Taylor Big Baby - will K&K Pure Mini be a good option?

MartinB

ICBM said:
My Gibson has that, because Gibson put a tooling hole right in the middle of the bridgeplate just where the centre pickup of the K&K would be - but since I run it through a modelling preamp it’s fine.

Getting a little off-topic for the OP's Taylor, but for a bridgeplate pickup in a Gibson with the alignment hole, the Schatten HFN can work. The pickup is shaped somewhat like a 3-footed banjo bridge, and when mounted underneath the line of the saddle it just narrowly misses the hole on my G45 Standard. They can be a little finicky with installation and positioning to get the best string balance, but they're mounted with putty or tape, so it can be repositioned easily enough until it's right. The sound is a little more clear and open sounding than the K&K, it doesn't have the hyped up bass and hot sounding mids, though the output is somewhat lower (the passive version definitely benefits from a preamp).

There's also a short version for small guitars with tighter brace position/short bridgeplates, which might be an option for the OP's guitar. Though I would probably go JJB there, the one in my Eastman is just fine and they're good value.

thecolourbox

Thanks all for the helpful information on this - this forum is brilliant for the hive mind kicking into gear with all very useful and hitherto unconsidered information for me.

In the end, me being me just went for the cheapest option to reduce risk of loss due to failure, so I have today received the Journeytek pickup with the volume control.

I think the bit where the piezos need to go will be fine to be fair, so that's a relief as I wouldn't have thought of that.

However I've unscrewed the strap pin thing an the only hole that is there is for the screw, so the guitar does need drilling. I think from my phone camera inside the guitar as well that there's a block of wood for the screw to sit in, so it's not even just a quick blast with the drill

The set came with some doubled sided tape which, although the volume might have been less, would have meant I could have installed it at least partially myself pending some superglue when I was happy they were in the right place. But if it needs drilling then I definitely do need to refer it to a more technical person than me. 

Soupman

You could always get a small repair shop to fit it for you - most are pretty reasonable with their prices.

RickLucas

On the basis of reading this thread, I have just put a JJB Prestige 330 into my Blueridge dread today, and am mightily impressed so far, plugged straight into a guitar amp at home. I'll put it through the PA later tonight at rehearsal and see how I get on with it. Installation was straightforward, the endpin hole had already been widened for the previously installed LR Baggs Lyric, which I really like incidentally, but the volume had gone a bit scratchy and did not respond to switch cleaner, so I thought I'd give one of these a go at £55.

thecolourbox

Ah so karma has come back to bite me on the arse for being such a tart and taking too long to get it sorted. The tech I was going to ask to fit it is now away until 8th August - my booking is on the 10th, so looks like I need to buy a new guitar unfortunately. Should never have taken the bloody booking to be honest

ICBM

thecolourbox said:

Ah so karma has come back to bite me on the arse for being such a tart and taking too long to get it sorted. The tech I was going to ask to fit it is now away until 8th August - my booking is on the 10th, so looks like I need to buy a new guitar unfortunately. Should never have taken the bloody booking to be honest

It shouldn’t take more than an hour to fit a pickup.

thecolourbox

ICBM said:

thecolourbox said:

Ah so karma has come back to bite me on the arse for being such a tart and taking too long to get it sorted. The tech I was going to ask to fit it is now away until 8th August - my booking is on the 10th, so looks like I need to buy a new guitar unfortunately. Should never have taken the bloody booking to be honest

It shouldn’t take more than an hour to fit a pickup.

I tend to assume the worst as things always take longer than anticipated, but even if by some miracle he can do it on the 8th, I'd need it by lunchtime as that's the only time I could collect it, then i'd have approximately 1 hour to practice with it through my setup before the booking on the 10th due to other things in my diary, so it's just not worth that kind of stress level