Help! I may be the only owner of an LR Baggs M80 in Africa.

[Timhop]

Hi Everyone.
I have a question regarding a pickup, but I'd like, since I'm new here, to fill you in on how and why I love an old Yamaha from the late 70's.

My name is Tim, and I'm a songwriter/photographer living in a small city in South Africa. Life is awesome here but it's also hard. I'm not a commercial photographer. I do documentary-based 'art' photography and there's not much money in that here. Not much at all. I'm not trying to plug myself or anything: I don't even have a website to plug. I say this because I want to put into context how I came to fall in love with a pretty bog-standard acoustic guitar that cost me a fraction of the price that all the Martins and Taylors that many folk on this site no doubt have.

For years (decades actually) I played crappy guitars. I started with an old Hohner I bought from a guy called Joe. It sounded pretty ok but the action was so hard. It had really been played hard, the frets were worn.

That got stolen (as things do here) and I bought an old Ibanez whose frets were even more worn. That was a nightmare to play. I sold it a year or so later. For about four years I didn't have a guitar at all. There was always something more important to spend the money on. Like food. And booze. But to be honest I didn't think I could sing. And anyway, i really had just used the guitar as a meditation tool when i was younger. I would find two chords that sounded nice together, smoke a joint and play them over and over and try to forget the fact that my country was in a state of civil war and that one day I would be forced to either fight in the army or leave forever and live illegally overseas somewhere.

Then a friend lent me a classical he had lying around, and I got back into it. I learned to sing Famous Blue Raincoat by Leonard Cohen, and I realised that I could do this thing!

I bought an old Epiphone but it really was a piece of junk. I realised this could not go on, because by now I had begun writing, and all my musician friends were very encouraging of this foolish endeavor (even MORE financially foolish than 'art' photography).

So I happened upon the love of my life: an old Yamaha FG410. I took my friend Dave to see it in the shop. He was the best acoustic player in town at the time. And he said "Yeah, this is a beaut. Buy it." It was R1200 with a case. That's about $120. I paid it off over 3 months.

I really cannot describe the joy at having played pieces of rubbish for 15 years and then suddenly playing something like this. Everyone who picked it up said Oooh this is a sweet guitar. The action was so soft compared to what I was used to. I really used to have to press those strings hard on the others. And the body was heavier. I bought another Yamaha about 3 years ago, an F310 and you really can't compare them. The FG feels about half a kilo heavier to start with. And it's resonance is just... well, it's worlds apart.

The FG is pre-1981. I know because inside the body was a slip of paper, and it was a payment slip for some church youth camp the previous owner had been on, dated 1981.

In the intervening years I had become best friends with the guy called Joe who sold me that first Hohner. He's a professional musician now, one of the best guitarists in town, and one of the best bass players in the country. His brother Dave plays lead for I big band in Cape Town and I was at Joe's one night jamming with him when Dave dropped by. He picked up my guitar and played it, not knowing it was mine, and said "Oooh man this is sweet!" That made me feel so good.

But here's the thing. I never had the money to buy a decent pickup for it. I had a succession of awful, cheap pickups. Then I did I cool job about 4 months ago, for the South African Post Office. They're launching a range of stamps on my home-town. So if anyone sends you mail from South Africa this year, they'll have stamps with my photos on them.

More importantly, though, it gave me the money to buy a decent pickup. Fortuitously, at this moment, into my life stepped South Africa's best luthier, Marc Maingard. He became involved with the woman whose land I stay on. He was very impressed by my desire to not cut a big hole in my Yamaha, and suggested the LR Baggs M80, which he helped me acquire. I am probably, he says, the only person in the country to own one. He puts them in his guitars, which he only sells overseas. Steven Stills uses his instruments.

So once again, I have had a similar experience to when I first bought my old Yammie. From sounding awful on stage it now sounds... well, unbelievable. I guess what I'm trying to say is, it doesn't really matter what guitar you own. As long as it's awesome in a relative kinda way, it will do good things for you, possibly even life-changing things.

And here's my question, for anyone who bothered to read this far in my ramble: I am thinking of also putting in something else like the Baggs Lyric, because on some songs where I use a percussive style on the strings, my nails hitting the strings makes a sound that is just way too sharp and jarring. Any ideas about combining? My guitar hero is John Martyn who used three different pickups, so I've always been a bit keen on getting a blended sound.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.
Tim

[Moobox]

Hello Tim

No, you are not the only owner of a M80. I purchased one a while back and have it on my Recording King. And I live in a town (small city) just east of Johannesburg. None of the stores had the M80 when I went looking. But said they could source it. So, I compared price (with shipping) and found I could get it quicker and a bit cheaper imported so I got mine from someone on this forum.

As for Yamahas, I like them. I had two of them but gave them to people I know who needed them.

And I cant help you with your actual question, although I'll be following to see if you get your answer. I was thinking of putting a microphone in this guitar. Except not the Lyric becasue I thouhgt that some of the "functionalty" may overlap with the M80. Anyway, just need to figure how to wire the additional puckup and then I'm sorted.

Cheers - Ed

[dannyg1]

Nice story Tim. Post some pics of the stamps, would you?

I've been toying with a number of pickups over the last year and the M80/Lyric combo is something I'm working on making happen the minute I can find a lyric that's affordable (I'm a street musician and, like you, a photographer too).

I'm thinking that it'll happen within the next three weeks or so. I'll tell you how it works out.

[Timhop]

That's great, Ed. A couple of guys here in PE are now interested so I will suggest they source them online, as Marc doesn't want lots of people hassling him for pickups. He's lank busy. Shot, ek se.

[Timhop]

Originally Posted by dannyg1

Nice story Tim. Post some pics of the stamps, would you?

I've been toying with a number of pickups over the last year and the M80/Lyric combo is something I'm working on making happen the minute I can find a lyric that's affordable (I'm a street musician and, like you, a photographer too).

I'm thinking that it'll happen within the next three weeks or so. I'll tell you how it works out.

Sure thing Danny. They're launching them in the next week or two. Yes, please keep me posted regarding how a lyric combo works out. I don't want to rush into anything.

[guitom]

Doesn't the Lyric's second source have to be passive? So you'd have to keep you M-80 in passive mode?