Online Guitarist: Instruments: Guitar equipment: The Great Pickup Test: Lone Star Venice mandolin

Lone Star Venice mandolin

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This particular page was created 07/04/2004 and last updated 23/04/2005

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Lone Star calls it a "European style mandolin," but European mandolins are about the only stringed instruments this isn't inspired by. It's got a lot of guitar in its ancestory, perhaps a pinch of American "A style" and the rest seem to be various Latin-American instruments.
The result actually isn't as bad as you may think. You need to know how to set up a mandolin from scratch cause the factory can't seem to be bothered, and it definitely takes some playing time before it's settled down properly. But once it reaches its peak, the deep and wide body provides an experienced player with some really big and unique sound unlike any mando you've ever heard before.
It may be a weirdo, but despite the price it's not a cheapo - more half-finished, half-priced. ;-)

Pickup alternatives

To tell you the truth, the Sound Checker was the first pickup I've ever put on this instrument, and I've never seen any reason to try anything else:

Sound Checker Original

The bulky Sound Checker transducer looks enormous on a mandolin - even on one as big as this one - but the sound is marvelous. It's just like the acoustic sound, only louder.

The perfect placement seems to be right under the strings close up to the bridge. That's impossible when it's placed on the outside of course, but internal mounting isn't nearly as big a deal here as with many other mandolins.

K & K Sound Twin Spot Classic

It doesn't sound quite as good as Sound Checker. K & K has a rough edge that seems impossible to get rid of completely. Then again that may be what you want, and besides the difference isn't that huge.

From a practical point of view K & K is a better choice than Sound Checker. Two miniature sensors is much easier to place on a small mandolin than one big chunk of wood. It also seems to be a bit louder, something that's always an advantage. The Twin Spot did produce a little bit of hum, but on a mandolin that's not really an issue. You can always filter it away without altering the tone of the instrument.

Btw, K & K Sound also have a special mandolin pickup, but I don't think it would work on this instrument. Seems it's only for American style archtop mandos.

Sound Checker ACCU_STIC

Oh well, Sound Checker never claimed this one was suitable for a mandolin, and they're absolutely right. Actually I think I should manage to get some really decent sound out of the combination with some sensible eq'ing, but why bother? There's no way it'll work better than the Sound Checker Original anyway.

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