Any way to mount a humbucker in a D-hole?

Salieri

Hello goregantuan ! Sorry for offtopic...Can you tell me how is this guitar ? Sounds good ? Can you make a record please ?

Craig Bumgarner

constantine wrote:

I have been using.....the LR Baggs M1. I also got this working in an oval hole. I will try to post a sound if anyone is interested.

I'd be very interested to hear a sound clip and to see a picture of how you fit the M1 to an oval hole. The Baggs website say the pickup needs at least a 3-1/2" soundhole. A small oval is a lot smaller than that so would be interested in how you did it.

Any thoughts on the M1 vs. M1 Active. I like the idea of the volume control on the M1 Active. Down side might be weight, can't seem to find any info on that.

Craig

goregantuan

So I think I've decided to get the Kent Armstrong pickup, the neck mount one. So I'll cut off the fretboard extension and mount the pickup right to the fingerboard.

Also this week I'm going to buy a Dupont bigtone from a store in Maryland, and maybe even get a new tailpiece for S&G's. Josh, do you recommend the humbucker/big tone combo with the two volume knobs and switch like you have? I'm basically looking for something that will sound good live, at high volumes, with a good mix of acoustic selmer and electric archtop kind of tone.

Also I'm not against using this guitar through a stack and screaming distortion for when the metal-head in me has had enough jazz for one day.

BluesBop Harry

goregantuan wrote:

I'm basically looking for something that will sound good live, at high volumes, with a good mix of acoustic selmer and electric archtop kind of tone.

Also I'm not against using this guitar through a stack and screaming distortion for when the metal-head in me has had enough jazz for one day.

Maybe a Stimer with a bigtone could do the trick?

goregantuan

Stimer and bigtone would be a bit pricey though...

Also I found something from a company called "Pick up the world," it's a piezo film strip for archtops which you simply put under the feet of your bridge...no effect on vibration, and no need for a new bridge.

MichaelHorowitz

goregantuan wrote:

Stimer and bigtone would be a bit pricey though...

Also I found something from a company called "Pick up the world," it's a piezo film strip for archtops which you simply put under the feet of your bridge...no effect on vibration, and no need for a new bridge.

But has huge feedback problems....any piezo mounted on the top or under the top usually feeds back a lot more then a bigtone (which has the piezo mounted IN the bridge.)

goregantuan

I read the testimonials and it seems that there aren't any complaints of feedback. But I'll probably end up with a bigtone anyway. The one I'm looking at is a Dupont, for $300, is that a decent deal?

BluesBop Harry

I think that's the going rate for those... I hear the djangobooks delexe and super are better.
A Stimer is not cheap but sounds great and you can get a good electric sound.
It's like turning your Selmac into an archtop!

Powerfibers

The M-1 is a fantastic pickup for a D-hole. Constantine has one with the cover removed and it fits great into his oval hole. These are much better than the piezos we have tried in our guitars.

constantine

Here are 2 samples of the LR Baggs M1. I normally run this pickup thru a fender passport PA system with very good results. The M1 does not feedback and can be run VERY loud. I recorded these samples thru a cheap practice amp that does color the sound a bit. I put a mic in front of the speaker and then into my sound card. Please note that there is sloppy playing all over, but I was trying to get the sound down for this post. The pickup is the MI passive, with no preamp, just a bit of EQ and reverb.

The first sample is on a Gitane d500 is clearly more wet and less "gypsy" sounding than the second sample. The amp itself imparts a bit of an archtop sound to the recording, but I get a more realistic sound when using my PA. But again, the pickup takes on the guitar that its installed in.

The second sample is the pickup in my Patenotte 254 oval hole.
Attachment - You can attach this pickup on a D-hole by gluing thin wood tabs perpendicular to the pickup on the strait part of the d-hole or adding wood tabs to the sides of the pickup extending the width and reaching to the other side of the D-hole, velcro in the sound hole is a good idea, or even top mounting. Using thick wood tabs can overload the pickup because it carries vibrations from the top. The oval was attached by removing the cover, putting the pickup inside the hole and attaching with glue. The oval install was much more challenging to EQ.

Why did I bother? M1 Baggs passive - $125 street price and no pro install needed, plus I like it better than the bigtone, schatten, Benedetto floater S6, other humbuckers, Undersaddle Piezo and the impracticality of a Microphone.