Pickup question

guitarnowski

Hi there folks, long time no post!

Anyway, I'm thinking of trying a different pickup system on my Gitane DG-255, which currently has a no-name Fishman piezo and preamp installed.

I play mostly in clubs where the crowds get pretty loud, I use a standard issue Fender amp, and I use an additional preamp/DI for fine-tuning my tone (or so I'd like to believe!)

Also, I'm not much of a gear-head OR tech-head.

I was leaning towards the Schatten Dualie or the K&K Pure Macaferri. The whole stick-on thing is new to me, bit if I read correctly, those p/u's tend to get a somewhat more natural tone than the piezos?

Am I wasting my time thinking about switching to either of these? I know a local luthier has started adding K&K into the guitars he builds (non-GJ type models), and has great things to say about them, and I was thinking that might be the best choice. But, if it is, how the he11 do I get my hand in that little hole? I have fairly long, slim hands, I guess, but still, I just don't know.

Opinions or other options?

Thanks for any help!

MichaelHorowitz

Both the Schatten and K&K are peizo pickups. I have a few customers who like those systems, but for the most part we end up replacing a lot of them with bigtones. Most people seem to have feedback issues with both systems. And the Schatten is mounted on an internal brace which has a muting effect on the tone and volume of the guitar.

If you want a piezo, a bigtone pickup is the way to go as they are the most feedback resistant and usually sound the best (if installed correctly.)

If you want to try some other solutions, read this: viewtopic.php?t=3850


thanks,

-Michael

guitarnowski

Thanks for the response Michael. I should have more accurately described my pickup as an "under saddle" p/u.