MM solid-body hum

[paulspafford]

Hey kids,

I have an Eastman MD-515 that I've had for five years, and still think is the best thing ever. However, I recently bought a Morgan Monroe solid-body electric mando. Amazon didn't do a proper setup (I expected this, of course), but once I had one, it plays like a dream: I can't even believe how easy it is to play.

Unfortunately, it has a pretty serious hum when I plug it in. 25 years ago, when I was an electric guitarist, I used to put active pickups in everything to get rid of the hum - which worked beautifully.

Has anyone had one of these Morgan Monroes? Did better pickups do the trick?

Thanks,
Paul

[Nevin]

Given that these have a pretty poor reputation for quality control, I would check out a few other things before replacing the pickups. First check that it is properly grounded. Does the hum decrease when you touch the strings. If not the bridge needs to be grounded. Is there any shielding in the pickup and control cavities? If so is it grounded?

[Verne Andru]

Pics?

If it's the one I'm thinking of it is a tele-shape with 2 single-coil pickups, correct?

If so that's probably 60 cycle hum from the single-coils. The easy solution would be to see if you can rewire it so the pup's are RWRP to each other. This won't work on pickups with ceramic magnets, which you probably have, but works great if they use alnico magnets after you flip the polarity. I was able to do this with my Fender FM60E.

After that you're into pickup replacements. Finding drop-in solutions can be costly so if you can rework the pickguard and squeeze a strat-type pickup in there, you open yourself to a ton of options, including EMG actives.

[DHopkins]

If it's any help, I had to replace the pickup in a McCormick solid-body f-style electric. It had a Saga lipstick pickup but it was in a flat triangle opening in the mandolin body. Working through Sweetwater Music, Seymour-Duncan made a mandolin pickup out of a Fender Stratocaster frame that fit the mandolin perfect. It took less than 3 weeks and works like a charm. I was, and am, very pleased.

Incidentally, the Fender guitar pickup is still listed in the "Antiquities" section of their web site but I can't find anything that they normally make for a mandolin.

[jefflester]

More info in this thread:
https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/s...t-impressions)

[Nevin]

More info in this thread:
https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/s...t-impressions)

I read through this thread and have a comment that I will place here since this is currently active. The pole pieces on a magnetic pickup have a fairly large magnetic field. They don't have to line up perfectly to work just fine. If you want a pickup where they align for aesthetic reasons that is fine but don't rule out a pickup that fits but has differnt pole piece spacing if all you car about is the sound.

[paulspafford]

Thanks for that, Nevin. I was looking through Almuse's selection, and then went on a hunt to find the string spacing on this beast. Can't find it listed anywhere.

Verne, yep, that's the one. Here's a pic from the Morgan Monroe site:


EMG Actives were my pickup of choice in my strat and hollow-body in 1993, and a Lace Sensor in my lap steel. Back then, my pickups were worth WAY more than my axes.

A friend who is a very accomplish professional musician says that everyone he works with gets pickups at guitarfetish.com, but I don't know enough about pickups anymore to make an educated decision. Would a tele replacement pickup do the trick, or does it HAVE to be a mando pickup with proper string spacing?

[darrylicshon]

I put active 81 in my octave I built, it sounds great

[Verne Andru]

Verne, yep, that's the one. Here's a pic from the Morgan Monroe site:


A friend who is a very accomplish professional musician says that everyone he works with gets pickups at guitarfetish.com, but I don't know enough about pickups anymore to make an educated decision. Would a tele replacement pickup do the trick, or does it HAVE to be a mando pickup with proper string spacing?

Paul, as my Fender and your MM are very similar you might find something useful in this thread:

http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/sh...ktop-make-over

Once you get your pickguard to accommodate strat pickups, the world is your oyster. I made a new one by you could just modify the one you have.

IIRC Guitar Fetish gets their pickups from Korean firm Artec who are the same peeps who make the pups I put in mine. There really isn't any rocket science to winding a pickup, so people other than the majors are turning out great product. I have no experience with Guitar Fetish pups, but the few things I have bought from them have been value for dollar.

The only caveat I have to my pickup choice is my picking hand does tend to touch the rails from time to time (pups are a bit wider than the strings) which causes an annoying hum. I put some black electrical tape over the ends and problem solved.

Totally agree with Nevin.

[paulspafford]

Thanks, Verne. I'm not at all handy, so the idea of making strat pickups fit - while I love the flexibility - is a little scary. I want to find something that the tech at my local store can just drop in. I need to research more.

By the time I pay the Canadian exchange and shipping on the GFS pickups, it may be almost as cheap to just have my local store drop in some Lace Sensors.

[Verne Andru]

Thanks, Verne. I'm not at all handy, so the idea of making strat pickups fit - while I love the flexibility - is a little scary. I want to find something that the tech at my local store can just drop in. I need to research more.

By the time I pay the Canadian exchange and shipping on the GFS pickups, it may be almost as cheap to just have my local store drop in some Lace Sensors.

I'm in Vancouver and get stuff shipped to WA state then drive it over myself if it's something I can't find locally or on Criagslist. More often than not I can find what I need on CL much cheaper anyway.

You should be able to find a luthier in town who can make a custom pickguard for you - it's something they do all the time. Not sure about Ottawa, but closer to Toronto there are definitely skilled luthiers that can help you out.

[paulspafford]

Not sure about Ottawa, but closer to Toronto there are definitely skilled luthiers that can help you out.

Thanks again, Verne. I'll look into it.