Just wondering what setting you play your Eastman; personal enjoyment or on stage in a band? Even though I get great personal enjoyment from playing my 515 solo, I do play in a band. My Eastman does a great job in this setting and really shines in the studio. It turns a lot of heads at the festivals from those wanting to upgrade and several who play more expensive mandolins. I have also incorporated it into our 'Praise and Worship' at church on occasion. Very versatile instrument. I use different picks to change the sound of the mandolin, hopefully to match the 'mood' of the song.
I play my 515 in two bands: raw in a bluegrass band (sometimes into a condenser mike) and with a stick-on transducer in a jammy sorta acoustic rock band. Problem is I have a hard time getting enough volume to match the fiddle and banjo in the former, and the transducer doesn't capture the beautiful tone in the latter. I've though about having a pickup installed, but I cringe to think of screwing up such a beautiful instrument. Has anyone gone that route?
I've only remotely considered it. I would not want to mess mine up either. Maybe the folks at Eastman will make one with a good pickup already installed.
Check this out. http://www.schertlerusa.com/review_d...tevenStone.htm I tried one out on my mandolin and it sounded pretty good. The price the guy was asking was higher than the SRP on the website.
I play my 615 in a band now, but started out just for personal pleasure. When I go to jam sessions it always stands out in volume and tone. BTW glad to see this group...I have pictures somewhere will try to load on another day. I have taken the finish off the neck, now very slick, and added fossilized bone bridge from Gianna in TN.
I play my 515 in 3 bands. It does a very nice job. I agree that it responds with very different sounds to different picks, I hadn't thought of switching picks for different songs so maybe I will try that.
Hi i use heavy picks and that does it for me use a fender extra heavy and the sound will realy pick up i have a Eastman md 515 and the sound is great .
I'm playing mine in a semi pro bluegrass band, a kinda local "throw together" bluegrass band and just recently started with a couple of guys on some folksy/rootsy stuff along with a couple of originals I have written. cutterflys Oh, Dawg picks do it for me - no pickups yet (like the instrument mics).
Regarding Laird's inquiry on installing pickups - There are hundreds of posts in dozens of threads on this subject in the "Equipment" forum. I can summarize my limited experience here. I've installed piezo pickups in six instruments; two mandos, one mandocello (my Eastman), two OM's and a guitar. I'm in the process of electrifying my fiddle now. On the larger instruments (guitar, mandocello and OM) installation is pretty easy with a standard endpin jack. On a mandolin, it is a little tougher, since a guitar sized endpin jack is really too big for a mandolin. There are vintage mandolin endpin jacks which use a 1/8" jack, which requires an adapter to either a standard 1/4" or XLR prior to plugging in to an amp or PA. You don't want to just drill a hole in the side somewhere for a jack. The sidewood is very thin and if you or a bandmate steps on the chord you could cause a lot of damage by side loading the jack. There are two routes I've gone. On my beater Ibanez, I use a reinforcement plate like this. On my Morris mando and my Jessen OM, the builders put in an extra reinforcing block to support the jack. I can provide more pics and info if you like.
A couple extra things I forgot: I don't think the piezo pickups change the unplugged sound at all. I use a pre-amp when playing electric, doing various styles, but mostly Americana (Gram Parsons, REK, TVZ, James McMurtry, John Prine, etc.) and blues. The sound works well in a band in a bar with pretty high background noise levels.
I play at home just because it's fun. MD904 2-pointer.