Acoustic Guitar Pickup

T

TheRockinDonkey

New member
I bought a Rogue acoustic guitar and would like to get a decent pick-up for it to use in my recording. Preferrably one that can be inserted and removed easily without having to drill holes in the guitar body.

Are any of the sound-hole pickups any good, or would it just be better to mic the guitar?
 
In almost all cases, miking the guitar will give you a more "natural" sound. Pickups just don't capture acoustic guitar all that well. They are ok for live playing, but I would avoid them for recording. What kind of budget do you have and how will you be recording (computer, tape, etc.)? Do you have a microphone and/or a mic preamp?
 
I have several microphones, and I use a Fostex MR-8 to record. I usually run my 12-string electric/acoustic through my Boss compression/sustainer. I did the same with my Ovation, which is, sadly, out of commission at the moment, which is only part of the reason I want to be able to record with the Rogue. I will eventually get the Ovation repaired, but I'll still want to record with the Rogue because I like the guitar. I tried running a mic directly into the MR-8, but it sounded like crap.

What kind of mic pre-amp would be good? I'm sure it would help.

One major problem with mic-ing the guitar is that I have two children in the house, and will be having an infant soon. So I would still appreciate info on pickups.
 
Try to get a nice condenser mic, dont mic it too close though or it'll pick up lots of finger and string noise.

Oops sorry I missed that last line about a full house of children, I have a nice barcus berry pickup on an acoustic and a mandolin that do well live, the mandolin one is called an "Outsider" and connects to the bridge.
 
For recording, mic the guitar.




Unless of course you WANT your recording to sound like a family of ducks (quack quack).




For live there is a whole other set of concerns. If you want to know about pickups for live work, then do a search for my name and acoustic pickups. I'm too tired to do it for you right now.



Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
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