The Steel Guitar Forum

Looking for an afordable Acousitc Guitar pickup Vary good to "top of the line" pickup for my priceless 1957 Martin D28. Looking for suggestions and possible purchase.

If you want to pick up the sound of the guitar, I've had good luck with the under the saddle, L.R. Baggs iBeam pickup. I don't go with the active system. I don't like the idea of a 9 volt battery banging around inside the guitar.

Dwight, I use a Martin "Thin Line" under saddle P/U with my acoustic and run it into a Fishman Pre-Amp. It works very well and has a pretty authentic acoustic sound when amplified. I prefer using the PA set as opposed to an amplifier as you can EQ a better "unplugged" sound with it. Also, when I play with the pickup, I use one of those "Feedback Buster" rubber plugs to go into the soundhole and then you can crank 'er up to electric guitar levels.........JH in Va.

Erv and Jerry. Thanks for the information on these to guitar pickups. I am going to look into both of them this weekend.Your response is greatly appreciated.

Dwight,
As far as a "magnetic" pickup goes, it's hard to beat the Sunrise pickup. I have a couple of guitars equipped with both a Sunrise and the Baggs. I lead them over to an amp that accepts a stereo cable and then balance the signals with the controls on the amp. I have done this with a Superior Weissenborn and recently an Adams square neck acoustic guitar.
It is a very pleasing sound.

If you are looking for the most natural sound, I would go with the iBeam. I used to have the Martin Thinlines. Pulled them out of three guitars and replaced with iBeams. The iBeam is also easier to install because it mounts on the bridge plate inside the guitar, instead of having to put it under the saddle and drill a hole through the bridge. If you use the passive, I would highly recommend the L.R. Baggs Para DI. Gives you all the handles you would ever need.

A few questions for you, Dwight....How often will you use the pickup?...What will you plug it into? (little or lo-fi guitar amp, house PA, or whatever)...Will you be using a pre-amp to bring the signal up to electric guitar level?...Do you want a permanent mount with a jack sticking out of the endpin hole?....Do you care if the pickup is visible or invisible to the audience?

The reason I ask is, that I have put pickups in many guitars, but can't bring myself to put on in my vintage D-18. But I have had good luck with Fishman soundhole pickups that mount in the soundhole and deliver a good level of signal that you can use plugged into a guitar amp. Doesn't sound quite as natural as others -- but may suit your mission better.

Gentlemen ,I apologize for not responding to your reply's, because I have been out of town this weekend. After further research, and taking all of your suggestions in consideration, I'm going to try the LR Baggs Active pickup, and also use the LR Baggs Para DI pre-amp. Hopefully this will give me the most natural, authentic, acoustic sound possible. Michael Brebs,Jerry, Erv, and D.Schubert Thanks to ya'all for all your help.

The I-Beam pickup will not fit all Martin dreadnaught guitars, particularly very old ones. I purchased one to install inside my 1950 D-28 and found out that the X brace crosses right next to the bridge plate and there is insufficient room to mount the pickup. At some point, Martin moved the intersection of the X brace further from the bridge plate. The I-Beam will fit those guitars. I did find a web-site that had instructions on how to trim the I-Beam to make it fit the older Dreadnaughts, but I wasn't interested in doing that. I ended up sending it back and getting a McIntyre Feather, which works pretty well.

Lee, from South Texas

Check out a LR Baggs M-1 soundhole pickup. Sound is great and no modifications to guitar necessary.