Which Pickup is Right For Me?
We have all witnessed the same unfortunate scenario many times: an acoustic stringed instrument battling to keep up volume-wise with louder, more powerful instruments such as drum kits, horn sections, and electrified instruments. Microphones used to be the standard for any acoustic instrument. Still, they posed some obvious problems for musicians such as being anchored to one position on the stage and having high feedback levels. The advent of pickups designed specifically for acoustic instruments eliminated these issues and gave the performer a chance to present an acoustic tone to a wider audience. The earliest pickups used to amplify guitars (acoustic or electric) where magnetic transducers. Their tone was quite different from the natural, acoustic character of the instrument. Now we have a wide range of technologies to choose from including piezo elements, contact transducers, and magnetic pickups that have been revoiced and redesigned for acoustic instruments.
Piezo Transducers
The piezo transducer is the most common pickup found. The overall tone of the piezo is bright with a slight boost also in the bass range. Piezos have a high volume before feedback level due to its installation. A piezo pickup mounts inside the bridge, directly underneath the saddle. Due to the pickup’s position, the strings vibration travel directly into the pickup element. For this reason, some people feel that piezo pickups do not accurately reflect the timbre of the whole instrument, rather, just the strings. While this makes sense, the guitar does affect the vibration of the strings, imparting the character of the guitar both to the string and thus the pickup. The other common complaint about piezo pickups is referred to as “quack”. Quack can be described as an unusual attack characteristic that is a somewhat bright compressed tone compared to the natural attack of the instrument. Manufacturers have been altering the tone of pickups to compensate, so quack is not the problem it was when piezos were first introduced to the market. Piezo pickups do require some slight modification to the guitar, as a small whole on the bass side of the bridge slot is drilled to pass the pickup through. Usually a slight adjustment of setup is also required to allow for the additional material now under the saddle. We carry a wide range of piezo pickups from Fishman (which is also the manufacturer of Martin Thinline), B-Band, L.R. Baggs, and Highlander. Fishman pickups have been the industry standard, appearing in many acoustic/electric guitars straight from the factory. B-band pickups have a very natural tone, with reduced quack, and a stronger midrange character. L.R. Baggs pickups have a bright tonality that many fingerstyle players find beneficial to their tone. Highlander pickups are embedded into the bridge wood, so bridge vibrations are also carried into the pickup element.
Contact Transducers
Contact pickups are highly regarded for their woody tone and natural attack characteristics. The tone tends to be more bassy than other options, due to direct contact to the top’s vibrations. In addition, many systems are now utilizing multiple contact points to get a variety of tones from the same guitar. Contact pickups have great dynamic response, accurately picking up both soft and loud passages and translating that sound to the amp or PA. Any instrument can benefit from contact pickups as they do not require positioning within any specific part of the instrument. The downside to contact pickups is feedback level. Because the vibrations of the top are amplified, low frequency feedback regularly appears. This can be easily remedied with a feedback reduction unit, or from equalization at the amplifier. There are many contact pickups available, most cheaper than piezo transducers. B-band (AST), Mcintyre, Barcus Berry (Outsider and Insider), and L.R. Baggs (I-Beam) all produce contact pickups that have had critical acclaim.
Magnetic Pickups
Magnetic pickups have come a far way since its humble beginnings back in the 1920’s. The earliest pickups were no different than those found on archtops, or later solid body electric guitars. Today, manufactures are more aware of the tonal needs of acoustic instruments, producing magnetics that have strong bass response and clear trebles. Magnetic pickups are great alternatives to other technologies due to ease of use, and lack of modifications to the instrument. Like piezo pickups, they have little feedback due to the fact that they produce sound by monitoring fluctuations in the magnetic field the pickup emits. Magnetic pickups can have a more “electric” sound than their counter parts if not used properly. One can achieve proper tone by using a dedicated acoustic amplifier or a PA, as opposed to an electric guitar amp which has more mids and less treble and bass than an acoustic amp. Magnetic pickups can also suffer from RF interference which produces the nasty hums and buzzes that electric players regularly have to deal with. A good signal path and proper electrical wiring can alleviate these problems. Dean Markley and Fishman produce two of the most widely used acoustic magnetic pickups available. The Dean Markley Pro-Mag is a low cost amplifying solution, while the Fishman Rare Earth is designed to accommodate the different string materials used for guitar strings (bronze versus steel), balancing treble and bass string response.
Combination Systems
While all of these pickups can produce great tone, they each have their short comings mentioned early. In the search for great amplified acoustic tone, many manufactures have turned towards combining these systems within the same guitar. By utilizing a piezo with a microphone, as with the L.R. Baggs Dual Source system and the Fishman Blender system, one can have the louder volume afforded to piezo pickups with the more natural tone and attack of a microphone. Fishman also offers their Rare Earth magnetic pickup with an attached gooseneck microphone for similar effect. Godin guitars have taken to using the L.R. Baggs piezo transducer and the I-Beam contact pickup within the same guitar, again providing high volumes with natural attack and tone. B-Band now offers all of their technologies separately, so one could combine Their soundboard transducer with a microphone or piezo. Virtually any combination is possible. The signal is outputted to either a stereo jack, with each kind of pickup on a different channel, or is adjustably blended before the output jack.
Sound for the Masses
As one can see, there is a multitude of options for amplifying your acoustic guitar, banjo, mandolin, or sitar. Once you have a pickup system installed, or temporarily mounted, you will be prepared to play with even the loudest of drummers, horn sections, or even pipe organs. Soon, we will describe the various ways one can process the signal via preamps and acoustic amplification to achieve the ideal tone.
