Inbuilt Pickup or retro-fit pickup?

Alot of times after market pickups tend to feed back. Whereas stock pickups are designed for the instrument. I'd say if you like the sound and feel of the Crafter get it. Just make sure you play guitars out of your price range as well for comparison. That'll go a long way toward settling your doubt.

thanks!

I agree with trying a few different ones out if thats possible. One will seem to just say I'm the one take me home. That guitar looks like it would be a good investment. Acoustic's with built in pickups generally have a pre-amp and equalizer built in also. The equalizer will allow you more control of your tone. Good luck on your quest.

Joe

All pickups are not created equal. A top quality pickup will add about $100US to $150US to the price of a guitar. If your looking at a low to mid priced guitar up to say $500US your probably not getting a top quality pickup. It wouldn't make sense to put a $150 pickup in a $200 guitar. I would spend most of my money on the guitar and then have a good active pickup installed in it. Make sure you shop around. I don't know about down under but in the US most stores will come down from the list price on their guitars 20% to 30%.
Yes some brand names command a higher price. That doesn't always translate into better quality.

Generally, I agree with the "guy in the store" and Tim. When buying acoustic, spend the money on the acoustic, not the pickup. On a low to mid level guitar, the built in pickup won't be anything special. They can't be anything special given the cost margins the manufacturers must deal with to build a competitive guitar in that price range. So leave out the cheapo pup,buy more guitar, and later buy a better sounding aftermarket pup for a bit more money. Or buy a cheap aftermarket pickup to get started and upgrade it later.

On a high end guitar, the one thing that will age the fastest is the pickup technology. I would hate to have a several thousand $$ acoustic that had a 10 or 20 year old pup and associated electronics in it. Consider that most high end acoustic pickups from that long ago are not that great by today's standards -- easily bested by some of today's budget pups. Yet there are plently of 10 to 20 (and 50!) y.o. acoustics I would love to own. I would rather keep updating one of these with the most state-of-the-art aftermarket pup every few years to keep taking advantage of technology advancements that continually improve the electrified sound of my great sounding acoustic. Better that than looking at my $1000 or $3000 acoustic with that big square hole cut in the rim that still bears yesteryear's obsolete pup amp and eq.

Of course YMMV, and there are always exceptions ... but not many.

Today I got a Garrison G25E with inbuilt fishman pickup that sounds and feels awesome for about $900 AUS which is about $600US. It was pretty heavily reduced (and im finding them in a few online retailers for about 650 pounds which is closer to 1700AUS). So maybe I didnt compromise on the pickup too much in the end anyway. Im sure neither the guitar or pickup is absolutely top notch, but i love it and i think i did well for the price. My first guitar purchase!

Thanks to everyone who offered advice. Im completely stoked.

..... now I just need an amp. haha.

That looks very nice* and Fishman are a well know name so you can't go far wrong there.

Nice one!

* http://www.guitars.co.uk/acatalog/copy_of_Garrison.html (scroll down a bit)

I would say go with inbuilt for reliability and looks... but check this out, Esteban. You know who I mean haha. He has one of the most amazing guitar sounds ive ever heard live and recorded, and he uses an aftermarket pickup. I mean... His guitar is a work of freaking art, I wouldnt cut any holes for plastic stuff in it either...