Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi everyone! I have been commissioned to build two acoustic guitars for a well known band. The only problem is that I have very limited experience with acoustic pickups. I would greatly appreciate some advise on which ones would be best for touring, very busy musicians. I want the best.
Also, I want to get started on these instruments right away, but should I wait until I have the pickups in hand?? Just not really sure on when to install what..
Thanks very much! Aaron.

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Guitar Maker and Purveyor of the World's Finest Tonewoods
http://www.aaronhixguitars.com/
http://stores.ebay.com/A-Hix-Tonewood-a ... r-Supplies

do they need active or passive?
I love L.R.Baggs .
They sound great & are very well made.
Contact them.

Mc

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Mike Collins

I've used most. I use trance audio now. Very good pickups but they should be for the price.

If I have to use a pickup, as opposed to an external mic, I like the LR Baggs Lyric the best. It is an internal PZM mic. It has most of the virtues of an undersaddle pickup without the biggest downside: that darn quack tone that seems to be inherent to undersaddle pickups.

Paired with an LR Baggs Venue preamp, the Lyric is about the most realistic sounding pickup I have heard.

The bonus for you, as a builder: You don't have to drill a hole in the saddle slot. The PZM mic attaches to the bridge plate with double sided tape. The battery pack and controls adhere with tape, too. The only permanent modification to the guitar is an end pin jack, which you are going to have to install with most pickups, anyway.

IMO, the best acoustic sound is had from soundboard transducer pickups like the K&K Pure Western mini. The problem, though, is they act as a microphone and can induce pretty severe feedback in loud situations. The other route is to go with an under-saddle piezo. They sound horrible in comparison, though.

There are some multi-source options out there that provide the user with options to dial in exactly how much of each pickup he needs. I've not used any of them, though.

The only pickup I have direct experience with is the B-Band AST with their on-board preamp. It sounds great, but the outgoing signal is very weak.

Plus one for "lyric" --- awesome!!

JJB is my second choice, its a K&K clone made here in Michigan -- saves a bunch of $$$

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Ken Cierp

http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/

I've become a fan of the Schatten Designs HFN passive...

Trance audio is a high end soundboard transducer like a k&k . Jackson browne uses them, there's a clip on YouTube but the quality isn't great.

The lr Baggs lyric sounds good. I'll look into those more in depth. Thanks for all the help!

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Guitar Maker and Purveyor of the World's Finest Tonewoods
http://www.aaronhixguitars.com/
http://stores.ebay.com/A-Hix-Tonewood-a ... r-Supplies

I use both the Lyric and the K&K Pure mini. The Lyric requires an onboard battery which I don't like and has a tendency to amplify any finger slide while fretting. The K&K is a totally passive system...a bit of messing with your placement (slightly toward both e strings rather than centered) keeps your balance a bit better. Both need to be run thru a preamp ( Baggs venue or the K&K.

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Blue Ring Acoustics
blueringacoustics.ca

Interesting http://www.maurysmusic.com/pickup_shootout

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

The Baggs Anthems are favorites here and provide a level of performance and versatility that seems to make our clients pretty happy. The Anthem is a combination of two other successful pups, the Element and the Lyric.

I'll second the Lyric recommendation too, very popular pup in these parts.

If this sounds too obvious, I apologize, but have you discussed pickups with the folks who have commissioned the guitars? They probably use something right now, right? Maybe a good discussion with them about what they want is in order. There are lots of choices. I told you what I like as a player, but they might have a strong preference for something else.

Regarding the Lyric, that's the only pickup I've installed.

I had an issue with my bridge patch being very narrow so it was difficult to get the pickup on the patch & clear the pins.

Anyone else had this problem, or did you just mount it directly to the sound board?

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I'm not a luthier.
I'm just a guy who builds guitars in his basement.
It's better than playing golf.

I install tons of LR Baggs Anthem systems, they are very popular around here. Lyric is good but less control over tone as it is not a blend system and also has no phase reverse button like the Anthem.

I personally prefer the Trance Audio Amulet system, by far the most pure sounding to my ear. It makes your guitar sound like your guitar, which is good if your guitars sounds great acoustically. IMO the Baggs systems add their own color, which is one reason why they are popular. Average sounding guitars still sound pretty good amplified.

Regarding your question about installation, it is a lot easier to install bridge plate mounted transducers before closing the box, but still very doable on the completed guitar.

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It will probably be alright.

They actually made no mention of the electronics, and I don't think I'll be able to get in touch with them for a while. I just know that they will need a pickup installed at some point, and I wanted to deliver the instruments ready to use.

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Guitar Maker and Purveyor of the World's Finest Tonewoods
http://www.aaronhixguitars.com/
http://stores.ebay.com/A-Hix-Tonewood-a ... r-Supplies