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The world of acoustic pickup isn't as cut and dry as electric pickups, and unfortunately there doesn't seem to be too much information out there about them...

I just made a saddle for a customer who has one of those strange under saddle pickup. It's one of those thing where a special molded plastic saddle sits inside a metal U channel which contains the under saddle element. I made a saddle that fits inside that U channel snugly, set up the guitar and it plays great. Unfortunately the customer was in a sort of a hurry and I didn't have a chance to make sure the pickup works as it should.

Now he writes back saying that the guitar buzzes like crazy, but I have no idea what could cause an acoustic guitar pickup to buzz because its all active anyways.

With so little info out there about acoustic pickups I am driving blind here...

I HATE U channel under saddle pickups! I think they're designed so you can't put a bone saddle in them!

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

You just said a mouthful, Tai.
And I feel your pain - I was never crazy about installing or repairing those pickups, either.

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

It's not replacing/repairing those pickups... it's making a REAL saddle (anything other than soft plastic) that is the issue...

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

I put a bone saddle right on top of the braided wire. Works just fine.

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Jason Moe
LaCrosse WI 54601

An update:

I put the original crap plastic saddle back into the pickup, and the thing worked without humming. I do not know how this kind of pickup works but it seems the cheap plastic saddle has some strange property that causes it to not hum. I don't know if this is some kind of trick used by the manufacturer to prevent luthiers from making a bone nut, but the guitar sounded awful with the plastic saddle installed, but not much can be done as the owner needed the electronics to work more than the guitar sounding good.

This is a Takimine G series by the way...

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

I'm betting your new saddle is too tight and you're not getting enough down bearing pressure on the element. Under saddle pickups want a saddle that is a hair looser than optimal so there is no interference from the side walls of the saddle slot preventing it from seating on the element.

I have no personal experience with this, so take this with a grain of salt. I was watching a DVD that my Dad has about setup, and the Luthier on the video mentioned that when doing a setup on a guitar with an under the saddle pickup, to not remove any material from the bottom of the saddle. His reasoning was that if you cannot ensure that the saddle is perfectly flat and square on the bottom when you are done, that it can cause feedback, and other issues with the pickup. You may check that saddle with a straightedge to see if that could be playing a part in this. I would also A:B the old, and new saddles where they interact with the pickup as well. If they are different, again, this could play a part.

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Jason McGowan
M&S Guitars
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United States of America, looks like another silent night
As we're sung to sleep by philosophies that save the trees and kill the children....
Casting Crowns

I thought of that so I sanded down the bone saddle to make the fit looser, but still no go. In fact I can put the bone saddle in the unit (it's one of those integrated saddle unit) and it would not hum so bad, but as soon as it goes into the bridge it hums like crazy. It must have something to do with the capacitance of bone or something, because the plastic worked fine.

The problem is there's no way I can make the bone saddle the exact same shape as the molded plastic saddle because it isn't completely flat under the saddle, but it has strange structures molded into the saddle that fits perfectly into a metal U channel. I'd googled the type of pickup used by the Takimine G series and it turns out that those molded plastic thing is set to a certain shape that fits the pickup exactly, and unless I can make a bone saddle that exact shape, I am SOL. The problem is without some kind of computer controlled thingie I can't do that... I can try to do it by hand but I won't be able to duplicate the exact shape.

Who the hell invented integrated saddle pickups? I see it on budget guitars all the time and on some guitars the saddle had to be replaced because it's bent out of shape by the string, but that configuration makes a replacement saddle impossible.

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com