Alvarez System 600T Mk II microphone options

[Ralph124C41]

There is an earlier post on this but I thought I'd ask again.

Yesterday I got a 2004 Alvarez PD80SC in what looks to be excellent condition ... albeit with dead strings. I think I will put on some 12-gauge Ernie Ball Aluminum Bronze strings (yes? no?). I know the stock model had plastic-like nut and saddle so I may replace them with some bone units.

Anyway I'm looking for a condenser microphone to use with the onboard 600T Mark II pickup. The earlier post suggested a Guitar Fetish unit. I have had good and not-so-good results from GFS so I wonder if you folks can recommend something else.

I understand this version has a 3.5 mm plug while the earlier version took a 2.5 mm plug.

Btw, I'm not looking for the typical soundhole pickup with the pickup spanning the soundhole but for the smaller interior microphone unit.

[Ralph124C41]

Hi, I'm back again.

I took the Alvarez to my luthier buddy who looked it over and said it was in amazing condition for a 20-year-old guitar. He even said there were no scratches on the pickguard so he thought it was a guitar that had been purchased, played briefly and then stored somewhere.

Still my jury is out on keeping it because I bought this guitar earmarked for some local open mics. And the stock piezo pickup just sounds ... not very good. However the system does have, as I said, that auxiliary input so I could use another microphone such as the long-discontinued Alvarez ACM50 microphone.

So again I'm wondering if anybody has used that GFS unit I mentioned or know of some other option. I've seen several cheap microphones with 3.5 mm plug listed on eBay and most are from China and I don't want to wait that long as my return window may close on this guitar.

If I can't improve the amplified sound I will have to return the guitar, which is why I'm asking for your assistance.

Btw, I sent an email to the folks at JJB Electronics (who make the Prestige 330 pickup system with the three transducers you attach to the underside of the saddle, and they said they can make a system with a 3.5 mm plug. So I'm wondering if that or a similar system so adapted would serve me better than having a microphone.