Those Big Cutouts for Pickup Controls

[Paultergeist]

Originally Posted by Brent Hahn

The pre-eq had crapped out so he replaced the whole thing with a magnetic Baggs and threw away the old module. It left a huge rectangular and surprisingly jaggedy hole.

A sad sight that will become more and more common, I'm sure.

I am with the OP 100%. I can say from experience that it is pretty darn difficult to purchase a production-built acoustic guitar with a cutaway that does not already have a big old cut-out in the side bout for the barn-door electronics panel. I don't fully understand why, but it must be what the market is dictating. For my own tastes, however, I have played numerous cutaway acoustics which I really liked, but I vastly prefer to select my own pickup system. (In my opinion, most OEM manufacturers tend to go rather cheap on the pickup systems).

I have also had the very experience the OP describes: I had a cutaway acoustic where the factory-installed B-Band (on-board pre-amp) system died, and a replacement was not available since it had been a *special* production of that B-Band system made for Yamaha.....but Yamaha had stopped making that guitar and offered no replacement pre-amp. In the end, I was left with the choices of a dead panel, and ugly hole, or make an even bigger hole for a different electronic panel. I would have preferred just to have bought the guitar (I would have paid the same), and made my own pick-up decisions. There are good pick-up options which don't require anything more than an end-pin instrument jack (Barbera and K&K to name just two), and I for one would vastly prefer not to have the electronic panel hole cut out of the guitar.....but I don't think my tastes are driving the market much......

[Chriscom]

Some of you may be familiar with Zager guitars--I have two. I wanted to update the barn-door pickup system on one of them, and ran into this problem. Corresponded a bit with Denny Zager Jr. and it turns out they asked Fishman (IIRC) but it would have been too much of a basically custom job for very low production numbers.

[Tony Done]

Here's my fix:



A sound port hiding the passive controls for a magnetic pickup. I might make a fancier version some time.

[Eric_M]

Originally Posted by Brent Hahn

If your goal is to shut me up on this topic, you've succeeded.

Originally Posted by MrErikJ

Wait, so are we mad at this guy?

I apologize, guys. Just expressing my opinion. i think anyone who's anti "barn door" will find that the majority of the AGF is in their corner. My stance is that purpose-built acoustic-electrics were never meant to be anything but. Cutting up a guitar to install a nonfactory preamp is another matter, but to me, if a guitar came from the factory with a side-mount preamp, the eventual obsolesence of its electronics doesn't change the fact that it was designed/built to be an acoustic-electric.

And certainly, the trend seems to be in favor of minimally invasive electronics, probably in recognition of the sentiments expressed by many here.

I will say that some posters on the forum see no redeeming quality to side-mount preamps. I maintain that they have a place. To me, someone who takes extensive steps to de-electrify an acoustic-electric might not have the proper instrument for their needs.

[DupleMeter]

When I first saw those "barn door" Fishman controls in the '90s my thought was "what happens when you replace the pickup with a better one".

I avoided buying guitars with onboard controls. Taylor started using those in '96 and my 2 '96 Taylors, my '97 & my '98 were all bought sans-electronics so I could avoid that & I just added a pickup myself.

It doesn't bother some people. It bothers me.

I suppose you could fit in a matching piece of tonewood and refinish to cover the hole. I'm just glad I don't have to deal with that.