Pickup advice for looping

JRgtar

Hi, 

Hoping for some advice from some experienced acoustic players here.

I’ve got a Taylor 114 which, to my ears, sounds fantastic. I play mostly at home, and the occasional jam. It’s not got an inbuilt pickup, but i’d like to be able to use my looper pedal with it. 

What would be a cost-effective solution for obtaining an acoustic-sounding output that I could loop with? Pickup and some kind of preamp? It’s not something i’ve needed to do before, so would appreciate advice.

Thanks 

ICBM

The most cost-effective and simplest will be a magnetic soundhole pickup - you can get them with a trailing cable so you don't need to fit the guitar with an endpin jack - although as far as I know most or all Taylors come pre-drilled, so you can fit one very easily if you do want to.

There are a huge number of different types starting really astonishingly cheap, if you look on Ebay - although you're best to spend a little more than the bare minimum, I would discount anything that doesn't have a recognised brand name unless you're truly looking to spend as little as possible.

This is about the cheapest I can see at the moment that's decent - these are a very old design now, and not exactly the most cutting-edge sound quality, but have been used by pro players and on well-known recordings...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dean-Markley-Pickup-Pro-Mag-Acoustic-Steel-string-guitar-Good-condition/153912133540?hash=item23d5e0c7a4:g:mhYAAOSwS8heqGAh

The output volume isn't all that high but it should be enough to drive a loop pedal perfectly well without an additional preamp.

JRgtar

Thanks @ICBM I hadn’t considered it might be pre-drilled, worth considering in what I choose. The magnetic pickups are a good solution cost-wise, just looking at the Seymour Duncan Woody for example. Any tips for getting the amp tone closer to an acoustic sound? 

ICBM

JRgtar said:

Thanks @ICBM I hadn’t considered it might be pre-drilled, worth considering in what I choose. The magnetic pickups are a good solution cost-wise, just looking at the Seymour Duncan Woody for example. Any tips for getting the amp tone closer to an acoustic sound? 

Is it an electric guitar amp? If so, what type?

If it is... first, try setting it on the cleanest possible sound, with the bass about halfway or maybe slightly above, the mids very low, and the treble high. If the amp doesn't have effective enough EQ to do that, you could try an EQ pedal - or surprisingly, an acoustic simulator pedal such as the Boss AC-2. Although these are intended to make an electric guitar sound like an acoustic (which they don't, very much) they're actually very good for getting a more acoustic tone out of an electric guitar amp.

Have a look at your Taylor endpin - if it has an Allen key socket in the middle, it's bolted into a T-nut on the inside and the hole is 1/2" diameter, which is what you need for an endpin jack.

I actually have an old Fishman Rare Earth pickup which I'd been thinking about fitting to a cheap guitar, but I might be open to the idea of selling it if you're interested... probably a bit expensive for what you need though.