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  #16  
Old 01-01-2018, 09:12 AM
SpruceTop SpruceTop is offline
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Originally Posted by Wild Bill Jones View Post
I can’t speak to whether the tape would work as well as glue but having installed a few K&K’s and Amulet’s I think getting the proper clamping presume on the K&K transducers needs to be considered. Trance recommends clamping each of their transducers for 12 hours each. I used a clamp from Stew Mac
(recommended by another forum member by the way) and know of no better way to do this. The turnbuckle clamps Trance provides are clumsy and difficult to work with.
+1 Stewart-MacDonald lightweight, deep-throat C-clamps! The Stew-Mac clamps can be used for coarse, selective-area clamping to try to maximize the "lens" effect of the Amulet transducers. When installing, the clamp could positioned over most of the Amulet, except, obviously the lead-wire portion, to apply equal clamping pressure over the Amulet (this is what I've done) or it could be moved a bit toward the non-lead-wire end to apply maximum clamping pressure over half of the Amulet. Yes, the Trance-supplied turnbuckle clamp is awkward to the point that I tried using it once and before I even got it inside the soundhole, I said to myself, "Nnnno!"

The round clamping face of the Stew-Mac C-clamp could be turned-down to provide a much smaller diameter footprint for better selective-area clamping of the Amulet but I wonder how well the vibrations of a single plucked string would transfer to the Amulet with the clamp in place? I wonder if Trance Audio could modify the construction of the Amulet to be more larger-area sensitive to eliminate or reduce the need for selective-area clamping so installation would be more forgiving with more consistent good results?

Below is the method I've used to install a Trance Amulet M-VT system in a Martin HD-28. The method induces equal-pressure clamping on entire Amulet, which isn't Trance's recommended selective-area installation procedure. Removal of nylon caul on clamp face would reduce the footprint of clamping face to help facilitate some selective-area clamping of Amulet. Turning-down the swivel clamp-face on a lathe with a collet chuck would further reduce the diameter of the clamp face and enable better selective-area clamping of Amulet:





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Last edited by SpruceTop; 01-01-2018 at 10:32 AM.
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  #17  
Old 01-01-2018, 10:12 AM
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ljguitar ljguitar is offline
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Originally Posted by Petty1818 View Post
I wrote this in another thread and never got a reply so I thought I would start a new one and try again. I realize that the K&K pure mini uses super glue for the installation and that this is strongly recommended. However, the red tape supplied by Trance Audio for the Amulet seems to be very, very thin. I wonder how the K&K would sound with the red tape used?
Hi P1818

Of course the 'correct' answer is you will not know till you try it, and then unless you glue it afterwards, you will not know how it compares/contrasts to tape.

On a similar note, I've heard 3 or 4 guitars with the K&K taped in that sounded like crap, and once the tape was removed and pickups were installed with superglue sounded as expected. I've not heard a K&K taped in that didn't sound thin and gnarly. They were all glued with K&K supplied tape…

Who is to say why people choose their reluctance to glue the pickups in, especially given the terrible tone of K&Ks when they are taped in compared to glue.

K&K Pure Mini pickups are long lasting, non invasive as far as weight and responsiveness are concerned, and can be left in place (or removed) even if another pickup is desired/preferred.

While having the first one installed, I asked my luthier if he'd have issues removing one, and he assured me with a razor blade and 2 minutes time, he could restore the guitar back to 'normal'. I trusted him, and I'm glad I did.

I've heard two discussions that the superglue penetrates the surface of the pick plate (and wouldn't we want it to for proper adhesion), but I'd think an experienced tech or luthier could deal with that.

I don't know if K&K Pure mini last forever once glued in, but mine have been in my guitars since 2005, and continue to function properly, and sound very guitar-like.



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