Looking for a pickup for an acoustic guitar

PonderStibbons

As the title says, I'm looking for a pickup for my guitar, a Taylor 110 GB (It's a dreadnought size guitar) I've been recommended either the Fishman Acoustic Matrix Natural II, or the Fishman Rare Earth. Does anyone have any opinions on these, or advice on another good pickup for not more than about 200 quid? Also, there are 3 different types of the Rare Earth one (single coil, humbucking & blend) and I don't what the difference between them is, so if somebody had any light to shed on that it would be great.

I'm strictly an amateur player, and pretty much a beginner but I'd like to get a decent pickup that I can grow into, rather than one that I basically have to throw in the bin in a years time. But it won't need to be of a professional quality because I'm sure that the amps etc it'll be plugged into won't be exactly amazing.

Oh yeah, one more thing, the guy I talked to in the music shop said the lead for the pickup would come out the back of the guitar, where the strap button is now. Does that mean I won't be able to put a strap on it or is there a way to work around it?

Thanks.

Doctor J

I haven't used any of those pickups so I can't offer you any guidance there, but regarding the strap, you can rest easy, the jack also functions as a strap button so you can put the strap on as normal and plug the cable in thereafter.

PonderStibbons

Doctor J wrote:

I haven't used any of those pickups so I can't offer you any guidance there, but regarding the strap, you can rest easy, the jack also functions as a strap button so you can put the strap on as normal and plug the cable in thereafter.

Ah, that's what I hoped all right - thought it might be a bit of a stupid question! Thanks for the quick reply.

punchdrunk

the natural II is a piezo pickup,goes under the saddles and with a decent onboard eq/preamp can sound a bit thin and "quacky" tends to be okay with a full band (they are punchy and can be "heard") not very nutural sounding
my old takamine had one and with the right EQ it was pretty good

the rare earth is a pickup that mounts in the sound hole,sounds a bit more natural and has some nice depth to it,single coil version is lively but kinda prone to noise though,i've got one in my gibson wm 45 sounds alot better for finger picking and solo stuff than the natural II (download thom yorke playing true love waits solo if you want to hear a very accurate live recording of this pickup!)

the blend version adds a mic to the above which sounds even more real,probably the most natural of the lot but might be more feedback prone
(though i've never tried one in person),so maybe i'm talking ****e

PonderStibbons

I'm not too keen about getting a big hole in my guitar to fit in a pre-amp/Eq, especially as it'll be used nearly all the time not plugged in. Does this change the options I should go for any way? I was considering getting the Ellipse Blend at some stage after having the pickup installed - would this substitute for the need for an EQ? Any idea if the the Acoustic Matrix Natural II and the Ellipse blend would be a good match for a more natural sound?

punchdrunk

yeah the elipse will help "round out" the sound of the undersaddle,check out mark geary's acoustic sound he uses the fishman premium blend with is essentially the same thing only the eq etc is mounted in the side,the one idea i like is the external fishmann preamp,eq pedal which means you can use the pedal with multiple pickup equiped guitars,or if you ever get a new acoustic you can keep the preamp and just put a new fishmann pickup into the new acoustic

PonderStibbons

Interesting... I like the idea of buying one bit and then upgrading with the mic later on. So, presuming I planned on getting the Ellipse blend, would the recommendation be the Rare earth or the Acoustic Matrix? Sorry for all the questions...

Frankiestylee

I have a "blend" (never knew what it was called before) with a mic and piezo I think... the mic never ever gets used, sound engineers can't seem to handle it as it's feedback city, but yes, it does round out the sound. A plus of the mic (if it's on a gooseneck) is that you can point it into the body for more bass etc, or point it at the strings for some string sound etc.

Dord

what about a seymour duncan woody?



it just slots into the soundhole and you could wire it to an endpin jack. all you'd have to do would be drill a small hole where the strapbutton is. of course, you might be better off getting a pro to do this if you don't want to damage your guitar.

Kenny_D

Wouldnt imagine it's very good. For good soundhole pickups have a look at LR Baggs

slavedave

I did the usual round of research ( a painful task indeed!). In the end I bought a piezo-based under-bridge pickup from a company in the States called K&K. THe model I bought was a Western one (std size) and they often advertise seconds on Ebay for a reduced price which I snaffled for about 50 pounds. I then built an electret mini-mic for the soundhole (much easier than it sounds) and ran both the pick up and the mic through one of the pre-amps that K&K produce. I can blend both sources together as I want and can tweak the eq on both channels as I see fit. The under bridge pick up is passive but has a high output. It doesn't sound like an under saddle pick up at all. My Martin sounds very acoustic when recorded or played live. Never really had it loud enough to induce feedback yet. Very, VERY pleased with the sound but check out the reviews on Harmony and have a listen to the demos on K&K sounds website (they will also ship out a CD if you ask for one). Extemely competent customer service from the owner (Dieter).