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Hi Gang,

My trusty Santa Cruz Guitar, which I had built in 1982, has been back with its maker for a few months and is now about ready to rejoin the family. When Richard Hoover saw it a few months back he offered to get it back in tip top shape as it had gotten quite difficult to play in recent years, which is partly why it didn't make many appearances in videos. Turns out it needed major surgery to correct some problems and Richard offered to do it all under warranty. Remember, this is a 37 year old guitar!
They did a neck reset, new bridge and bridge plate (I think), as well as new frets (not part of the warranty coverage of course). They had to take out the piezo under saddle pickup and offered to replace it with something more up to date (even this at no cost but I will reimburse them for that as it was not part of the original estimate). And so this brings me to ask what systems anybody out there might like, recommend, or not recommend. I will let you know that I just went with what they recommended and will talk about this on next week's News but would like to hear stories or opinions on your pickups.

Neil

Neil

Neil, you make Santa Cruz guitars sing.
All that that work was for sure a compliment to a guitar master.

I don't know anything about pickups as I have never plugged one in.
Doug Youngs recording artical is really interesting.
Maybe he will share some pickup wisdom, that would make for another great artilce.

Dermot

I would suggest that you investigate what Tommy Emmanuel uses.

Neil and I talked about this offline while he was trying to decide what to do. I've actually done quite a few articles on pickups, tho it's been a while, and even did a full book on amplification with tons of videos for Acoustic Guitar a few years back: https://store.acousticguitar.com/produc ... essentials

I'm not sure a lot has changed since then, even tho it's been a while. There are new brands, but they tend to be variations on the same. The most exciting development to come along in amplification is the ToneDexter (I had it at camp last year), which dramatically improves any pickup, but there's not been a lot of progress on pickups themselves. It's surprising that the core technologies in guitar pickups hasn't changed all that much since the first pickups were introduced back in the 1930s or so (what Neil ended up with could be considered a descendant of the pickup Lloyd Lore invented for Gibson in the 30s), with the last *major* innovation (some might call it a step backwards ) happening when Ovation introduced the first undersaddle pickup in the 70s.

It's a tough topic because every guitar is different, every player's needs seem to be different, and in general very few people are 100% happy with the amplified sound of their acoustic. So I'm always hesitant to tell someone what to get...

daryl wrote:

I would suggest that you investigate what Tommy Emmanuel uses.

Tommy's pickup does sound good, but it can't be installed in other guitars - you have to buy a Maton. They don't sell the pickup separately, and it's an integral part of the guitar, has to be built into it during construction. Same with Cole Clarks and Takamines, not to mention Taylor's ES line. All require a guitar purchase!

LR Baggs, Anthem system.

100% recommendation from me for an aftermarket pickup. I have several using this system for guitars that didn't come from the factory with a pick up. Plus, this is the system that Lowden uses for their electronics since they don't make their own. (FYI)

Bart

https://www.lrbaggs.com/pickups/anthem- ... icrophone/

dougyoung wrote:

daryl wrote:

I would suggest that you investigate what Tommy Emmanuel uses.

Tommy's pickup does sound good, but it can't be installed in other guitars - you have to buy a Maton. They don't sell the pickup separately, and it's an integral part of the guitar, has to be built into it during construction. Same with Cole Clarks and Takamines, not to mention Taylor's ES line. All require a guitar purchase!

Thanks Doug. I didn't realize Maton electronics were specific to Matons.

Neil, How often do you plug-in your acoustic versus mic'ing the guitar?

Hi Daryl,

Thanks for the message and the truth is I need to amplify the SCGC once a year at our town Christmas Tree Lighting, the first Friday in December and I just lead a few Holiday songs for the crowd. The speakers are tiny tinnie things scattered around the town plaza. This year I also did a Sing-Along for a party across the street just before Christmas. So basically, I can get away with something cheap.
Years ago I did annual concerts at Villa Montalvo and had a stereo pickup put into my travel/performing Claxton which I run through a Fishman Blender to balance the mic and transducer. It is a little more refined than what I need in the Santa Cruz, especially now that I don't perform amplified much at all.

Neil

Neil

Hopefully you are going to do an Acoustic :dry: Snapshot of your refurbished guitar, to show it off !!

Dermot

:cheer:

Doug Young Wrote:

General very few people are 100% happy with the amplified sound of their acoustic.

Got it Doug, thanks.
It's so subjective, I suppose it's like purchasing a guitar, a personal thing.

Dermot