Barcus-Berry Dobro pickup on a Selmac

drolling

Just dug it out of the closet and slapped it on a Gitane. It had been retired because it failed to capture the sound of the resonator, basically sounded like a dreadnaught with a pickup in the soundhole. The ole RadioShack hack is how I've been electrifying the Dobro for many years.

On the Gitane, however, the Barcus-Berry sounded really really bad. Thin & scratchy with no volume either. Is it the strings? I realize that magnetic pickups require steel strings to function optimally, but it worked OK with phosphor bronzes. Could it be the silver coating? Would electric guitar strings work better? Are those Stimers designed specifically to work with the manouche strings?

thanks guys,
david