Originally Posted by FrankHudson
Sounds like you kind of exploring what you want to do, rather than having a firm conviction of what way you're needing to go. If I'm right, there are several approaches.
With a clean amp and the right kind of playing you can get acoustic like response from many electric guitars. It will not be an acoustic guitar's timbre, but musically it'll work in the same kind of way in a small combo. Yes, big hollow-bodies can improve the illusion, but even a Tele or a Strat can serve.
Piezo pickup options for electric guitars work, and sound a lot like a piezo pickup on acoustic. Which isn't to say they sound like a fine guitar, but they can pass on stage, just a piezo pickups in a acoustic guitars can be good enough. Playing them through an acoustic amp helps.
The reverse of this was a valid choice back in the early days: put a magnetic pickup in a flat top acoustic. The Beatles style Epiphone J160e with the P90 under the soundboard with the pole pieces sticking through (inexpensive modern copies exist) or the once common DeArmond clip in the soundhole pickup used by Elmore James and Gabor Szabo. I wouldn't want to play a metal showcase with one, but for roots style rock they can work. A modern soundhole magnetic pickup might work OK too. And one could probably rig up a way to mount your choice of electric guitar pickup in a soundhole clamp rig.
Probably the "best" way to do this is a modeling or sample based method, like a MIDI pickup or the Line 6 system. The acoustic sounds on the current Line 6 Variax vary. Some of them are pretty decent and if one runs them through the right chain (like one would do for a real acoustic) they can be convincing. The Variax system is simple to use, everything is built into the guitar. As electric guitars the one's I've owned are like most other midlevel imports these days, meaning good playability. I'm not a huge fan of the magnetic pickups they have for conventional playing, they're not to my taste, but they work even with a discharged battery and of course sound "just like an electric guitar" because this is an electric guitar, just one with a lot of additional options built in.
The Roland G55 MIDI system has some very good acoustic instrument patches that I've made good use of I haven't used the software-based acoustic patches that are supplied with the Fishman TriplePlay, but in a very brief look at them I didn't care for them and you'd need at least a tablet/phone if not a laptop to make use of them live. The G55 does have a learning curve, but IMHO it's a better stage solution than the TriplePlay. I use the G55 to supply some exotic instruments, sitar, pipa, and so on.
Another advantage of the Variax or Roland system is that custom tunings are easy, which is a big stage advantage. With the Line 6 Variax you have only a battery to worry about, and with the Roland G55 you have a floorboard unit--but both are stage-ready.
Some audiences listen with their eyes too, and a MIDI system will cause a big disconnect for some audiences. The Variax looks a little a "regular guitar," so it doesn't cause alarm.
I'd suggest auditioning one of those systems with your typical acoustic chain to see if you'd he happy with the Variax or the G55.
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