Putting a pick up in an acoustic

TheOtherDennis

I have this -



The Irish Stew (made from a StewMac kit). It's solid spruce top with solid rosewood back and sides, and I was thinking of putting a pick up in it. However I am in three minds (at least) about whether to do it and what to choose should I go for it.

There's a rather mind-boggling wodge of alternatives out there. Does anyone have any recommendations?


PS Why does it say 'image' in front of my pic when I post it, but it's not there when I try to edit it out? :-S

Andyjr1515

As you say, there are many options and it depends how much you want to spend and what you want from it.  In terms of types, rather than makes, the simplest and cheapest is a soundhole pickup.  They slide in under the strings and slot in across the soundhole sides.  If you just want to have something that can be plugged in to a PA or amp to make it louder, they work pretty well and can be pretty cheap.  We're talking £30ish for entry; £60 will get you to a Seymour Duncan Woody then upwards and upwards.  The simplest version has the guitar lead trailing out of the sound hole too, but you can get a jack fitted (usually in the end strap button position)

If you are looking for something that sounds close to the unplugged sound, it starts getting more complicated.  The simplest and cheapest here is an undersaddle piezo.  Takes a bit of skill to fit them and the sound is not 100% by themselves (though probably better than the soundhole type).  

For a better sound, the next step up is to combine a piezo with either a microphone pickup inside the body, or a magnetic pick-up usually stuck to the end of the fretboard.  These start to get a bit pricey and take more skill to fit.  

There's lots of info on the internet and no consensus on what's best.  Most of the bigger suppliers (L R Baggs; Shadow; Fishman etc) do a range of the above types at different price points. 

Hope this helps

Andy

Branshen

Personally I cant stand piezo pickups. I use an Lr baggs m1a with my acoustic and couldn't be happier. I've also had a chance to hear the Seymour Duncan woody at gigging volumes. Great pickup as well.

However, from now on, I will try to get a dynamic mic in front of my acoustic whenever I can. It is more troublesome and is only possible if you're in something like a vocal/guitar duet, but the sound will be worth it!

ICBM

I also prefer magnetic soundhole pickups to undersaddle piezos - superficially, the piezo sounds more "acoustic" because it sounds less like an electric guitar and has become the accepted idea of what an amplified acoustic sounds like, but really it just sounds equally unnatural in a different way and has basically worse tone, in my opinion.

But combining either a magnetic or a piezo with a mic, or even with each other, sounds much more natural - in fact my preference is magnetic+piezo because it's much less feedback-prone than anything with a mic. There is a good physics reason why magnetic and piezo together sounds better than either alone, to do with the phase of the signal - they're inherently 90º out of phase with respect to each other which gives something of the characteristic of the way a guitar top vibrates. An internal mic signal will also be out of phase with any pickup signal, although exactly how depends on where the mic is.

But no matter how good any of these pickup systems can be, as Branshen says they all pale compared to even a cheap dynamic mic outside the guitar, let alone a good condenser. The only problem is that mics aren't practical in a loud band situation or if you need to be able to move on stage.

crunchman

The other option is something like the K&K Pure Mini which has 3 transducers that fix to the soundboard. To me it sounds more natural than an an undersaddle piezo or magnetic on their own, and you don't have to rout the saddle slot to fit it either like the undersaddle.  It's also passive so you don't have to faff around fitting batteries inside the guitar.  I've plugged it straight into a PA and it has enough oomph without a separate preamp.

I've put this in my most recent acquisition and am very impressed.  For comparison, I've got magnetics (Fishman Rare Earths) in two guitars, a Headway undersaddle in one, and a factory fitted Fishman blender in another.  The blender is probably the best sound but it would cost a fortune as an aftermarket part.  It's also a bit more feedback prone with the mic.  I would put the Pure Mini ahead of the others though, and it costs less than the rare-earths.

TheOtherDennis

Thank you for that, gents. Having done a touch of looking round, I think the K&K sounds the best choice for me.

Ta muchly for your help.

ecc83

"The only problem is that mics aren't practical in a loud band situation or if you need to be able to move on stage."

You can buy a clamping device that fixes a mic to the body and the high proximity would go some way to reduce feedback and of course obviates the motion problem

NB with piezos, they must see a very high input Z. 5, better 10 meg Ohms. I have in fact pronised to bui;d a guy a V HZ buffer, must get on it!

But I tend to agree, s'all a compromise.

Dave.