Silly Question - Paranoia Alert

[rjbee]

Has anyone ever noticed a change in their acoustic tone (unamplified) after installing a K&K pickup. In other words does the mere presence of the K&K transducers have any effect on the unamplified tone. I plan on having one installed in my Martin HD 28 which sounds incredible now unamplified.

[Vancebo]

I have had K and K's installed as well as Dazzos and Trance which are also attached to the bridge plate. I can tell of no discernible change in my acoustic tone. Go, and do not fret, unless you are playing your guitar of course.

[auggie242]

I have 3 guitars with K&K pickups installed. I have noticed

zero
zilch
zip
nada

changes in tone.

[pieterh]

Same here, installed Pure Minis in 5 guitars, 3 of which we own, and never had any issues with unamplified sound. In fact, the first installation was to deal with the fact that I'd damaged the shielding on a Fishman Matrix UST when changing saddle - I took the opportunity to try out the Pure Mini and haven't looked back since.


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[Mr. Jelly]

Impossible.

[SoCalSurf]

I have a K&K mini in three of my guitars and have had no such experience. Paranoia wins!

[dogdog49]

K&K installation makes no discernible difference to the unamplified sound. Boy would I like to make a large bet with someone who believes it does and that they can consistently hear it in a blind A/B test.

[rjbee]

Thank you gentlemen. I just found THE acoustic guitar for me after years of searching, a 2012 HD 28MP, and the tone is exactly what I wanted. Just didn't want anything to change the mojo I've got now.

[JayBee1404]

None whatsoever. I have K&K Pure Minis in every instrument (apart from the Strat, of course!).

[6L6]

All eight of my acoustics have K&K's installed. Zero change in acoustic tone.

[martingitdave]

K&K Pure Mini makes no discernible difference. I have used pickups that do degrade acoustic tone, but the K&K is not one of them. Note, that it will preclude you from installing other more sensitive pickups in the future (i.e. Trance). So, if this is your lifetime guitar, and you want the best pickup available, think twice before glueing in the K&K.

[JayBee1404]

Originally Posted by martingitdave

K&K Note, that it will preclude you from installing other more sensitive pickups in the future (i.e. Trance). So, if this is your lifetime guitar, and you want the best pickup available, think twice before glueing in the K&K.

Why will it 'preclude you from installing other, more sensitive pickups in the future'? If the contacts are glued in using the superglue supplied with the pickup, they can be removed by popping them off using a razor-blade or a chisel. Not quite as simple as removing a UST, but perfectly possible.

If, as was the case with one of my guitars, the contacts are glued in using a different adhesive, it may be a bit more difficult to remove them. In the case of my guitar, the person who installed the K&K had epoxied the contacts in, and the luthier who removed it (long story!) had a great deal of trouble, and eventually had to use heat to get them off the bridgeplate.

[rjbee]

If it ever happens that I need a better pickup, I'll go mic'd.

[martingitdave]

Originally Posted by JayBee1404

Why will it 'preclude you from installing other, more sensitive pickups in the future'? If the contacts are glued in using the superglue supplied with the pickup, they can be removed by popping them off using a razor-blade or a chisel. Not quite as simple as removing a UST, but perfectly possible.



If, as was the case with one of my guitars, the contacts are glued in using a different adhesive, it may be a bit more difficult to remove them. In the case of my guitar, the person who installed the K&K had epoxied the contacts in, and the luthier who removed it (long story!) had a great deal of trouble, and eventually had to use heat to get them off the bridgeplate.

Good question. Although you can remove the piezo, the super glue soaks into the wood fibers of the bridge plate and makes it unusable for Trance pickups. No sure if that also applies to Dazzo. That may, or may not, be a consideration for some folks.


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[SalFromChatham]

I have a k&k in my HD28, and you would not know it.

Enjoy!