randythoades Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 Hi chaps, a bit of advice about acoustic guitar pickups. Strange as this may sound but I want to make my acoustic sound more 'electric'. I have an 'acoustic' side project with me as a single guitar with vocalist and drums. I want to be able to play both chords, rockabilly basslines and country lead highlights but am struggling with my acoustic sound. It sounds fine for rhythm but a bit lacklustre for lead, particularly on the boogie basslines (sounds like an acoustic and I actually prefer the richer sound of a clean electric guitar than I do true acoustic). But I want to keep the visual of the acoustic (unless I buy a big bodied jazzer with single neck pickup). We all go through PA and my guitar currently has a fishman under saddle piezo. So I would like to add a magnetic pickup and either run just that or possibly a mix of mag and piezo as I do with my upright bass. I use DR Zebra strings which are suitable for both piezo and magnetic pickups. I would prefer something with adjustable poles to correct an string imbalance and would probably prefer something that I can install temporarily to begin with and permanently if I like it. Has anyone any experience with an mag pickup? Any recommendations? I could just install a strat pickup at the neck like a regular guitar but wondered if there were any experience of things like sound hole pickups or similar? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer of the Bass Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 I think plugging into a guitar amp is a major part of getting that more electric sound from a magnetic pickup, but you could always try some sort of amp modelling pedal if you're running straight into the PA. I've seen at least a couple of people get a great sound with the Fishman Neo-D run into a guitar amp - there are no adjustable poles but it's balanced for bronze acoustic strings, not too expensive and can be installed temporarily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randythoades Posted September 8, 2016 Author Share Posted September 8, 2016 Thanks BotB, I do generally run my electric through Zoom G5 and into either AC15 style amp (for country) or straight into PA so could try that, hadn't actually considered this. The Neo D was on my radar but I had discounted it because no adjustable pole pieces. I will have another look. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlloyd Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 There's a tradition in gypsy jazz for Stimer pickups like Django used in his latter years... Here's a good example of how they can sound: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uH6irdA0wVI[/media] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randythoades Posted September 9, 2016 Author Share Posted September 9, 2016 That is a great sound, much closer to the sound I am looking for. A pig ugly chunk of metal hanging from the guitar though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlloyd Posted September 9, 2016 Share Posted September 9, 2016 You could try one of the many neck mounted pickups that are on the market... I don't know how well they'd work on a flat top acoustic, they're really designed for archtops. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randythoades Posted September 9, 2016 Author Share Posted September 9, 2016 I have thought of that too, but don't think I quite have the clearance for one (although Kent Armstong seem to sell a slimline pickup which should fit, but only in the US). Or I could just buy an archtop:- pays homage to the Gods of GAS and solves my issue. I did see last night too that the Ibanez Talman acoustic only uses magnetic pickup so I may go and try one out and see if I like the sound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted September 9, 2016 Share Posted September 9, 2016 If possible try before you buy. I had a Schaller neck-mounted pickup on my acoustic which because of it's (lack of) width was always down in volume on the E strings. Low E wasn't too bad, but high E was thin and weedy sounding compared to the B string. I also had a piezo pickup on the bridge and TBH I could get just as good an electric guitar sound out of it as I could the magnetic pickup, just because I was running it into a guitar amp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randythoades Posted September 9, 2016 Author Share Posted September 9, 2016 Thanks BRX, I may try that this weekend anyway, as BotB suggested too, going through my Zoom and into my guitar amp to take away the acoustic-ness of the guitar and do a few room recordings of different setups so I can hear from customer point of view. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlloyd Posted September 9, 2016 Share Posted September 9, 2016 [quote name='randythoades' timestamp='1473407612' post='3129820'] I have thought of that too, but don't think I quite have the clearance for one (although Kent Armstong seem to sell a slimline pickup which should fit, but only in the US). Or I could just buy an archtop:- pays homage to the Gods of GAS and solves my issue. I did see last night too that the Ibanez Talman acoustic only uses magnetic pickup so I may go and try one out and see if I like the sound. [/quote] I have had a few jazz boxes and the two I have at the moment are among the better ones I've played... and they're not expensive. My archtop is an Ibanez AFJ95 which, for me, feels every bit as good as a Gibson ES175 for a fraction of the price. They're £500 or thereabouts, and have the Super 58 pickups they put on their more expensive models. I would have preferred an AFJ91 with just the neck pickup, but I didn't like the colour they come in! My gypsy jazz guitar is a cheapo Gitane Cigano CJ15 D hole job... they're more like archtops than flat tops in their construction and I think they have a bit more space under the strings for things like Stimer pickups. Neck mounts won't work very well because of the fretboard design (extended on the high E). I've had expensive LeVoi's and played DuPonts and the Cigano is 99% of the way there. On the cigano I've added a K&K Definity pickup, which has a fantastic acoustic tone. I'm considering fitting a K&K to the Ibanez as well. If I was in your position I'd probably go for an archtop with a neck pickup with something like the K&K Definity added so you can switch between the two, or blend them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randythoades Posted September 9, 2016 Author Share Posted September 9, 2016 I think I may be inclined to agree but wanted to try and keep obviously acoustic from a visual aspect if I can. From what I have seen on You Tube too, I think that suggestions about trying through guitar amp/pedal will be my first port of call and possibly trying archtop if I don't get quite the result I am after. Thanks for the help guys Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlloyd Posted September 10, 2016 Share Posted September 10, 2016 [quote name='randythoades' timestamp='1473419381' post='3130027'] I think I may be inclined to agree but wanted to try and keep obviously acoustic from a visual aspect if I can. [/quote] How about something like the Godin 5th avenue? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randythoades Posted September 13, 2016 Author Share Posted September 13, 2016 Tried running my existing setup through an ABY box at the weekend, one output into my Zoom effects pedal with a tweed type fender amp model with a touch of drive and delay, the other output into my regular acoustic preamp then both into PA but panned hard left and right. Not quite the sound I was after,I still think that I will get an archtop like the Godin 5th Ave or Ibanez Artcore (thanks dlloyd for suggestions) but perfectly acceptable and far better for my purpose. Might even try a touch of octave to fatten the electric sound bit more. I shall see how the band take it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimBobTTD Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 I've not seen let alone tried a Godin 5th Avenue, but I was impressed by the Ibanez Artcore when I had a go on one once. It seemed well made and was reasonably priced, if I remember correctly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlloyd Posted September 14, 2016 Share Posted September 14, 2016 The Artcore is, indeed, lovely. I've had a couple of Epiphone archtops and they were nowhere near as good as the Ibanez... dodgy qc. Tuners at weird angles, crappy pickups, etc. but solid all the same. The Ibanez artcores (at least the af95 and up) are flawless in build quality... only fault I can imagine you could get would be with the materials. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted September 15, 2016 Share Posted September 15, 2016 (edited) The only thing to watch with the Ibanez Artcore guitars is if they have a Bigsby-style vibrato, check that it's happy with your playing style, as the break angle over the bridge is very shallow and anyone who plays even moderately hard will have the strings popping off their saddles. Edited September 15, 2016 by BigRedX Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoonBassAlpha Posted October 28, 2016 Share Posted October 28, 2016 Wouldn't it be easy to file deeper notches in the saddles to stop that happening? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winny Pooh Posted January 15, 2017 Share Posted January 15, 2017 The fishman rare earth humbucker will do exactly what you are after. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoonBassAlpha Posted January 16, 2017 Share Posted January 16, 2017 I've got the Fishman neo D passive soundhole pickup in my parlour guitar, and while I like the sound, the output is really quite low. The ones with the built-in preamp are adjustable so you can match the output to the piezo. Doesn't have quite the top end of a piezo, but also doesn't the nasty sounding attack that a lot of piezos have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randythoades Posted January 16, 2017 Author Share Posted January 16, 2017 Well, I tried out a couple of the options and finally went for an Artec of all things, the VertexP passive pickup £30 [url="http://www.artecsound.com/acou/vertex.htm"]http://www.artecsound.com/acou/vertex.htm[/url] Easy to fit, no batteries needed and really nice sounding, not quite 'acoustic' but exactly the sound I was after. Thanks guys Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted January 16, 2017 Share Posted January 16, 2017 [quote name='MoonBassAlpha' timestamp='1477656622' post='3163614'] Wouldn't it be easy to file deeper notches in the saddles to stop that happening? [/quote] The string break angle is so shallow over the bridge on the that the bridge slots would have to be almost nut depth in order for it to cure the problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoonBassAlpha Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 Sounds like the perfect solution then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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