yes, that humbucking warmth, mmmmmmmmm.
Except I like to turn my instruments wayyyyy up and barely glide over the strings with my pick - so gentle that if a baby were sleeping in the same room, they wouldn't wake up.
But if I were to accidentally stumble and hit a string with regular force, the thump would be so LOUD, people 2 or 3 rooms away would wake up startled. Very dynamic.
This is the most work I ever attempted to do to an instrument. I don't have the tools nor room necessary to do any serious work. Luckily I never had to 'till now. I have a Gibson SG and LP and never had to do anything except change the tuners on one and change the nut on the other.
I love my guitars and been wanting a mando for over a year. I bought this one cause it looked cool and was only $70, but when I got it everything on it sucked! The pickups were single coils made of super cheap plastic. They were wired wrong and not even grounded to anything... Crap! Crap!! Crap!!!
The nut and bridge it came with was notched crooked and unevenly spaced. Action was about 5 times too high. Strings kept popping out of the bridge and wouldn't intonate.
I finally got fed up and decided to make the instrument cool, cause even though it sucked - the body and machine head tuners were of high quality and worth saving cause I liked the way it looked and felt.
It's a standard sized mando with wooden cover plate. I'm wiring it with one volume and one tone, just like an SG or LP. It's completely flat, without any f holes. Not sure what kind of wood it is, but its strong & solid and about 1 1/2 inches thick.
I didn't want to spend the money on nut files this time around so I bought a pre-slotted graph-tech nut and a pre-slotted ebony bridge.
The whole setup seems to coincide with these measurements I found on the net. Hopefully it'll turn out right.
MANDOLINS
scale length: 13 7/8"
width of nut: 1 5/32"
width at 12th: 1 15/32"
strings, outside to outside, at bridge: 1 19/32"
I just finished bending those metal things on a humbucker that the height screws and springs go into. I had to bend them backwards so the humbucker would fit into a 1 1/2" thick instrument.
The uneven pole spacing with strings shouldn't be a problem. They come close and I did some preliminary test - plus Gibson pole screws are slightly adjustable so we'll see.
The Iommi cover is for aesthetics and might end up being a little functional, maybe?
My next goal is to do a little work on the ebony bridge. It's too high and made for archtops, but perfect to modify. I just need a few threaded inserts and something like a router or something to cut into a few spots a little.
I don't have the tools or room to do the work, so I need to find a local store or something or someone?
After that, I can wire it up and put it together.
Hopefully, it'll be one tuff little mandolin.
Oh and if I can't find a way to do the bridge work right now, I can still use it temporarily. It just won't be height adjustable untill I do a little routing and cutting or something?
Thanks for the well wishes, will keep you updated. ANY advice and/or recommendations will be apprecitated.