Acoustic Pickups

I currently play a solid top acoustic made in Korea by Cort ... which doesn't sound promising, but I'm pretty happy with it. Unplugged, it's very nice with fresh strings.



It's equipped with a Fishman 4 pickup, and I can't stand the sound! The plectrum sound is strongly amplified, but it just doesn't have that 'fill-the-room' acoustic sound.

Any recommendations on replacement acoustic pickups?

Depends how loud you want to go. It sounds like you have an under bridge style pickup (which are the worst, in my opinion). The BEST sound is a condenser microphone (or two) outside the guitar.... but that's not always practical, and is more for recording. I have a Fishman system "Rare Earth" blending system on one guitar that mixes a "pickup" in the soundhole with a condenser mic inside of the guitar and control the blend of mic-to-pickup ratio....the closer to all mic, the better it sounds, but the more susceptible it is to feedback. At moderately loud gigs (with a band) I have to use it almost exclusively as a pickup.... and the sound is not as good and versatile as my Line6 Acoustic Variax..... but at cafe style gigs (or with light drums), the real guitar sound blended with the pickup is loud enough and sounds more authentic than my Line6 rig (as far as pushing air and hearing the "wood" of the instrument).

I also have an L.R. Baggs M1 passive pickup on another beater guitar, and it sounds ok. Maybe a little better than than Fishman in pure pickup mode.

Lastly, I recently picked up a Taylor 210e with their EST electronics, and I think this is probably the best sounding system outside of a pair of external condensers that I've used. It still cannot get as loud as my Line6 Variax, but its loud enough for semi-acoustic gigs (which are the majority of the ones I do)....added bonus is that the guitar plays fantastically.

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So that fishman rare earth thing clips in across the sound hole?

Yes. Its fairly easy to remove and put on another guitar. You can semi-permanently wire it through the tailpiece/strap piece by drilling a small hole. Mine requires a couple of watch batteries (that I haven't changed in years)

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I have a vintage soundhole pup that is spring latch loaded I can take a pic tomorrow and emil it to ya ,looks like a humbucker .does require routing wiring to the end jack plug but of the guitar strap button .Greg

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