Pickups For Acoustic Guitar

Pickup technology for acoustic guitar has come along way in the past twenty years. Previously a performer just stuck a mic in front of his guitar and hoped for the best. Now you can take a recording of your actual guitar, load that into a digital effects system, and create an amplified tone based on that acoustic recording. And that is just one of the many options.
 
The main problem with amplifying acoustic guitar is how do we reproduce the tone created by resonance inside the guitar body and the sound coming out of the soundhole. You could stick a little mic inside the guitar, and that would sound great for a small venue, and quiet, intimate playing. But turn up the volume and start to play harder, and that small mic is going to prone to massive amounts of feedback. How you plan to amplify your acoustic guitar is going to be based on your playing style, and what kind of shows you plan on playing. Lets look at some of the options.
 
Probably one of the widely used methods is the piezo pickup. It is usually a thin strip of tape that turns the vibrations of the guitar’s into an electric signal. Some models are mounted under the bridge, while more temporary systems can be attached to the outside of the guitar top with an adhesive. These pickups have the advantage of being highly feedback resistant, so they usually function well at higher volumes. The disadvantage is that they can sound artificial without some EQ. Musicians describe them as having a “quack” type of sound. So if you have a pickup like this it may take some manipulation with an equalizer before you an ideal amplified sound. Some setups use multiple piezo pickups mounted at various places on the underside of the top. These are then blended together into one signal to give an ideal representation of the guitar’s sound. The Fishman Matrix, K & K Pure Western, and McIntyre Feather are examples of piezo pickups. Some piezo pickups may require an additional preamp to boost the signal before going to a guitar amp or mixer, so keep that in mind when shopping around.
 
Soundhole pickups are another popular choice. They mount in the guitar’s sound hole, though they are easy to take out. They are resistant to feedback, and sound good at high volumes. Like piezos, the problem is that on their own they often sound overly artificial on their own. Soundhole pickups take the vibrations of the guitar’s strings and turn it into an electronic signal, so there is no real information coming from the wood and the guitar body. If you think about it, that is what makes an acoustic guitar different from an electric. Because of that soundhole pickups are often combined with a small internal mic to form a blended system, which is what we will look at next. Examples of soundhole pickups include the Fishman Rare Earth and the LR Baggs M1.
 
Blended systems combine two or more types of pick ups to form an amplified sound. Common choices are combining a piezo soundboard transducer or a magnetic soundhole pickup with a small internal mic. Such a mic is mounted on a gooseneck and sits right inside the soundhole, where it can be positioned for ideal tone. In a system like this the piezo or magnetic up provide much of the amplified signal, and then the microphone signal is blended in to add some natural air to the tone. Systems like this can often sound great, and are good compromise between a natural acoustic sound and something that will hold up under aggressive playing and volume.
 
Digital modeling is the latest advancement in pickup technology. With digital modeling an actual recording of your guitar is loaded into a small unit that sits outside the guitar, usually by the performer’s feet. Using some sort of algorithm that sound is blended with the signal from the guitar’s pickup to form an accurate representation of your acoustic sound. While I have never tried one of these systems in person I have heard amazing things about them. Manufacturers will let you send in a recording of your own guitar to be loaded into the unit. In addition there are commercially available recordings of many popular guitar models. It is pretty cool technology.
 
I think any of the options above can sound good, though some may require a bit more EQ than others to get the desired amplified sound. Though some people don’t like a piezo by itself i had one in my first guitar and it sounded fine for my light fingerpicking style. People who do a bit more hard strumming may like a soundhole pickup or one of the blended systems better. I think its good to go out and find a knowledgeable acoustic guitar store that stocks instruments with a variety of pickups and try them all through an amp. Short of installing every pickup in your own instrument it can be hard to know for sure, so you may have to make your decision based on guitars you can try, and reviews from other folks.
 

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