Acoustic Guitar: Installing a Pick-Up System

Date: Tue, 13 Jul 2004 18:00:40 EDT
Subject: advanced gibson jumbo

Hi Mickey,
just bought an advanced gibson jumbo brand new and iwant to install a fishmans under-saddle pick up. Money being no object-within reason- is this the best for the job? At the moment i record my work but aim to take it out live soon
kind regards john

Greetings John,

I personally wouldn't do this to such a nice guitar...to install an under-the-saddle pick-up requires drilling a hole through the bridge (to feed the wiring) and routing out a larger hole on the end pin area to accommodate a jack. If I wanted to amplify an acoustic guitar, I would personally use a high-end mic system (to capture the true wooden response of the guitar)...or, I'd buy a cheaper acoustic/electric with active electronics built in...once an acoustic guitar is equipped with a transducer/piezo pick-up system, it will have the same response, on average, as most other acoustic guitars with pick-up systems. Thus, you may purchase a very expensive Gibson for it's tonal range, only to find that this tonal range is completely compromised once you install a transducer...and, you might as well have bought a cheap import for the tonal response will be relative. About the only upside will be the playability of your Gibson...

Hope this makes sense...Mickey