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Ok gang, I've been asked to build another mando like the one above.

The customer (listen to me talking like a pro!!!) wants to buy a pickup and have it delivered to me for fitting as I build. I'm happy enough to do this.

If he gets a piezo bridge then that's easy, drill a hole for the wire and put it in instead of the bone bridge/saddle assembly on here.

If he gets a stick on the soundboard type, where would be the best place to stick it?

Inside obviously, but directly under the centre of the bridge? on one of the cross braces?

I cant retrofit as there isn't room to poke in through the soundhole......

Wisdom appreciated

Thanks!!

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Martin, i know i applauded when you showed this mando the first time but please let me do it again!

Congrats for the comission bud!

Sorry, i know nothing in connection with your question!

Well, the subject certainly is a loaded question.   

Unfortunately for you Martin, I have no clue.

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Joe Breault
Merrimack, NH
Perpetual novice

I think it depends on type of film and also the instruments as the sound board transducers sometimes need to be moved around for balanced sound. The pick up should have some mounting directions with it. Try those first, contact the company 2nd.

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

Martin, I think most will want to go directly under the saddle. I know with K&K, that's usually the "ideal" location. You might want to consider putting on a very thin bridge plate of hardwood for the transducers to stick to . Not sure how well they would do going directly on the spruce.

Yeah, what Paul said...

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I'd like to be able to prove, just for once, that money wouldn't make me happy...

Martin, could you experiment by sticking the pickup on the outside of the instrument first? Play around with it until the sound is just what you want.
I realize it would have to be the one you've already built, as the soundhole size prohibits reaching inside the finished instrument. But if they are similar enough, perhaps that would give you a clue as to where to start locating it on the customer's mando.

Other than what has already been suggested, try the stick-on-the-top guessing game with the customer's instrument. When you find the sweet spot, then rip off the back and install the p'up on the underside.

Or not....

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

What Steve said!

It's as well y'all are typing and not speaking cos I couldn't have understood a word with your tongues pushed so far into your cheeks!!!

for the few who made sensible comments, I thank you......

Thanks to the nuts too..... lunacy makes the world go round!!

The problem with testing on the original is that I'm not really one for records, or indeed measurements, so the bracing in the new one will be different.......

I've started taking more photos during the build process, so maybe that'll help later on.........

Are these pups self adhesive?

do I use epoxy?martinedwards38971.1638078704

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Sorry for being a nut at the end Martin, my bad, i realize i used the wrong emoticon, i should have used this one instead, or this one after Steve's comment on rippin' off the back!

Serge

[QUOTE=martinedwards] Are these pups self adhesive?

do I use epoxy?[/QUOTE]

Many of these have an adhesive film; I've also used barge cement.
Some double sided tape works well for testing if you can get near the under side of the saddle after it's complete.

Paul

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Paul Bordeaux
http://www.bordeauxinlay.com

Martin, I was being serious!

Well, the first paragraph anyway.
You are right, we need an emoticon with a swollen cheek!

I was assuming that your p'up was an adhesive mount, since you will be "sticking it somewhere".

So what brand do you think you will use?

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Dunno what he'll send me!!!

I've never pupped a mando before (though I have calved cows, lambed sheep and whelped ich!!)

I DID put a Belcat bug on a mando once for a one off by raising the bridge and then screwing it back down onto the casing of the pup. Worked fine, but looked less than professional.......


Suited me fine!!!

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Meanwhile, drifting off topic...

With your experience, I bet you enjoyed James Heriott's books, no?

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Herriot's books are great!!!!

his buddy through college and Vetenary advisor on the TV programmes was a guy called Eddie Straiton. He did a couple of dozen books in the 70s & 80s of pet care under the title "The TV Vet"

He did a pioneering pig embryo transplant of US pigs into Irish Sows on my dad's farm in about 1980.

He wrote it all up in a Herriot style book called "A Vet at Large!" He changed the names to protect the guilty... (there might have been a few quaranteen rules bent a little.....)but it was a waste of time as it was the first Embryo transplant in pigs in Ireland and there weren't any more for another 10 years afterwards, so anyone who knew the farming community in Ireland knew who it was about!!!

Back to the mando.......

My customer emailed me last night and there is a piezo bridge in the post so I don't need to worry about internal placement. I will need to drill a hole for the wire to go in thru top then out to the strap jack but that's easy, right?

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