Pickup options for an oval hole

guit_box · January 2005

I'd be interested in hearing some discussion about the pros and cons of pickups for Selmer style guitars. I also have some specific questions:

Has anyone tried installing/modifying one of the more inexpensive soundhole pickups (ie not a stimer) on a Selmer style guitar? I was thinking that one of the Fishman pickups might fit in the oval hole if it was either modified or placed at an angle.

Do all piezo pickups give the same harsh, quacky sound or are some better than others?

I have a bridge with a bone saddle (which is unusual for a Selmer guitar) but this gives me the option of using an undersaddle element. Can anyone recommend an undersaddle element that works well?

Is a preamp required for the piezo elements or can I go direct to the PA?

ViejoVato · January 2005

yo quit-box ...
go to the top of this folder and follow the posts to 'that 1941 electric sound' section. I'm trying to put together a cheap Stimer style pickup.

The thing is that going this route, one is looking for that particular amplified sound that Django was getting in the late 40's using a Stimer pickup with a tube amp. The sound of piezo pickups and other current Shertler(sp) pickups is a quest for just the natural sound of the guitar, only amplified. The shertler (albeit a bit expensive) seems to be the pro's choice. Oh .. and michael's Djangobooks.com has 'em) The Stimer is a decidedly different sound.

I have a McIntyre piezo type under-the-saddle- pickup installed on my Gitane but it does not really sound that good. It's Ok but tends to be a bit 'muddy'.

Here's a link for acoustic pickup comparisons:
http://www.dougyoungguitar.com/pickuptest.htm

Follow this link to an MIT site where thay are bastardizing old piezo pieces into acoustic pickups.
http://web.mit.edu/kumpf/www/Acoustics/main.html

good luck
ViejoVato aka milzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

guit_box · January 2005

thanks for the links, I've already read them. I'm looking for more experiences specifically with amplifying Selmer guitars. A Stimer or copy would be fine, if it were quiet and affordable, but I'd be afraid a single coil would hum too much. I mounted an EMG single coil in my D-hole, and it worked okay, but there was no way to adjust the evenness of each string. I noticed that gypsy strings (as opposed to electric strings) tend to amplify very unevenly with a magnetic pickup.

I'm really just looking for a decent, inexpensive solution--it doesn't need to be the highest quality reproduction. My biggest problem is it's difficult to read my sheet music with a mic/stand in the way.

Josh Hegg · January 2005

guit,

look into this: Audio-Technica AT831b
This is what I have been using and I really like it.

Scotsman · January 2005

guit_box wrote:

I'm really just looking for a decent, inexpensive solution--it doesn't need to be the highest quality reproduction. My biggest problem is it's difficult to read my sheet music with a mic/stand in the way.

Radio shack has an inexpensive lavalier mini microphone that works pretty great for the money,its around $20

guit_box · January 2005

Scotsman--can you please describe how you've installed the lav mic? How is the feedback with this mic?

Scotsman · January 2005

guit_box wrote:

Scotsman--can you please describe how you've installed the lav mic? How is the feedback with this mic?

The microphone comes with alligator clip type holder that I modified to clip on the sound hole and that worked pretty good but I also figured out that the mic. itself fit really nice and snug between the string posts on my Gitane DG-250's tailpiece and picked up the sound nicely from the bridge area with less feedback. I ran it through my crate acoustic amp. It did'nt work so good through my Fender tube amp. The feedback was'nt any worse than my buddy's shure fullsize microphone. My friend Rick and I used them for an outdoor gig last summer and they did pretty good.You deffinetly need some kind of acoustic amp with good EQ,we also ran them through a LR Baggs Para DI.
Hope that helps,

Scotsman