Hey guys. I've got a few new projects (really little ones) that I'm ramping up and I would like some input. here goes.
1) This one's simple. I have a Dean Markley Artist Transducer. i really like it, but here's the issue. I want to put it on my Martin, but I don't want to permanently mount it on the inside. I want to put it on the outside when it's needed and take it off when it's not. The putty that came with the pickup sucked...I got no sound out of it. Of course, I've got a little stuck on the bottom of the pickup still, but if i hold it on the guitar top with my finger and play some notes, it sounds really good. It's perfect for that guitar I think. Anyway, what can I do to mount the pickup on the top and get good contact, and still be removable? Is putty really teh way to go? maybe I put too much. who knows.
2) I want to build a removable soundhole pickup using an electric guitar pickup. I'm going to mount a single-coil Ibanez pickup I've had laying around in a rubber soundhole plug. I'm playing around with ways of attaching a jack and pots too, somehow, externally probably, so it can be completely removable. I'm just opening this one up for input if anyone has any. This one's gonna be fun.
Basically, I'm trying to put together a variety of removable pickup options for my Martin. I don't want to install a thing in it. I also don't want to buy any new pickups, as the pickups I'm working with here were jsut lying around in a box. I had a soundhole pickup hardwired into my Seagull and I find it annoying when I'm not playing amplified, so this is my answer to this issue. Plus, the seagull needs a neck reset and I haven't played it in a while. Sad. But that's not the point.
Mounting a pickup in a soundhole plug is a cool idea.
Another option might be to mount it in a small block of wood (stained and polished to match your guitar), with a couple of padded slots to grab the edges of your soundhole, like the Seymour Duncan Woody does.
For controls (maybe a pre-amp) and the jack, maybe a small box clipped onto your strap or belt, like this LR Baggs model?
I wrapped a newspaper ’round my head
So I looked like I was deep
Have you thought about the pickup being for an electric? They are designed to work with steel strings and traditionally acoustic strings are bronze wound. It will make sound as I know people do this, some actually on purpose for the different sound it produces. Just a thought. I like the idea of a strap mounted preamp by the way.
"Work hard, rock hard, eat hard, sleep hard,
grow big, wear glasses if you need 'em."
-- The Webb Wilder Credo --
I like the sound of nickel electric strings on an acoustic, anyway. That's certainly what I'd use with a magnetic pickup.
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
I like this pick up. It takes all the work out of it and is very removable.
You can ride a Yamaha, or play a Yamaha, it is up to you.
I picked up (oops, that's punny) a similar unit on an MF Stupid Deal of the Day a while back. Need to mount it in a guitar and try it out.
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
I forgot to mention, it has volume and tone controls built right in.
You can ride a Yamaha, or play a Yamaha, it is up to you.
Ah, an active one. Mine's a passive single coil. I need to put it in my old Washburn acoustic, plug in, crank the amp and play Elmore James' Dust My Broom. That's pretty much what Elmore's rig was.
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
well I really don't want to buy a new pickup and more importantly I want to have the project of building my own. I have some random pots and wires and jacks laying around too so it'd just cost me the 8 bucks for the plug, you know? I do want to have that different sound of a bronze string with an electric pickup too. tonal palatte and all.
what I want to do is make some sort of thing that is attached to the plug that you can plug into, like a little cylinder. I actually had an idea of hard mounting a slide (would a steel slide interfere with signal or anything??) with a jack in the end to plug into so the jack and controls would sit on the front almost like a strat. naturally there are issues with this (i know my hand will hit it) so of course I'm still in design phase hahaha.
does anyone have any input on my issue with external mounting my transducer? If I have to use putty, what kind do I use?
I've never tried using a stick-on pickup, but maybe something like this, or the one halfway down this page.
I expect if it'll come off a violin without making a mess, your guitar should be fine.
I wrapped a newspaper ’round my head
So I looked like I was deep
Silly Putty, perhaps?
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
I have used the poster putty from office supply stores. It doesn't leave a mark and doesn't get hard. You can buy the pick up putty from stew-mac. 2 sided foam tape works okay but muffles the sound. I have experimented with all of this and find that super glue under the bridge is one of the best for transducers but causes alot of feedback
You can ride a Yamaha, or play a Yamaha, it is up to you.
