Say Hello To My Little Friend

[idsnowdog]

I picked up a used Harley Benton electric Mandolin off Craigslist today. The jury is still out on this one because it took a lot of effort to set up and may never be a reliable instrument. Which shouldn't be surprising for an inexpensive instrument.

The good:
Small
Nice finish and binding
Solidly built
Clean wiring

The bad:
A bit heavy for its size and the body could be thinner
Horrible weak and noisy pickups
Poor gear ratio tuners
Action is too high
Tiny horrible frets

Compared to my cheapo Rogue acoustic Mandolin the neck is narrow and hard to play due to a combination of high action and tiny frets. Even after lowering the action and setting the intonation it is hard to fret cleanly because the frets are too small. The neck could be slightly wider and the neck profile could be a beefier C shape which would make it more comfortable to play. The string spacing at the bridge is also poor because you have two strings going through one hole in the baseplate and the string notches are too close together which makes tuning a chore. They could just as easily have two string holes on either side of a central intonation screw rather than having the intonation screw off to the side and wasting half of the saddle width. Or they could have used a combination of through body ferrules and top loading strings.

The pickups are standard strat style single coils with 6 slugs and a ceramic magnet underneath. The problem is the poles don't match the string spacing and the magnet is far enough away from the strings that you don't get good string sensing. The result is weak and noisy pickups with no shielding for the electronics. They could have just as easily used cheapo mini rail humbuckers or wound the coils around a central magnet for $2 more. I thoroughly shielded it and the amount of noise went way down but the pickups are still poor. I also put a cool rails in the neck and the tone and string coverage is much better. I will probably replace the pickups with a set of cheapo Belcat rail pickups for $5 a piece. I may also put a spare piezo below the bridge.

Lastly the tuners have a poor gear ratio which makes it hard to keep it in tune. 1/4 turn and your either 20% sharp or flat. Since the strings are too close together it's hard to get the two strings tuned in unison.

 

[Aceman]

Harley Benton is the new Epiphany. And I like them!

 

[Demanic]

I think that I would rather have a decent bouzouki.

Sent from my SM-A115A using Tapatalk

 

[JB_From_Hell]

A lot of the issues you mention are inherent mandolin problems. Better tuners will help, but the joke is mandolin players spend half their time tuning, and the other half playing out of tune.

The best way to tune them is tune one string of each course to a tuner, then match the other by ear.

 

[Mincer]

Wow, very cool! I am actually not familiar with the sound of an electric mandolin. It sounds fun!

 

[idsnowdog]

A few more observations. The frets on my acoustic Mandolin are 1.5mm and the electric are 1mm. It's a small difference but it makes the acoustic easier to play despite the acoustic having higher action. The string spacing on the acoustic is 4.1mm and the electric 3.6mm. Once again a small difference that makes a big difference in feel. If someone was a serious Mandolin player they might be put off by the weight of the electric. They could have just as easily made it chambered under the pickguard which would have improved resonance. Although the two pickups make for a cute looking mini-tele the bridge pickup isn't that far away from the neck pickup so you don't get much tonal variation. They could have just as easily put a piezo under the bridge and only have one rail pickup at the neck with a blend knob instead of a 3-way.

 

[LesStrat]

Very interesting.

 

[idsnowdog]

I managed to get the action really low which helps playability but the frets are still too small for my liking. I also tried attaching a piezo near the bridge and together with a magnetic pickup it sounds excellent so I will buy a cheap piezo disk to put under the bridge because the acoustic saddle I have is too wide for the bridge.

 

[idsnowdog]

I added a bridge piezo yesterday straight to the jack and put lighter gauge electric strings on it and the action is now reasonable. I also did a lot of nut work but the G string is still sharp on the lower frets. However, the tone is a lot better balanced and it's not a chore to play. I also took the bridge single coil and removed the ceramic magnet, removed the slugs and hollowed out the center with a dremel so I could have a ceramic magnet mounted in the center. String coverage has improved but the bridge is still very weak compared to the SD Cool Rails in the neck. It would be nice if I could get the cheapo rail pickups I ordered during this lifetime but covering that last 20 miles to my house from buttphuqistan is an unreasonable request given the primitive state of our transportation system.

 

[idsnowdog]

I got my no name Chinese rail pickups today. Each is 9K. The neck pickup is still much louder and better sounding than the bridge. I could try the Cool Rails in the bridge position but that's 9K too and I doubt it will improve the sound of the bridge position. If I get the chance to cut another pickguard I will eliminate the bridge pickup and switch. Because the piezo and neck sound good together.