Official Luthiers Forum!

Never fails......I build my first 3 guitars with no intentions of selling... and already have had 3 people inquiring about purchasing one. I nixed the first 2 inquiries with the price. GULP! The last inquiry didn't wince with the price and wants a conversion done for amplification. OK....I saw the thread about pickups and did some research and came to the conclusion the Fishman Thinline would be the easiest way to retro fit to an existing OOO or OM Martin style guitar. Good choice? Should I preamp this application just in case the usage gets beyond sitting next to am amp with a short cable in the living room? What Preamp would be recommended?... easy install and give more versatile usage. Dang...I hate the idea of doing this to one of these guitars....But....the request is here.
Kent

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Wood Creations by Kent A. Bailey
EXCELLENCE IN SCULPTURE, CARVING, LUTHIER, ARCHITECTURAL MILLWORK AND DESIGN

http://www.kabart.com

Good Morning Kent,

I've heard a lot of good things about the K&K Pure Western Mini. It looks easier to install, three transducers glued to the bottom of the bidge plate. Can't help much more than that as I have yet to spark an acoustic.

Steve

Thanks Steve....I'll look at install instructions.
I just want the least amount of "inside the box" and still have a good end result. Sounds like what you do outside the box has more to do with final quality.
Kent

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Wood Creations by Kent A. Bailey
EXCELLENCE IN SCULPTURE, CARVING, LUTHIER, ARCHITECTURAL MILLWORK AND DESIGN

http://www.kabart.com

Bailey, I've installed a few piezo pick ups. I like them better than the under the saddle type. Most of my customers like the sound better. I use windshield stickum that I bought in a 15 foot roll. I'm at work now but when I get home I can give you a little more info on it. What I like is it stays sticky even if you pull the piezo off and put it back on. Most of my customers like to find "the sweat spot" on the bridge plate for the piezo. The one guy that wanted a pre amp bought one that clips on his belt. Makes sence to me use one pre amp on several differnt guitars.
Here's a fishman and L R Baggs

http://www.zzounds.com/item--LRBGIGPRO

http://www.guitaraudio.com/index.php/fi ... eamp-eq-di

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Say what you do, Do what you say.

I've installed several of the K&K Mini-westerns and I like them a lot. The installation is easier than an under-saddle transducer and I think the sound quality is much better (so does the sound guy for our orchestra).

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

The K&K is a breeze to install and sounds very good, their installation instructions are a bit cumbersome. Best way is to make a little jig slightly smaller than the bridgeplate out of a thin piece of scrap, hold it under the bridgeplate, drill the pinholes in it. Glue 2 short dowels through the outside E strings holes, that will locate the jig. Then it's a matter of using double-side tape to stick the 3 K&K transducers exactly where they belong in front of the pinholes, put a dab of CA on them and hold the jig under the bridgeplate for 1/2 minute.
The K&K is pretty hot and can plugged directly into a PA, in any case it's not good practice to cut a hole in a valuable guitar for an internal preamp IMHO. Excellent external preamps abound.

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

I have the K&K trinity system which is the mini westerns coupled with a mic and an external preamp in 2 guitars and just the mini westerns in a Cocobolo OM and have played it several times plugged direct to the PA board without preamp and it sounds great. I have also used the other 2 guitars this way and they sound fine without the mic and preamp so for a cheap system the mini westerns are a good way to go, they have enough signal strength to not need a preamp. The only problem they have a little more bass than my ears like so I just ask the sound guy to drop the bass a tiny bit and things sound very natural. My goal with an acoustic through an amp is the guitar's sound only louder, natural is always best for me.

I like the mic to bring out the body sound when string slapping and body tapping, but the Mini westerns alone do this quite well. The mics only need to be 10 to 20% of the mix for a natural sound and minimal chance of feedback.

Fred

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Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

The LR Baggs I-Beam is nice too...mounts onto the bridge plate like the K&K but only the one transducer, about the size of the neck pickup in a Tele...it comes with the little jig very much like what Laurent described for the K&K...

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http://www.presnallguitars.com

Also consider Schatten Design's products. Their endpin jack/preamp works great, as does their bridgeplate mount pickup. there are options for volume control, and dual pickups. Canadian company. Great customer service. If you sell your guitars, you can probably qualify for dealer pricing.

Another vote for K&K here.
Note- the hole for the endpin jack should be 15/32, not 1/2 as stated in the instructions.
And, if you are putting the jack through the tail block, most step drills will not be long enough to drill a through-hole at constant diameter.
Do everything you can (tape on surface, choose a 'non-grabby' drill, work up in diameters, chamfer excess surface material away, etc) to avoid chipping the outside of the guitar.

The K&K supplied CA glue is nice and thick and if you use a good amount it is reasonably slow to set up, so don't panic. Lots of 'dry runs' with the fitting template are a good idea anyway.

Cheers
John