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I'm in the midst of building a couple of new guitars, one of which is a new parlour for myself.(I sold my last one, first guitar I've sold, and to one of my Canadian East Coast musical heroes to boot)
I find myself plugging in a little more these days and I was hoping to get some of your opinions on favourite pick ups. I have a Morgan Guitar that has your basic Fishman under saddle and it seems to do the job well enough for me. Although the last one I put in had some stupid battery bag that was held in place by self sticking adhesive. I picked up the guitar a while later at the owners house and wasn't doing a very good job of being stuck. It looks like they have an updated version of it http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Electronics ... ystem.html with the battery built into the end pin jack. I guess you have to pull the jack to change the battery? The Matrix Blend would be cool but it doesn't appear that it will work with the small sound hole on a parlour. I like the idea of not having to cart around anything else like a pre amp, but I guess it wouldn't be the end of the world.
I'd appreciate hearing what works well for others.

Thanks,
Danny

I have used several pickup systems now & haven't found one I didn't like. The K&K Western Mini (triple bridge plate transducer)is a great sounding pickup, but if you tap or thump the top while you play, the noise is more evident than with a UST. I find the control boxes & wiring on the K&K units are a bit clunky, but more than made up for in sound quality & ease of installation.
The Fishman blender is my fave, so far. With just a touch of mike dialed in, feedback it not a problem & the sound is full & "natural". It'd be worth checking to see if you could make it fit.
If you put a cross grain patch around the soundhole, instead of braces, it might fit.
I'll be installing a B-and with a side mount EQ in a customer's guitar tomorrow. Drop by, if you have time & see if it suits. The transducer is very thin (which I like a lot!) & the 4 band EQ / tuner is tiny. Cool little rig.
Here's a link you might find interesting.
http://www.dougyoungguitar.com/pickuptests/
It doesn't include a lot of the pickups that are currently available, Still, it's worth a look / listen.

Some of my Favorites are:

Was that an earthquake or did u just rock my world?

Do you have any raisins? No? How about a date?

You must be Jamaican, because Jamaican me crazy.

Can I buy you a drink or would you just prefer the $5?

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John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com

I'm a big fan of the L.R Baggs Imix dual source pu's. I have them in all my gig guitars and they perform admirably.

I'm a fan of the K&K Mini Western. Real good sound, easy to install, and no battery in the guitar (I really dislike batteries in my guitars). As Daniel said, if you tap or thump the box it will pick it up.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

For cryen' out loud John. This is serious stuff. You missed one.
"Guess where I'm hiding my pet trout"

L.R. Baggs just released a new pickup called the Anthem which combines the Element UST with a microphone that mounts to the bridge plate. It really sounds quite amazing. Here is a link to the site and it has several audio samples. Definitely worth a listen. Oh, and use headphones or earphones because computer speakers do not do it justice.
http://lrbaggs.com/anthem/index.htm#experienceit

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Dan

LIke the LA Baggs I-beam active - cosmetically just having a (removeable) mini volue wheel is good and sound is not bad, especially if you use a reasonable active DI.

Have you considered a mic? I have a DPA which mounts to body (and does not cause any damage) - and if sitting and not requiring stadium level volume, gives a really natural studio quality tone.

I really like the DTAR Wavelength. I have owned several different pick ups - Baggs, Fishman, K&K, and B-Band. I like the K&K mini for solo work, but not for loud stages. The Wavelength is good for solo work and great for loud stages. The DTAR wavelegnthe daul source is OK, but for me, it was not worth it over the plain Wavelenth with the VT module.

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"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." G. K. Chesterton.

+1 on the Dtar Wavelength

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I didn't mean to say it, but I meant what I said.
http://www.brackettinstruments.com/

Dan, That looks like it could be the ticket. It defiantly has it in the coolness factor and listening to the sound samples, pretty hard to tell the difference between that and the mic. I'm guessing you have installed them before? How does the mic attach and it looks like it would best be installed before I close the box? Parlour sound holes are pretty small to work through.

I know there are a lot of fans of K&K. I put a 4 transducer K&K on my nylon string. I haven't put it through a lot of different use but when I plug into my amp it feeds back a bunch. And I do tend to beat on my top at times.

D-Tar stuff is definatly something to consider. No doubt Rick Turner would put out a good product and working with SD you couldn't go wrong I'm sure.

Cheers,
Danny

Don't forget http://www.pick-uptheworld.com/. I'm kind of partial in that they produce harp guitar solutions.

Mike

Actually I haven't installed any yet, although I have four that are going in pretty soon. I have included a link to the installation manual and it looks pretty simple, just peel and stick. Apparently exact placement on the bridge plate is not as crucial as a SBT. I think installation prior to closing would be difficult since there is also an UST component. I completely agree with you that it is difficult to tell the difference between the Anthem and the mics. Truly an amazing sound. I spoke with the folks at LR Baggs and they tell that feedback is not much of an issue either and is about the same as seen with the Element by itself (pretty remarkable!). At any rate, good luck and I'l try to remember to follow-up after I get these installed to let you know how it goes.
http://www.lrbaggs.com/Manuals/AnthemSLInstallationManual.pdf

Dan

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Dan

i'm also a fan of the wavelength. easy to install with great sound and headroom. very low on the quack.
phil

I spent about 8 years playing 'professionally' and the best solution both in terms of sound and ease of installation was the Fishman rare earth blend humbucking pickup. It comes with a 30 ft light duty cord so it didn't require permanent installation, or drilling of any kind. (If you don't want to, that is) This was perfect for me as I used different guitars depending on the gig, plus I was cheap. I only had to buy one. With as little as 30% mike I was able to get a fairly realistic and good quality sound almost anywhere, through almost any pa.

I have used highlander under saddle pickups. Martin Simpson uses them in all of his Sobell's

John

I just picked up a K&K Meridian External Guitar Microphone System and it sounds real good. I was able to do it a little cheaper as I only bought the Mic and mount as I already have a Trinity preamp. It required me to change the 1/4 mono plug to stereo so I could use my preamp. The sound is very natural and the nice thing is I can use it on any of my guitars. I have yet to try it in a large place but it is not too bad for feedback. Since the mic is very close to the strings a lot of gain is not needed to get a good sound so it should be easy to set up and EQ.
http://www.kksound.com/meridian.html

Fred

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

Golly, John, you must have been quite the ladies' man!

Pat

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Another one you forgot:

"Hi, my name's John. Remember that. You're going to be screaming that later."

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If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason. - Jack Handey

Hey Fred, Thanks for the other option. That's a pretty nice little set up. Fairly pricey but I suppose any decent mic is. And I guess you do only need one. Just curious how long it takes to put on? Could you interchange it to another guitar during a gig?

Thanks for the link other Powell River Dan. The Doug Young Pick Up tests is one worth listening to. Very good sound samples and testing. The test does make me lean towards the LR Braggs Anthem. To my ear it seemed to have one of the nicest full range sounds. Thanks DanR and looking forward to hearing how your install goes.

Danny

Oh ya John. Here's another. "Did you just fart, cause you blew me away"

Danny I took it to a Michigan Fingerstyle Society open mic today and we had it on 5 different guitars in probably a 20 minute period and the only issue is remembering to mute the amp while changing, though the velcro makes a cool sound when you pull it apart. I guess we may have created a new game Pass the Pickup.

The two L brackets that it mounts on are attached to each other with velcro, you hold the top L against the top and slide the other one against the back until the velcro grabs. I holds in place quite well but might be an issue if one jumps around like a rock star on stage. For me the great thing is I can play which ever guitar I want at an open mic without committing to an installed pickup.

There is a video on the internet that shows it being attached

Fred

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

Another vote for D-TAR. I DESPISE the sound of your typical piezo UST. Makes me want to run away screaming. I'm AMAZED at how unlike that sound the D-TAR is. I've installed two D-TAR dual source pickups, and they both sound very very good with the mic dialed all the way off. All the better with the mic on (within the limits of the feedback threshold, depending on the situation).

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/