Four or five string vs. eight string

[Pittsburgh Bill]

I have never played a 4 or 5 string electric and am interested in hearing why I may want to continue considering the purchase of one.
Traditional playing techniques associated with double course mandolins would be lost with the most notable of these qualities being tremolo. Yet, I have a strong desire to push the "Purchase Now" tab.
I am questioning my impulse and would like to hear arguments telling me why I should proceed. What will be different and or enhanced?
HAPPY NEW YEAR to all the Cafe Members that have helped me grow my love of the mandolin since discovering this community.

[Bill McCall]

I have no idea why you might want one. I wanted the different electric playing characteristics and tonal qualities you can only get with a magnetic pickup instrument. . After solid bodied 4 and 5 string instruments, I settled for a 5 string, hollowbodied one. I love it.

Ymmv

[Pittsburgh Bill]

Bill, Thankyou for your response as even tidbits of information on electrics is more than I currently know having only recently entered into the electric world beyond K & K twin internals installed in my acoustics. I know not what I'm looking for in tone let alone how to find it as I struggle with settings for desired tone played through my Line6 Pod and Fishman Loudmouth amp. My solid body EM8 has a Duncun Seymour single coil antiquity pick-up.
Listening to Tiny Moore, Aaron Weinstein or Don Stiernberg recordings I am getting a very different tone from what I hear from them. Is this due to to the differences in pick-ups they use or their use of single course instruments or both?
Again I'm just fishing as I feel clueless.

[Bill McCall]

Tiny Moore played a solid body, double pickup (single coil) Mando, Aaron Weinstein plays a hollow body, single humbucker equipped Mando, and Don S. plays a semi hollow bodied ‘Paul Glasse’ model, dual humbucker Mando. All those characteristics impact the sound. Only Aaron’s Mando is a normal 8 stringed instrument, the others are 5 string. Don S lists his gear on his website. I don’t know what amps Tiny and Aaron use(d). I do recall someone posting Tiny’s gear, so a search would uncover that.

The music you want to play and the sound you want will guide you. Remember that the amp you play through will also be a major factor.

Btw, I’m getting a K&K pickup on a new Mando, a new journey for me.

[Magnus Geijer]

I've played around with 4, 5 and 8-string electrics, and they just do different things. My favorite, without question, is a 5-string octave semi-hollow, that I built basically as a scaled down ES-335. The added range is great, and I absolutely love the sound of it. For me, it's a way to be able to get a jazz guitar sound without having to learn to play the guitar, which feels huge and unwieldy to me.

[CES]

Single course electrics do more electric guitar like things. I have a Mandobird IV that I picked up when they were still in production, and it’s a lot of fun. Bends are so much better (it’s impossible for me to bend double course strings to the same pitch) and you really don’t need tremolo because of the increased sustain. Am I playing Italian gondola music on it? No, I have other tools for that. But I’ve used it as a lead instrument in worship a few times but mostly just pull it out when I want to rock out. I don’t use it terribly often (like my RM-1), but when I want it, it’s great to have the option.

[JonDoug]

I’ve had a lot of fun with my four string over the last couple of years, it feels like a bonus to get such different sounds out of the same fretboard. Sort of like moving from piano to organ. OTOH, my son, who has played electric guitar, thinks my Eastwood Mandostang is sort of a pointless instrument!

[Dave Greenspoon]

Not looking at amplified acoustic mandolins, I've had the Kentucky (solid) and Epi (solid) four stringers, a custom Jerman four and five string, a Crafter hollow (a/e 8 with active pu) and Dillon 8 semi hollow. Currently I have an Eastman El Rey for that sound...and four string Eastwood mandola incoming as we speak.

[Southern Man]

I play my electric for a more rock oriented sound. Not that I don't also play acoustic to those songs. But it is just a different sound. I am still figuring out a bunch with it, but at some point I would like some pedals to extend my sound options even more. Right now I just use a basic fender modeling Amp. I have a four string Jerman.

[Pittsburgh Bill]

I play my electric for a more rock oriented sound. Not that I don't also play acoustic to those songs. But it is just a different sound. I am still figuring out a bunch with it, but at some point I would like some pedals to extend my sound options even more. Right now I just use a basic fender modeling Amp. I have a four string Jerman.

I'm finding that learning how to use the sound options can be a steep learning curve.

[JeffD]

I thought I would like an 8 string electric more than a 4 string electric. What I discovered is that the double strings on the electric were harder to control than I thought. Not knowing how to manage an electric stringed instrument, (never played electric guitar), the double strings just became a nightmare. After a couple of days working on a loaner, I jumped ship.

I found a four string electric, and haven't looked back. Yea its like a little electric guitar whose strings are hard to bend, but a lot of fun and I am figuring it out.

I then got a five string hollow body electric mandolin and it is great amazing fun as well.

For me, I had to learn the ins and outs of managing all that, sound, tone, amplifiers, pickup selections, effects pedals, hair conditioner, and eye liner. Four or five strings is enough to deal with while I learn the rest. I may get an 8, who knows.

[mandroid]

in a Loud band solid body magnetic pickup Mandolin offers feedback suppression.

[Verne Andru]

I came from bass and guitar to mandolin then tenor. I'm currently have the most fun with a 6-string Les Paul PeeWee that is tuned in 5ths - C G D A E B. Because the intervals are different from normal guitar I get a sound that is different yet still fits in, if that makes sense.

[mandocrucian]

My views on electric mando playing are probably contradictory to so-called "norm" on the topic. (I will exempt the electric Tiny Moore, jazz archtop hollow-body guitar style of playing, from my comments because that is a different animal.)

For other styles on electric mandos, vocabulary and technique is just as important, if not moreso, than an instrument you can plug into an amp, whether solid or hollow bodies. That electric ax is only part of the equation.

If I'm playing a regularly tuned mandolin amped up, my preference is to go with an 8-string over a 4-string. And that can be 8-string solidbody, or an old acoustic Gibson with a pickup. Why? because overall I can get more out of 8-strings than on 4; I can do low split-string chords/doublestops, and electric guitar vibrato, as well as string bending (although restricted more to semi-tones than wider bends). In terms of RH attack etc. I'll play an acoustic without amplification and it can still sound electric because of playing technique and vocabulary. (Normal .011 > .049 string gauges too)

For a single-string instrument, I prefer to go lower. I have a mini-strat which I modified by shortening the scale to 17" from 19" (though today, I might have left it at 19" just to strengthen the bass string response) and stringing it with 5 strings with the lowest (G) an octave below mandolin (GDAEa) essentially putting me square into the electric guitar register. I really consider myself to be playing guitar in an alternate tuning.

I've got an old late 50s Fender electric 4-string which I used before. (I bought it from the original owner, my old violin/mando teacher (he was feeding me violin technique on mando) who was one of Joe Venuti's cronies. I got the essentials of string bending from my favorite electric guitar player (Richard Thompson), in person (!), several years later. I used to string it with lighter gauge strings for bending ease, but I never cared for the too_piercing quality of the high e-string. Going lower lets one function as a rhythm/backup instrument. (the BG chop on a 4-string is the worst!)

Niles' (Mandocrucian) selections on Soundcloud < link
I can talk about this stuff, but it's all up front on recordings. Your ears will tell you if I'm just full of hot air, or if I've got some valid views. So if you've never checked out this Soundcloud page, please give it a listen. Here are some of the selections relevant to this discussion:

Electric 5-string mandola hybrid:
"Blues In D", "Raider" (2 of them), "Sweet Sunny South" (2 of them, plus a low-alternate tuned electric guitar) "You Got To Find Me", "Gary Owen" (w/ phase shifter at the end)

using the Fender 4-string:
"Wooly Bully", "Bayou Pon-Pon"
These were from the original stripped-down studio session of Michael Doucet & Cajun Brew. These were much rawer and punchier, Cajun meets rockabilly, than the subsequent slicker Rounder album sessions.

Acoustic 8-string mando rock style:
"Fire" - F-4, it's the vocab, attack and attack than makes if come across
"Hendrix Crossing The Salt River" (rock acoustic mando; rhythm instrument is a mandola)
"Good Morning Mr. Walker/Wait Till Tomorrow" - R&B mando

Acoustic using a pickup
"Purple Haze": Gibson F-4 with a Fishman bridge pickup plugged directly into a guitar amp. NO PEDALS. A raw, in-between sets jam with a couple of 16-year old Finns on bass & drums that someone happened to tape.

you can also hear 'electric' technique on solo acoustic mandolin: "Solo Blues Improv #1" and "Asian-influenced Solo Blues Mando Improv"

Niles Hokkanen