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#1
10-17-2011, 06:13 PM
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what acoustic PU in an archtop ?
Would like to know about acoustic pick-ups in an archtop guitar.
What did you try, and with what results ? I'm not talking about a *magnetic* PU. I'm talking about piezos and such, like saddle PU (although I only know about piezos), to pick-up the *acoustic* sound of the guitar. I'm interested also in the solutions to mix 2 sources on-board (magnetic and piezo), particularly how to put some preamp *inside* the guitar for a piezo source, and mixing them. Lots of solution for flat-top guitars, not so for archtop. Tell me about your experience... 
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#3
10-17-2011, 06:33 PM
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I use a K&K archtop pickup in my Sanzone Carmella along with a Kent Armstrong handmade adjustable floating PAF Gold Standard model (http://www.archtop.com/ac_access.html) that mounts at the end of the fingerboard with the pick guard and I couldn't be happier. I have a blender dial and a volume dial under the floating rosewood pick guard for ease of adjusting the volume & tone without having to always adjust the amp or board for little tweaks.
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We can share the woman, we can share the wine... _____________________ Suggestions 1:1 Slackers 1:51-52 FSM
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#4
10-17-2011, 06:58 PM
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Thanks guys.
Yes I was thinking about the K&K myself, but was wondering about the mixing : the levels are quite different, right ? Do you have a preamp on board, or not ? Mike : what is that blender dial ? I have an Eastman with a mag PU (that I will probably upgrade rapidly...), and want to find a realistic solution to add an acoustic sound, with no outboard mixing. A guitar, a cable, an amp, that's it.
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#5
10-18-2011, 06:53 AM
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Your best bet is to just contact Chuck Sanzone direct... he built the guitar and he has done all the electronics installations on it. We have changed a few things around with the magnetic pickups and blender circuitry over the past few years, so Chuck would be the best person to talk to about everything. His website is http://www.sanzoneguitarandmandolin.com/ and he can give you all the deets on what stuff is and where you can get it. The archtop with the one piece maple back on his site is my Carmella... she has a 15 1/2" lower bout, a soundport with a removable magnetic door and she's a fan fret. I recently changed the magnetic pickup on it from the chrome one in the picture to the Armstrong... best move I could have made IMO. There is no battery powered pre-amp on the guitar... no need for one really on this instrument... one less thing to worry about.
__________________
We can share the woman, we can share the wine... _____________________ Suggestions 1:1 Slackers 1:51-52 FSM
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#6
10-18-2011, 07:25 AM
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Quote:
I own a 1927 Gibson L-5 and for many years I used a split system on it. It consisted of a Fishman-Crown GLM-200 mic and a Fishman SBT-E transducer. Both were wired to a stereo (t-r-s) jack. The mic and jack were fastened to the underside of the pickguard and the mic hung in front of the lower F hole. The sound board transducer was fastened to the top of the guitar in back of the bridge. The stereo cable was run into a Fishman Pocket Blender pre-amp that had phantom power for the mic (15v), separate volume, treble and bass controls for mic & transducer. It also had low and hi z outputs for any kind of PA input. It's much less of a problem to have the electronics outside the instrument for many reasons, obviously. The Pocket Blender mounted on the vocal mic stand for easy access. It worked very, very well and actually sounded like an acoustic guitar. Nowadays, however, I just play straight into microphones. HE
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#7
10-18-2011, 10:09 AM
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I use a "Pick Up the World" PU with an LR Baggs Para Acoustic on my '46 Epi Blackstone. It captures the acoustic sound quite well. It's greatest advantage is that installation is completely non-invasive and reversible.
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#8
10-24-2011, 03:42 PM
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Just dropped off one of my archtops at Gryphon to have a K&K Pure Archtop PU installed. I'll keep y'all posted.
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#9
04-30-2012, 12:02 PM
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I recently got a K&K Pure Archtop pickup cheap on eBay. I wanted something that was invisible on my acoustic archtops, let me plug in for practice, and still be able to use bronze strings. The installation was very easy (K&K has great directions and their hints about using a plastic bag over your hand w/ double sided tape is something i wouldn't have thought of on my own).
The direct sound is a little tubby, and lacks some bite, but i feel like it is a nearly accurate sound of this particular archtop (new oval-hole cutaway 17" archtop) since it is a little dark and the Alchemy strings contribute to that. Below is a quick clip. 1st half: the direct signal recorded into an iPad w/ an Apogee Jam, 2nd half: same signal but with a little EQ and reverb in Logic. http://soundcloud.com/spiesteleviv/e...archop/s-g3nrH I like that there isn't a piezo quack and if i were playing live and wanted to use my archtop i would be completely satisfied with this sound provided it didn't need to be very loud since feedback would be a problem. The pickup makes the whole guitar "live": you can hear your hands on the neck and your arms brushing across the body which contributes to a realistic sound. Last edited by Polishbroadcast; 04-30-2012 at 12:29 PM.
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