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Thread: Pickup for pin bridge mando

  1. #1

    Default Pickup for pin bridge mando

    Any suggestions for a pickup to suit a pin bridge mandolin? I'd rather not glue anything to the top. Any sound hole types?

  2. #2
    Registered User Frankdolin's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pickup for pin bridge mando

    I don't know anything about mandolin pick-ups, but what kind of mandolin do you have with a pinned bridge ?

  3. #3
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    Default Re: Pickup for pin bridge mando

    You could float a pickup from the pickguard, if you have one. I have done that a few times and it works great. Just need a thin pickup. You can get a thin jazz pickup by Kent Armstrong. You can also get a pickup that will work from Marshall Hammett who I believe has been on this forum. He is a good guy and easy to work with.
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  4. #4
    Registered User Tom Wright's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pickup for pin bridge mando

    I have two pin-bridge instruments with the Headway undersaddle pickup that incorporates an internal preamp with a good EQ profile. As luck would have it, I ordered a 10-string Buchanan with pickup and Tom used the HE4 mandola (not mandolin) version. I liked it very much and had a local luthier install one in my other Buchanan, but I thought Tom had used the mandolin version. So it has the HE4 mandolin pickup.

    As a result I can describe the difference. The mandola pickup has what I would call a more “spread” tone, less midrange and rich bass, while the mandolin version is more focused and in an amp that Buchanan sounds very much like a proper mandolin.

    This shows that the factory EQ really adds back in the character that would be missing from a bridge piezo. I like both, but since I really like the larger tone of a guitar my main axe is the 10-string with the mandola version.
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