Soundhole pickup advise.

[vlado]

I kind of have my heart set on m80, but I want to install it on a parlour guitar and the soundhole might be a bit too small. My luthier says he likes the idea, he's been working on my guitar and knows what I want, and is familiar with the pickup as well and says it will blend all together very well, but he still thinks he'll have to reshape the soundhole a bit. If there's any concern out here on the forum, if anyone has any bad experience with such an operation and wants to convince me to reconsider "speak now or hold your peace forever!"

[Brent Nelson]

No way I would carve in to a soundhole to accommodate a pickup. YMMV

Originally Posted by vlado

I kind of have my heart set on m80, but I want to install it on a parlour guitar and the soundhole might be a bit too small. My luthier says he likes the idea, he's been working on my guitar and knows what I want, and is familiar with the pickup as well and says it will blend all together very well, but he still thinks he'll have to reshape the soundhole a bit. If there's any concern out here on the forum, if anyone has any bad experience with such an operation and wants to convince me to reconsider "speak now or hold your peace forever!"

[Mojotone]

Originally Posted by vlado

I kind of have my heart set on m80, but I want to install it on a parlour guitar and the soundhole might be a bit too small. My luthier says he likes the idea, he's been working on my guitar and knows what I want, and is familiar with the pickup as well and says it will blend all together very well, but he still thinks he'll have to reshape the soundhole a bit. If there's any concern out here on the forum, if anyone has any bad experience with such an operation and wants to convince me to reconsider "speak now or hold your peace forever!"

Yikes! Don't do it!

[Degenerates]

Following with interest. Got a D28 a month ago and whilst still paying it off on finance I don't want to modify it til I pay it off in full, which I will get an LR Baggs Anthem installed.

In the meantime I want something that can go on there with little fuss, something like the LR Baggs M80 or even the iRig acoustic stage. I dislike the piezo electric guitar string clacky sounding pickups.

I initially looked at the M1 active which is pretty decent but I don't know how it'll sound in my guitar. The M80 seems a bit better from what I've seen.

[penrithrdstudio]

I use a Shadow SH141 in my main guitar. Great value pickup, decent acoustic sound that somewhat reflects the characteristics of the guitar. I prefer the sound to the Fishman Isys undersaddle system in my backup guitar, which sounds a bit thin especially when fingerpicking.

[DBW]

I had the K&K Pure Mini put into my Larrivee and my 000-15SM. I run it through a K&K Pre-amp and a Vox acoustic amp. I really like it. You can control the volume and tone with the pre-amp as well as the amp. I had these installed after reading that Molly Tuttle uses the K&K pickup. She runs hers through a Tone Dexter pre-amp. No drilling of soundholes involved. The Larrivee already had the end-pin hole drilled to the proper width so that saved me $25 off the installation. They had to bore out the end-pin hole on the Martin (had to widen the existing hole).

[bobbyg67]

i got one of these and its good. mojotone NC-1 Soundhole Pickup. i don't believe you'll be disappointed.
don't think enough people have tried one to give it a fair shot compared to other soundhole pickups.

was looking for something for my hd28v without making an intrusive commitment. liked it good enough
to drill out endpin and install permanently. if i find something i think is better later, easy changeout.

[rschultz]

One of my guitars had a smaller soundhole, M1a/m80 fit, but required I take the tabs off and reach inside to install them underneath. A real pain to change the battery. I eventually went with a Fishman Rare Earth, fit no problem, and it’s less noticeable too.

[douglasfan1]

Originally Posted by taggmike

Anybody have knowledge or personal experiences with soundhole pickups? I notice some that are very inexpensive, but are they any good? Thanks.

I have Seymour Duncan mag mic and Sunrise pickup. I like to tone of Sunrise pickup more, it is passive (no need battery) but it's a bit heavier.

Seymour Duncan is an active pickup (require battery) which contains a mic which will provide a tone with more air / realistic sound but not big difference.

[Jinder]

Originally Posted by vlado

I kind of have my heart set on m80, but I want to install it on a parlour guitar and the soundhole might be a bit too small. My luthier says he likes the idea, he's been working on my guitar and knows what I want, and is familiar with the pickup as well and says it will blend all together very well, but he still thinks he'll have to reshape the soundhole a bit. If there's any concern out here on the forum, if anyone has any bad experience with such an operation and wants to convince me to reconsider "speak now or hold your peace forever!"

Don’t do that, please!!! Unless it’s a beater that you don’t care about, please don’t chop it to fit a pickup. Find a pickup that fits better first. As a luthier friend of mine said when I asked him to modify something for me, “don’t be stupid, I’m not going to do that as you’ll only ask me to undo it in a year’s time. You can sand something off, but you can’t sand it back on again!”

[Jinder]

Originally Posted by douglasfan1

I have Seymour Duncan mag mic and Sunrise pickup. I like to tone of Sunrise pickup more, it is passive (no need battery) but it's a bit heavier.

Seymour Duncan is an active pickup (require battery) which contains a mic which will provide a tone with more air / realistic sound but not big difference.

I use the above also. Sunrises mainly, but I have a MagMic in my Dove. Both excellent pickups, absolutely world class. Sunrise is the best pickup I have ever used.