[ramblingman]

Anybody have any suggestions for an acoustic guitar pick up, not a built in one, just the type that fits into the sound hole. Also, any favs would be great. Nothing too expensive. And lastly do I need different strings or just regular acoustic ones?

[MakoMako]

I can't give you any suggestions on the type of pickup, since I've never been a particular fan of the ones you just slip into the sound hole. But, you can just use normal acoustic strings after you have the pickup on.

But, if you do decide to get one that's built in.. I would suggest looking at some Fishman stuff, they tend to have some rather excellent electronics if I do say so, myself.

[Ted Zeppelin]

I bought a Dean Markley a while back that fits into the sound hole and it seemed to work pretty well...It gives the guitar the classic pluged in to a pickup sound. I had no complaints about it until I bought a new martin that had a fishman pickup as well as microphone built into it. The sound I get out of it is a hell of a lot better than the Markley. I would recomend if you truly want your guitar to keep it's sound and be more acoustic, a microphone would be the best way to go. I am not sure if they make sound hole microphones, but it would give you the best representation of acoustic sound.

[ramblingman]

I bought a Dean Markley a while back that fits into the sound hole and it seemed to work pretty well...It gives the guitar the classic pluged in to a pickup sound. I had no complaints about it until I bought a new martin that had a fishman pickup as well as microphone built into it. The sound I get out of it is a hell of a lot better than the Markley. I would recomend if you truly want your guitar to keep it's sound and be more acoustic, a microphone would be the best way to go. I am not sure if they make sound hole microphones, but it would give you the best representation of acoustic sound.

Thanks, I was looking into sound hole mics and they seemed good, I just wanted to check what people thought of the pickups. That way I could get all the effects too, but thanks guys(or girls )

[dadfad]

Here are a couple of decent ones. (I have both.) I like a volume-control at least on one I use. One is a snap-in (with v-control) and the other is a stick-on (with both v-control and tone-control). They aren't as good as the Fishman set-up in my Taylor, and of course not like mic'ing into a good PA (which I prefer to do), but they work reasonably well, aren't too expensive, and have a control(s) on it. Just a couple of possibilities.


SEYMOUR DUNCAN ACOUSTIC TUBE SA1 SOUNDHOLE PICKUP
Quiet and bright with adjustable volume; great all-around pickup. Hard wired cable has a 1/4" female jack.
DSA1... (list $109.00) ours $68.95



SHADOW VOL/TONE TRANSDUCER
Quick mount small soundboard transducer with built-in volume and tone controls. Mounts with reusable adhesive. Includes 12' cable. A good selection for general application on ANY stringed instrument.
SH2000 ... (list $102.50) ours $71.75

[knot4reel91]

OK, I'll try to make this as simple as possible. I just put an aftermarket acoustic pickup in my guitar. I also did not want to spend a ridiculous amount of money. I bought a Fishman Natural I. The pickup alone ran me about $119.00 US Dollars. There is a 9V battery pack velcroed onto the inside of the guitar. All the other "Guts" were placed on the inside of the guitar, with nothing exposed on the outside. There were no holes cut into the guitar, which is what I certainly wanted. The only cutting involved making the guitar strap peg hole a little wider. This is where the jack plugs into. I am really satisfied with the sound and it is more than i could have hoped for. Good luck in your decision.

[imadique]

I dunno if you've heard of Jeff Lang, but he has a very cool setup on his acoustics, it sounds great:

Jeff amplifies his guitars with a magnetic pickup and an external microphone. On the Churchill guitars he uses a Sunrise soundhole pickup, and on the Beeton's either a Gibson p-90 (for the Style-o) or a vintage De Armond (for the Tri-Cone). The external mic is a Nuemann KM 184.

For shows with drums he uses a two pickup setup. On the Churchill guitar he combines the Sunrise with an Acoustech Dynafield pickup. For the Beetons he combines a Fishman mini-mic with the magnetic pickup. The two sounds are sent to the Front-of-House mixer via a Fishman pocket Blender. For his trademark "overdriven acoustic" sound, Jeff splits the signal from the guitars' magnetic pickups via a volume pedal to a guitar amp. In the studio this is usually a Music Man 112 or a Fender Deluxe, but for live shows these have been replaced in the touring rig by a Line 6 Pod.