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hi. i've been working on what will be an acoustic 7 string and i'd like to put some kind of pickup on it. i've no idea what is out there though and what would be a good option. any advice would be greatly appreciated!

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K&K bridge plate mounted transducers.....nothing required under the saddle.

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In general, I don't like under the saddle transducers, so take what I say with that bias in mind. I'm really impressed with the LR Baggs Lyric, combined with their Venue preamp. It is really more of an internally mounted PZM microphone than a pickup. It checks all the boxes for me: sounds very natural, rejects noise from other instruments or your voice, is pretty feedback resistant, is easy to use, easy to install, and not super expensive.

Hi Don - we've installed dozens of Bagg's Lyrics and it's currently my personal favorite as well.

Installation is a breeze since it's an internal mic placement is not nearly as critical as say K&K style transducers. Many of these installations that we have done have been for pro players meaning that the thing has to sound great. So far everyone has loved this pup for it's open, natural tone.

It's also one half of the Bagg's Anthem system which uses the same mic with the addition of a UST.

Without the preamp they sound great IMHO but with the preamp they are even better!

hi all. thanks for the responses!

i'm getting interested in the lyric. would you suggest centering the mic to the 7 strings? will the lyric handle a low A or B string?

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Hey Patch - You could center it to the 7 string hole placement but I seriously doubt that it would make any difference since the lyric is a mic picking up the sound of the inside of the box. This is also why exact placement seems not to be critical.

The mic is mounted with quality double stick with foam center that comes with the pickup. As you can imagine that foam core on the tape is not exactly BRW when it comes to low dampening.... meaning that unlike say the K&K where conduction and physical placement is critical with the Anthem it's not. Totally different approach and impressive as well. As such just be sure to have it clear the sting balls and pins and you should be good to go.

IIRC on our Facebook page David Collins takes folks through how to install the jack correctly which should help you avoid having the input coming loose as they seem to always do in time as well on any acoustic pup. Just search Ann Arbor Guitars while logged into Facebook and you will find his take on input jack installation among many other very innovative repair subjects.

thanks hesh! just spent sometime on your facebook page, lots of info!

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Personally, I'd go with the Baggs element active system. I believe the working part of the element should be long enough, but I can't say for sure.