Removable\temporary Pickups?
 

Any experience with a good pickup for an acoustic that you can temporarily clip on without altering the instrument? Thx

Most, if not all, of the sound hole pickups.

In particular, the DiMarzio Black Angel is a superb soundhole pickup.

AndyC beat me to it but I also want to recommend the DiMarzio Black Angel. It's an excellent pickup and it's easy to install and remove.

Dimarzio Angel is a good choice, tho I prefer the Baggs M80 features/tone for my style. Both are excellent pickups!

I always want to warn people that if your goal is to avoid any "damage" to your instrument, a mag seems attractive but that may be deceptive. If you leave it in for an extended period, you'll probably end up with a "tan line". if you take it in and out frequently, the odds of chipping the side of the sound hole are high unless you are obsessively careful. The least invasive things you can do are:

an external mic - just don't bang into it :-)

Something like the Schertler Dyn-G, basically a contact mic, attaches with putty to the bridge

Something like the iSolo, a mic that attaches staticly. Howard Emerson pointed out another similar one just the other day that I've forgotten.

Otherwise, if your goal is to avoid any visible changes to your guitar, an internal, properly installed pickup can be, ironically, the least risky option. Most people won't care that you have an end-pin jack added, and the rest can be invisible. There are plenty of pickups that simply attach with tape internally that don't mess with your saddle and so on, if that's a concern. Mags are fine, but they don't guarantee you won't do something permanent to your guitar.

Thomann (T-bone) do a mic/guitar clamp arrangement which people tell me is very good. Ive not used it.

I have the Dyn-G which I paid a surprisingly large amount of money for and after some experimentation hasn't left it's fancy box since.

The AKG c411 and c410 (similar principle to the Schertler - cheaper 2nd hand if you can find one) on the other hand, get regular outings on all manner of soundboard instruments, mostly only in emergency but fantastic on finger-picked 6 string. Best sound I ever heard from an Ovation.

I must declare an interest here, I detest the sound of mag pickups on acoustics, you (all) might find them perfectly acceptable, that is your right.

The clamps can also leave dents/scratches on your guitar. All depends on how picky one is. The DPA 4099 sounds very good, but the only difference between it and a mic on the stand is that it moves with the guitar, which can be important depending on the situation.


I also had very little luck with making these sound good, tho I think they can with lots of EQ, and I have heard people sound good with them. Depends on the guitar, the PA/Amp, etc, I suspect. But it's a tradeoff, if someone's #1 priority is zero impact on the guitar, and sound quality, feedback resistance and other considerations are secondary, then this might be a choice.

These have intrigued me for a while. https://www.myerspickups.com/

I have several sound hole pickups (Fishman Neo D, older Dimarzio, Dean Markley pro mag, Duncan Woody, cheap stick on) as I can't help myself when I see them cheap. All do the trick when needed (well, the stick on provides an interesting tone) and running it through a Baggs Para Di helps, but they all leave something to be desired.

If you want cheap and extremely simple to take in and out, you can't beat the Lawrence A-300.

I have one of these for my resonator. Sound is great - but it IS a mic with a low-impedance 1/4" jack, (which confused uneducated me for a while - I have to use my DI to get an XLR out to go into the mic input on my amp). I like that I can clip it on to other guitars for recording, it sounds great. I don't gig much so can't really comment on using it live, although straight into to mixer with a reasonably decent sound person is probably recommended.