circuitry, giving the best chance for a clear tone coming out. There is an alternate approach but it requires being completely maxed out with shredding distortion, as in the fun video Eva Holbrook did with a Schwab emando--Slashs Little Sister. To get this sound, the overdrive is so heavy that any overtones from the strings are left behind and swamped by the fundamental tones, and there is less grumble in the difference tones, but only mud in the main tone (which you may want).

The main thing is that you really need different technique for electric and you need to work the gear, too.  Here are a couple of examples I did with my Ryder to demo my distortion pedal and amp. 

Street Fighting Man begins with no distortion, I kick it on and you hear the volume jump and the tone change. In this case I am using very slight clipping, it has mainly the effect of some volume boost and stronger midrange. I am strumming (more like banging/slapping) on the fingerboard and using the treble (bridge) pickup. This shows the approach of minimal distortion and bright tone.
https://soundcloud.com/twtunes/street-fighting-man

In Red House I use a different setting, a fair amount of distortion and tone rolled off on the pedal to make it sweeter, and I am using the neck (bass) pickup. In both cases there are no tubes, and no software. (I did add some reverb afterward.) The pedal (King of Tone from AnalogMan) is one of a number of boutique distortion pedals out there, most of which are analog, which is nice for low battery usage. 
https://soundcloud.com/twtunes/red-house

I like the Maxon SD9 Sonic Overdrive pedal, too. I used it for Mercy, Mercy, Mercy in this last example, which is again depending on bright tone going in and not too much distortion, but enough to make it sing.
https://soundcloud.com/twtunes/mercy-mercy-mercy

----------

lenf12

----------


## Jim Bevan

> With acoustic mandolin, once you have chosen the mandolin you want and it is set up and tuned, you work on technique. Everything you want to fix in your sound is already in your hands.


Jeff, that's where I was trying to help you to get to.  :Smile: 

However, this is a case of "once you have chosen the mandolin _and the amp and the speaker_ you want and it is set up and tuned..."
Accomplish this, and then ya, everything you want to fix in your sound will be in your hands (and not in your feet  :Wink: ).

----------


## JeffD

> However, this is a case of "once you have chosen the mandolin _and the amp and the speaker_ you want and it is set up and tuned..." Accomplish this, and then ya, everything you want to fix in your sound will be in your hands (and not in your feet ).


That makes sense. I know that I don't know enough to recognize when I am fighting the equipment or fighting my bad habits.

----------


## David Lewis

> I knew this would happen and you are probably correct, but I am going to resist.  Or is it the only route?  With acoustic mandolin, once you have chosen the mandolin you want and it is set up and tuned, you work on technique. Everything you want to fix in your sound is already in your hands.  But even in this thread, which I thought of as an emando technique thread in a sea of equipment threads, even in this discussion there is the refrain - fix it by buying something else.  And for an electric newbie it is hard to sort out. The fellow with the hammer says that every problem is a nail. My guitar buddy says that every problem I have will be solved with a Mesa Boogie.  That said, I am trying things. I played through my brothers large tweed vintage (1957?) Fender amp, in his huge music room, and he played with his pedals. Great awesome fun.


As I said simple is best. No effects work as well as having effects work. Don't use them if you don't want them.  

So raw techniques:

Getting the fretting right. Just behind the fret. You can move it further back (when you have space) for what I'd call a microtome effect. 

String bending. Very hard on a 8 string. Light strings and gentler than a guitar. 

Get used to volume and tone swells. 

Practice sliding into notes. Semi tones. Whole tones. Minor thirds. Major thirds. Stopping is important. Continue up till the octave. 

Playing above the twelfth fret. You'll need to work on your precision. Try not to use your middle finger as some of those high frets get very hard to access 

Mute palming. Lean your palm lightly next to the bridge. A different effect to lifting your fingers. 

Build your speed slowly. 

If you have more than one pickup, don't be scared to experiment with all of them. 

And the tone and volume don't have to be on 10 all the time. Winding both back has different and useful effects. 

Jazz chords become nice. A #9 chord has a nicer timbre. Even a 9. Play one at 5 -3 -5 to get a sense. 

Pick scrapes work. 

Pick near the near middle of the body.

----------

lenf12

----------


## lenf12

And don't ignore/overlook using a slide to get some very sweet or very nasty sounds. Peter Mix had a short thread here on the cafe about using a brass slide on a Gibson EM-200 with P-90s. Well worth searching out.

Len B.
Clearwater, FL

----------


## JeffD

> Get used to volume and tone swells. .


Not sure what you mean.

----------


## JeffD

OK. I spent some Christmas money, and purchased a VOX AC4TVMINI, at a decent price.

I am using it to learn about tube amps played clean. 

So this is what I am doing: I went back to the Fender Mustang and chose the channel that models the VOX. I figured out how to remove all the built in effects and get it clean. I adjusted gain, volume, treble and bass and got it so that it sounded surprisingly (or maybe not considering my inexperienced ears for this) like the VOX I just bought.

I wrote everything down that I did.

Then I went back to the Mustang simulation of the VOX, and experimented with (played with) the reverb and the various effects options,  - kind of like auditioning for what individual effects pedals I predict I will be purchasing to use with the VOX.

Step at a time.

----------


## JeffD

> If you have more than one pickup, don't be scared to experiment with all of them.


Only one. 




> And the tone and volume don't have to be on 10 all the time. Winding both back has different and useful effects.


I can't figure out what the tone control knob does. (Its a four string fender mando-caster.) It makes a difference, but I can't seem to get my memory around what difference it makes and when it is better set where. I only notice that in some cases I need to adjust it because my e-string will sound a tad weaker than the others with some settings.

----------


## Jim Bevan

Dialing back the tone control will attenuate the higher frequencies.

From my experience, I seems to me that Fender didn't spend much time redesigning the electric guitar parts (the pickup and the tone control) for the mandolin's frequency range, so turning down the tone knob has a tendency to attenuate the treble frequencies starting at a lower pitch than I wish it was set at. (Turn it all the way down, and an E-string 12th-fret high E pretty much disappears.) 

I'd recommend, with a clean, non-distorted amp setting, leaving it all the way up, and adjust the tone to suit your taste using the amp's controls. The only time I really use the mando's tone control is if I'm taking a solo at a volume that produces some distortion -- then it's often preferable (just a matter of taste, but lots of guitarists do it) to dial back the tone knob a little. It also helps with controlling that weird effect on Fenders where if you turn the volume all the way up, the treble increases significantly in the last 5% range.

----------


## JeffD

> I'd recommend, with a clean, non-distorted amp setting, leaving it all the way up, and adjust the tone to suit your taste using the amp's controls. The only time I really use the mando's tone control is if I'm taking a solo at a volume that produces some distortion -- then it's often preferable (just a matter of taste, but lots of guitarists do it) to dial back the tone knob a little. .


Tried it. A good strategy.

----------


## David Lewis

> Not sure what you mean.


A nice effect where you turn the volume or tone up or down while playing to sound somewhat like a bow (volume) or a Wah (tone)

----------


## JeffD

> A nice effect where you turn the volume or tone up or down while playing to sound somewhat like a bow (volume) or a Wah (tone)


I just saw this thread and suddenly, I understand.

----------


## Polecat

> That makes sense. I know that I don't know enough to recognize when I am fighting the equipment or fighting my bad habits.





> OK. I spent some Christmas money, and purchased a VOX AC4TVMINI, at a decent price.
> I am using it to learn about tube amps played clean.


That was about the best thing you could do IMHO, I'm a big fan of playing through  a  low powered tube amp. If you have access to a technician, you could ask him to disable the tone control on the amp (or if you trust yourself with a soldering iron, you could do it yourself, I'd be happy to explain how), and check that the capacitor in the tone control of your emando is of a suitable value (I'm guessing that it's probably 47nF - 22nF works better, to my ears).
You will then have the simplest set-up imaginable, with some degree of overdrive/crunch if you turn everything to full volume, and the ability to play cleaner by winding the volume back on your instrument, and you can experiment with how to get a sound you like (plenty of good suggestions here already).

----------


## JeffD

> That was about the best thing you could do IMHO.


I probably should have started that way. But, we start where we start.

And I still like to plug into the Mustang and make angry sounds. Keep the flies from landing.


Playing clean through the VOX, I am really appreciating the mandostrat. The intonation is perfect all the way up the neck, every note is pitch perfect and the feel is consistent. 

The amp has the ability to reduce itself from 4 watts to 1/10 watt, so that the same volume settings are closer to the "bend in the saturation curve" (sounds good, eh) and I can get overdrive distortion at reasonable volumes. Kind of fun to play right on the edge of that, and then by picking just a little harder I bring on some distortion, or pick softer and I play clean.

My electric guitar brother differentiates between honest distortion and dishonest distortion, meaning, I think, overdrive distortion (honest) and digitally created distortion (dishonest). He uses both to good effect, but differentiates when and where.

He says I am "almost ready" to try a little reverb.

----------


## Polecat

Just to put my money where my mouth is, I recorded this as a demonstration of "emando through a one-knob amp"

https://soundcloud.com/polecatmandocafe/ookpik

It's not the best playing (I've had a hard day), but you get the idea (I hope). The amp is similar to yours - two cascaded triode stages into a pentode, total output about 3W, the same size (6.5") speaker as your Vox, and nothing else. It can sound a lot angrier (it was only turned about half way up), if I have time, I'll record a distorted freakout in the next day or so.

----------


## JeffD

Great stuff. I like how the distortion comes in when you play more intensely, like highlighting the text. That is what I try to do.

Its like a dimension not available to acoustic playing.

----------


## David Lewis

> Great stuff. I like how the distortion comes in when you play more intensely, like highlighting the text. That is what I try to do.  Its like a dimension not available to acoustic playing.


That's why I love the solid body. And it's different again to a guitar.

----------


## Polecat

> Just to put my money where my mouth is, I recorded this as a demonstration of "emando through a one-knob amp"
> ...I'll record a distorted freakout in the next day or so.


Here it is: https://soundcloud.com/polecatmandocafe/ng2 

It won't be everybody's cup of tea, a railing against death "go not gentle" approach to Neal Gow's lament, but it's as good as anything to show what I try to do when playing with impossibly high gain. The first thing is - everything you don't damp will ring, so if you want to keep any semblance of a tune, the only intervals allowed for double-stops are fifths (what so-called "power chords" are built of. Secondly, this kind of noise is very exhausting to the ear and listeners will turn off in short order unless you do something to keep their attention, like for example playing ridiculously fast (which I'll admit I'm no good at) or, as I've tried to do here, introducing different tonalities - the first part of the tune is played very close to the bridge holding the body of the instrument tight against myself, to get a very "stringy" sound; the second part is played allowing the instrument to resonate and striking the strings in the middle - the sound is poorer in string overtones but because the pickup is being shaken by the body resonance, a different mix of overtones is introduced.
I didn't play about with the volume and tone pots - volume is on full, and tone turned back to stop the high frequencies lobotomizing me, the whole thing was played pretty loud - loud enough to provide controllable feedback but not so that everything screamed when I stopped playing. What works well is legato playing (pull-offs and hammer-ons rather than picking every note), staccato for effect (play with palm mute and stop the note with an extra finger), and of course string bending. What doesn't work are chords (other than power chords), trying to play too clean, and taking it too seriously - something always happens to mess up what you're trying to do (especially live), and you have to react to that.

----------


## Cutch Tuttle

Hi, just thought I'd share some of my observations on electric mandolin vs. Acoustic tips here. I will say first that I play both and that I have a background in guitar and piano .. I have been teaching stringed instruments at a local university as well as privately for about 13 years, and playing since i was four ( I know. I wasted the first three years of my life) - anywho... I purchased a epiphone mandobird IV from the blem section of musicians friend when in my early twenties over a decade ago for about $30. Ive never found a blem to date. I've also never modded the pickup but did experiment with string gauge a bit. I use nickel flats high e a .12 .. Pretty much a heavier set. I have never really differentiated by instruments. Strings are strings. Bronze/hybrids for acoustics and steel or nickel for electric. The single course mandobird is one of my fave instruments for many reasons. Admittedly I bought it because it looked cool and was cheap, but tonal range and infinite possibilities make it a mainstay in both my jazz band and my electric improv band. I have a Kalamazoo k-11(I think that's the model name) from 1934 that I play with my blue grass and old time bands ... 
I guess I was bewildered quite a bit by the consensus of the electric mandos "limitations" of no trememo and full chords sounding sucky. I tremelo all the time. Hammers and pulls are a breeze, and I play big four note jazz chords in both bands, as well as double stops. IMO that is all technique. My guess is that those that can't tremelo well on electric probably don't really tremelo well period. Tremelo is a careful breakdown of alternate picking and triplets, not just sloppily playing the note as fast as one can. The wrist is loose, there's no tension in the arm and it takes years to develop correct technique. Same with hammers and pulls. And with the electric a number of other cool variables can occur, most notable the ability to bend and slide. I would seek out an experienced teacher and get the best out of all techniques by practicing diligently and glacially slooooooooow with guidance from a teacher. Also for the beginner electo mando player, leave the effects alone at first. Rolling off the treble and working the volume and tone  knobs is like an added thing to learn but I encourage it. Effects come much later, as you cannot develop good technique when it's not clean.
As bill Monroe said "if you can think it, you can do it"...
A number of videos are on my YouTube channel (Cutch Tuttle) featuring my mandobird. I love helping and studying music with passionate students, and I can be reached via my email sneergrass@hotmail.com anytime.

----------

