Passive pickups.

[Terry Allan Hall]

A lot of the problems folks have w/ piezos is their picking technique...too many modern guitarists don't think about dynamics in their playing, they just beat their guitars to death!

Piezos work on voltage, and hitting the strings too hard causes voltage spikes, which have aquired the term "piezo quack".

Listen to your guitar through headphones and pluck the strings, doing from ppp to fff (gently caressing the strings to beating 'em like a red-headed step-child)...at a certain point, note how the sounds changes from how a guitar should sound to sounding like rubber bands!

 

[Peeker]

Gary, isn't yer 12str an A&L, like mine?
I guess you got the one without a pickup, eh?

mine sounds pretty good plugged in, but I run through effects all the time, so that's probably why.

 

[BEACHBUM]

I'm getting very nice results with a stacked humbucker sound hole pup. To handle the feedback issues I use a Planet Waves sound hole plug cut back just enough to allow room for the pickup. Looks goofy but works well and sounds very good.

 

[Ignored Member]

I'm getting very nice results with a stacked humbucker sound hole pup. To handle the feedback issues I use a Planet Waves sound hole plug cut back just enough to allow room for the pickup. Looks goofy but works well and sounds very good.

Is that the Rare Earth? I have one and really, really like it.

Crazy expensive but it convinced me a magnetic pickup could sound good on an acoustic. If you hate feedback, hate hassle, and don't want a lot of body noise, it's perfect.

 

[Help!I'maRock!]

Is that the Rare Earth? I have one and really, really like it.

Crazy expensive but it convinced me a magnetic pickup could sound good on an acoustic. If you hate feedback, hate hassle, and don't want a lot of body noise, it's perfect.

i wonder who likes those things. ???

 

[Ignored Member]

i wonder who likes those things. ???

I actually do like body noise. I'm not much of a body-tap percussive player but body noise is part of the whole acoustic experience for me.

But, yeah, there have been times when it was more trouble than it was worth.

The other downside to the Rare Earth for me is it stands up kind of tall. It's fine on non-cutaway but it frets out if I go high on a cutaway. I'm sure I could sand down the cork on the mounting ears if I wanted to commit to it.

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

I actually do like body noise. I'm not much of a body-tap percussive player but body noise is part of the whole acoustic experience for me.

But, yeah, there have been times when it was more trouble than it was worth.

The other downside to the Rare Earth for me is it stands up kind of tall. It's fine on non-cutaway but it frets out if I go high on a cutaway. I'm sure I could sand down the cork on the mounting ears if I wanted to commit to it.

Reason why I quit using soundhole mags is that there's never been one that worked well for a 12-string, as the octaves and un-wound trebles are much louder than the wound strings, and you really can't balance the string-to-string volumes.

 

[Gary Blanchard]

Wow, thread resurrected in time for Easter!

Oddly enough, I now have two acoustic/electric guitars that I love. I may add a pickup to the Muse Burst, though, something unobtrusive. That, though, is for my more purely acoustic shows.

 

[baimun]

Gary... take a look at the products from Mi-Si

http://mi-si.com/products/

They go into a guitar like a passive pickup but is rechargable in a matter of seconds, so no battery onboard. This prevents the weak passive piezo signal. If you do go Passive Piezo, make sure you use some kind of preamp either on your belt or on the floor. A passive piezo signal can't travel very far.

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

Gary... take a look at the products from Mi-Si

http://mi-si.com/products/

They go into a guitar like a passive pickup but is rechargable in a matter of seconds, so no battery onboard. This prevents the weak passive piezo signal. If you do go Passive Piezo, make sure you use some kind of preamp either on your belt or on the floor. A passive piezo signal can't travel very far.

Read about those...pretty cool!

 

[BEACHBUM]

Is that the Rare Earth? I have one and really, really like it.

Crazy expensive but it convinced me a magnetic pickup could sound good on an acoustic. If you hate feedback, hate hassle, and don't want a lot of body noise, it's perfect.

Yes, Rare Earth. I'm sure that there are many fine sounding piezos out there these days but early on I had bad experiences with many of them and often still do. I've always opted for the sound hole pups because I can always count on them sounding fairly decent. The Rare Earth in particular.