Topic: Seeking Pick-Up Advice.....

[Richard]

NS  get a recording of yourself 

[Dave in Tejas]

Brosna,
I've installed a lot of pickups in acoustic guitars, and think the K&K is the best natural tone. You don't have to carry around a lot of gear inside either. Unless you are really going to amp up, no preamp necessary. My favorite.

You're not going to drag that Trojan around all those stumbling drunks, are you?!

[Mike Brosnan]

Talking about Alvin's guitar in the Kokomo thread just reminded me that I never gave an update on all this....   
I have K & K Pure Western Minis installed in Alvin's archtop, my S and P Parlor, and my Blueridge OOO.  For $86 a piece I couldn't be happier.  I've had my luthier install them all for a moderate additional charge. 
I'm sure Highlander's would blow me away, but I can't afford 'em. 
I'm definitely happy to have one less mic around when I'm playing out.  An L.R. Baggs Para-acoustic D.I. does all the EQ I need and it solved the major volume difference between the S and P and the Blueridge. 
I also got a National Hot Plate for the Trojan which I couldn't be happier with. 

Now here's the funny Mary Flower K & K story.... 
I had mentioned that Mary and I go to the same luthier and that he told me she was trying K & K's and apparently liking them.  That was the status when I got my first K & K in the Blueridge.  When I brought the S and P in for a pick-up, Mary Flower walked in right after me.  After exchanging a few brief words I agreed to let her go first (she's Mary Flower!).  She had brought in a Goodall that had a K & K installed in it.  She was complaining about the tone the K & K was producing and wondering what could be done about it.  Someone had suggested removing the center pick up head, so Kerry did that and quickly reinstalled it.  Apparently this experiment was not successful.  Kerry (my luthier) said he installs more K & K's than any other pick-up, but every now and then he installs one that doesn't quite sound as good as the others.  He didn't seem to think it was the pick ups themselves in these cases, just that the pick ups didn't work so well in certain guitars...   Such was apparently the case with Mary's Goodall.  I don't think Highlander has to worry about losing her endorsement!

[Deerbridge]

Hi Brosna,

to achieve a true acoustic sound the K&K always is my first choice. It starts with the "pure western", can be upgraded with the "PrePhase" preamp and -as the cream of the crop - combined with the "fantastick" undersaddle pickup as "powermixpure".

You won't find anything which gives you a more natural, more woody tone.

Martin

[Mike Brosnan]

So as I've said here... I've got K & K Minis in all my non reso 6 strings. Just got my new ladder braced 12 string back from my luthier. I had asked him to install a K & K Standard since that's what the company recommends for 12 strings. Somehow or another he got the idea that I was asking for a Dual Head K & K instead of the normal 3 head ones. So that's what I got now. They are the larger sized heads, but there's only two of 'em. I've been playing it for a minute and diggin' it, but I'm wondering what kind of difference that third head would make. I figure I'll call K & K tomorrow, but I thought some folks over here might have some input regarding all this.  After the Mary Flower story, I'm not sure if I'm better or worse off with two heads vs. three...
http://www.kksound.com/acousticguitar.html

[Deerbridge]

Hi Brosna,

with the normal 3-head Pure Western you have a sensor for each pair of bass-, mid- and treble strings.

I never istalled a 2-head system in a guitar, but I guess you will have the bass and treble a bit emphasized, that might be great for 12-strings...

Would be great to know how satisfied you are with the sound over the time...

Martin

[RevGeo]

I have no pickups permanently mounted in my flat-tops. I prefer a good mic - Shure Beta 57A - but when I do plug in I use a George-L soundhole pickup. Sounds as good as any undersaddle or bridge-plate mounted pickup I've heard. Lot's easier as well.
You can do the busking thing really easy that way and still use a mic set up when that is feasable.
That's my take on it, anyway.

Rev George

[Mike Brosnan]

Just made a vid comparing pickup/mic vs. acoustic.  The pickup sounds much better in person, but I thought I'd post this here anyways. 

[uncle bud]

The sound you're getting from the combo pickup/mic is pretty good, I'd say, if one can judge such things on a YouTube video. The nice touch on the picking helps, of course.

[TX_Songster]

Brosnan- I always enjoy your vids and your playing.  I'm curious about the National Hot Plate you mention above.  Do you have any vids of this set up?  Specifically curious if you use the pickup jack on the cover plate, or if you have it in the body of the guitar.  I've heard you can set it up either way.

[Mike Brosnan]

'Preciate that, TX!  I've been meaning to post a vid showing the Hot Plate, but, no, I don't have any yet.  I'll try to work on that.  I plug straight into the jack on the cover plate.  I didn't know there was any other way to do it with the Hot Plate.  Have you seen the vid Mike Dowling just did with NRP about the Hot Plate?

[TX_Songster]

No, I hadn't see the Mike Dowling video.  Thanks for sharing that.  Regarding the pickup jack, I just learned that today when I spoke with a guy as Artisan guitars.  I guess I would prefer not to drill into the guitar so I would use the jack in the cover plate if I ever get one.

Did you do the install yourself?  It looks pretty straight forward unless I'm missing something.

[Mike Brosnan]

I had my luthier install it cuz my ol' '36 Trojan had some issues with the coverplate screw holes.  Someone had messed with 'em over the years, and I didn't want to make it any worse.  He had to insert some brass doohickeys to compensate for some stripped holes.  If I had a new NRP or a vintage Nat that was in better shape I would've installed it myself without hesitation.  Not sure how the screw holes line up with other brands of resonators, but I think I've heard about folks using Hot Plates on other brands.   

[TX_Songster]

Thanks for the thoughts on that.  I've got a newer Nat Estralia (in the pic).  If I get the go ahead from my wife, I'll probably go for it.  I like the idea of being able to keep the plate if I ever sell or trade off the Nat.

Do you use any sort of pre amp, or can you plug straight in?

[Mike Brosnan]

If I'm just messin' around at home, sometimes I plug straight into my amp.  If I'm playing out I use an L.R. Baggs Para-acoustic D.I. to give me a little more control.