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I am currently in the very early stages of making archtop electric guitar (full hollow body) I have a set of P-rail magnetic pickups for it, but was also hoping to put a piezo pickup of some sort in the bridge to get acoustic sounds out of it. I dont have much experience with piezo pickups, but i think one that mounts in the bridge would be best because though this it will be a full hollow it will still be about the same size as an lp, so the body wont have a ton of resonance. Their are several Tom's out there with built in piezo pickups, but they are pretty expensive and dont have the best sound. I was thinking about making an ebony archtop style bridge with an under saddle pickup. I have been looking at the Lb6 from LR Baggs, or maybe something like the fishman thinline.. any suggestions would be welcome. The world of acoustic pickups is new to me.

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~shad peters

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Fishman makes an ebony archtop bridge with a built in piezo pickup. It works very well.

http://www.fishman.com/products/view/archtop-guitar-pickup

Is LR Baggs still around?
I always thought they were an easy install that sounded good.

My favorite system was Ken Donnell's Mini-Flex system with a piezo and an internal mic.
I thought those sounded the most natural through a quality system.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

yeah lr baggs is still around, and they seem to be doing quite well. they are available through lmii, stewmac, and a lot of other suppliers. I am really looking for what the best peizo pickups for the money is because for this particular guitar a mic would not really be very practical, and probably not very usefull either.

_________________
~shad peters

http://www.flickr.com/photos/petersinstruments/
http://petersinstruments.blogspot.com/
http://petersinstruments.com/

I use the LB6, and think it sounds fine,
for a piezzo pickup.
Old design, fused saddle to element.
A lot of people prefer the newer models by other companies,
but when I hear the pickups,
they still "quack".
"Quack" is not bad though, sometimes.

Perhaps there is a way to mount a piezo element on the bridge piece but not directly under the string, to get a warmer sound. I have two guitars with piezos and am I not a fan of the quack.

The LR baggs products are quality. I have been using an I beam and it sounds really natural through a Bose system. Their I- mix system could be a good choice. I have often though that it would be an interesting system in a hollow body electric to have an authentic acoustic sound available.

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When my clients complained of quacking piezo pickups I would slice a rubber band and place it between the pickup and the bottom of the slot. Yes, the volume was reduced to some degree, but it smoothed out the sound.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

I think K and K came out with a gooseneck mic that clamps on the upper bout that looks interesting.
No quack, but probably more feedback.
I think $250?

Here is an EQ'd example of a $3 Radio shack condenser mic mounted inside.
I don't think I recommend it because:
-while it give a good non-quack sound, being it the box gives it a huge 300hz hump
-it feeds back very easily
-if recording it what I am concerned about, I can just as easily mic it up

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pf9CmFqEbU

http://www.kksound.com/purearchtop.html

then use this: http://www.fire-eye.com/

and leave the quacking for the ducks!

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-donh-

Everything is a tone control!