Fender FM-52E Mandolin
Fender FM-52E Acoustic-Electric Mandolin
Saturday, September 3, 2011
A mandolin is a variation on a violin. It uses the same tuning (GDAE) as a violin or fiddle, but has doubled steel strings and a flat, fretted neck. Where a violin’s gut strings are bowed one or two at a time due to the curved neck, the mandolin’s strings can be strummed with fingers or plectrum, and all the strings can sound at once. There is, in fact, an entire mandolin family that mirrors the violin family. Just like the mandolin is a variation on the violin, the mandola, mandocello and mandobass are the fretted versions of the viola, cello and bass violin, respectively.
The (GDAE) tuning has similarities to that of the guitar (EADGBE). If I take the guitar chords I already know, and flip them upside down (ignoring the guitar’s treble B and E strings), I can chord on the mandolin. This makes it very easy for a guitar player to just pick up a mandolin and start playing.
My first mandolin was purchased at a thrift store near our house on Des Moines’ south side (the same store where I would later buy my Fender HM Bass V). One morning as I stopped in, the owner’s son was hanging instruments on the wall, and I saw an old Supertone mandolin on the table. I picked it up and strummed a few chords, and decided to buy it for $75.
Although it was fine as an acoustic mandolin, I was never really satisfied with the retrofitted electric pickup added by the previous owner. I made several attempts at replacing the pickup, but determined that I probably needed to budget for, and shop around for, a reliable modern mandolin I could use in recordings or at gigs. This search was never a high priority for me, as I had a good acoustic mandolin, but I always kept my eyes open.
In 2009, as my church band “dUUdes” was preparing for its debut at the annual church fundraiser, we worked up an Irish folk song with a couple guitars and the acoustic mandolin. It was at this point I decided to spend the time and the money to upgrade. I checked online, and at a few local guitar shops, until I landed at our local Professional Music Center. They had several choices: Epiphone, Ibanez, and Fender, in several different price points.
Since I’d always had good luck with Fender guitars, I decided to go with their budget electric mandolin, the FM-52E (an electrified version of the acoustic FM-52). Being a modified acoustic, it obviously was going to have good unamplified tone. The electric pickup (which strikes me as a modified Stratocaster pickup) is well placed and non-distracting. Amplified, the FM-52E gives a bright, balanced, clean tone: exactly what I was looking for. I bought the Fender, along with a case, a stand and a spare set of strings, and passed my acoustic mandolin on to my daughter.
The Fender FM-52E has a suggested retail price of $305.99, but can be purchased at several online stores for about $250 (case not included). Professional Music sold it to me for $225, plus another $40 a hard shell case. Acoustic and electric mandolins can be had for less money, and obviously there are mandolins that cost much more, but the FM-52E occupies that space that balances price with quality. For someone like me, who plays the mandolin occasionally for a gig or a recording, but not as a primary instrument, the FM-52E seems like a very good choice.
I find, now that I have a better-quality instrument than before, that I’m picking up the mandolin and playing more often. It holds its tuning better, it’s a fun instrument to play, it’s very portable, and it brings a new “folksy” or “old world” flavor to a performance piece or a recording. Look to see my mandolin play out more often.
NOTE: I’m noticing that this marks a whole year since my first post (Baritone Telecaster). I’d like to take a moment to thank everyone who’s taken the time to read my blog over the past year, and to look forward to posting more instruments in months and years to come. Don’t worry: there are plenty more instruments yet to cover!
Photo by Rose Wallace-Smith