#1
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Backwards Conversion
I've never seen this question asked before - I just googled it and got only the reverse of what I'm about to ask.
I'm contemplating a mandocello to guitar conversion - the exact opposite of what is usually discussed here and on mandolincafe. Here is why: I have an Eastman MDC 805 mandocello. It is basically an Eastman archtop guitar (the fret markers are for guitar, not mando) with a nut, tailpiece and bridge modified for 4 pairs of strings instead of 6. It sounds great and is fun to play, BUT I have a much better custom built F4 style archtop 10 string mandocello that gets all my attention now. I was going to sell my Eastman 'cello to finance the purchase of a nice archtop. A friend who was interested in my Eastman is interested no longer, so I thought "for the cost of a few $$ and hours time I could make a new nut, fit and slot a new bridge and have an Eastman archtop guitar." So here is the question for fellow guitarists - if you could string up a guitar with 8 strings, how would you string it? F to A with one empty slot? Standard tuning with double courses on the B and E? Or other ideas I haven't thought of? Thanks! |
#2
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There's a few possibilities I can think of:
- or you could keep it as a 2x4 8-string and try one of these:
Could be interesting...
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"Mistaking silence for weakness and contempt for fear is the final, fatal error of a fool" - Sicilian proverb (paraphrased) |
#3
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I'd just change the nut, re-slot the bridge cap, and play it 6-string. Or you could go with the McGuinn 7-string setup.
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#4
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Quote:
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#5
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How about getting a new guitar tailpiece for it, too? It becomes a regular guitar now.
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#6
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I may, as these Eastman original two piece hinged TP's have been known to explode on occasion. I know of four people this has happened to. However it would also work as a six stringer with the current TP, just leave out two strings. It would still have two unused tuners in the headstock as well.
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#7
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Stephen Holst can make you an ebony or cocobolo tailpiece with a solid metal hinge and bracket for about $100 or so. Send him the old Eastman tailpiece and bracket so that he can get the screwmount holes drilled in the same locations.
http://www.pacinfo.com/~sholst/ |
#8
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So I completed the conversion from Eastman mandocello to 6 string archtop guitar. I used a Stewmac bridge and a new bone nut. Mounted one of these pickups and wired it up to the tip on the TRS jack, rewired the piezo's I had installed earlier to the ring. I put on a set of La Bella medium jazz flats strings. Plugged in to my Carvin AG300 or the house PA it sounds good across all the strings thru either the mag pu, piezo's or a blend of both.
Acoustically, the D, G, B and high E sound good. Even, good sustain, mellow, good punch and volume. The low E and A strings, however, sound dull and tubby with very little sustain. When strung as a 'cello or octave mando with phosphor-bronze d'addario strings the acoustic sound was even across the board, lots of sustain. There are several possible causes. I have carved and fit a few nuts before, as well as archtop bridges on fiddles, mandolins, octave mandos and more with no issues so I don't think its the bridge or nut fit. The easiest first thing to swap out are strings. What are some of the favorite jazz archtop strings out there for tone and volume? Thanks! Last edited by Mandobart; 04-25-2017 at 11:11 PM. |
#9
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I have heard excellent things about these strings from Newtone: https://www.stringsbymail.com/electr...p-masters-824/
So much so that I just ordered a range of them to try on different guitars, but I haven't actually received them yet, just ordered yesterday. Brian
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Brian Evans Around 15 archtops, electrics, resonators, a lap steel, a uke, a mandolin, some I made, some I bought, some kinda showed up and wouldn't leave. Tatamagouche Nova Scotia. |
#10
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Quote:
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#11
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I have several spare sets of gypsy Jazz strings that I'm thinking of trying. These are typically steel or silver-wound copper so I don't know if they'll work with a mag pu. OTOH I've used good old d'addario phosphor bronze strings on this instrument with the mag pu and it worked fine...
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