#1
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Under saddle pickup removal and results?
Hey all, 3 of my 4 acoustics have under saddle pickups that never get used. I currently only use the guitars for recording and I am thinking of removing them. Logically I have to believe they affect the tone somewhat.
For anyone who has done this please share your results. Also, can just the pickup and wire be removed to be reinstalled later if necessary? Strange enough the only guitar without one is my parlor and happens to be the loudest. |
#2
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The UST can be removed and most of the time without too much trouble.
Having had that done on a few guitars, I can’t honestly say I noticed a tremendous difference in tone or volume. Lots of folks will testify it made a big difference for them. You may have to shim the saddle or have a new one fabricated to account for the change in height and the resulting effect on the action. Obviously, if you think you might wish to reinstall it, keep the old saddle.
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Nothing bothers me unless I let it. Martin D18 Gibson J45 Gibson J15 Fender Copperburst Telecaster Squier CV 50 Stratocaster Squier CV 50 Telecaster |
#3
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A much debated topic on the Acoustic Amplification subforum. My experience would say no improvement to remove a UST, but probably more than half say yes.
The Fishman Matrix is installed from the top and wired to the preamp. It is also fairly fragile and needs to be treated with care. Almost all the rest are coaxial piezos and are installed from inside the guitar. You could just pull it inside and string it through an existing wire tie down to keep it from making any noise. Coax piezos are pretty hard to damage. Pick a guitar and give it a try. You will need to shim the saddle or make up a new one to compensate for the missing UST.
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#4
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Update:
Well, that was easy. I had a spare bone saddle for one of my PRS. The action is a little high at the moment but without a doubt a noticeable different in tone and possibly volume. The biggest difference is on the low end with a deeper richer tone. I'm not sure if this was a factor but this guitar had a cheaper pickup system with a metal under saddle strip. I'm going to do the other 2 which have higher quality Fishman type and will see if I get similar results. |
#5
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I'm not sure about acoustic tone but I know your amplified volume will be much lower.
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2015 Martin D-18 1982 Martin HD-28 2013 Taylor 314ce 2004 Fender Telecaster MIM 2010 Martin DCX1RE 1984 Sigma DM3 Fender Mustang III v2 |
#6
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Lol!! With the pickup system this had you wouldn't want to amplify it.
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#7
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As I wrote about in a previous post, years ago I had a luthier remove a dying UST pickup that had been installed by the previous owner of my Guild D-55. The luthier assured me the guitar would sound a lot better and he may have said it would be louder. So I paid for the removal and for him to make a new bone saddle ... and I heard absolutely no improvement in sound quality or volume.
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#8
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In the last 25 years I've installed hundreds of these things, removed plenty too, and while I will agree that a physicist could show you on paper that there will be a difference in the acoustic dynamics of the bridge system with or without an USP that would affect the tone, I never noticed a difference.
The obvious question is, did you change the strings too? |
#9
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If you are removing the pickup permanently you might want to remove the end pin Jack. This is especially true If the preamp is attached to the Jack. And also the battery clip as well. There are end pins designed to fill the hole left when the Jack is removed. Bob Colosi has them as well as Stewart Macdonald.
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"Vintage taste, reissue budget" |
#10
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I have had one guitar come to life after I removed the pickup.
This was on a Taylor 410 with a pinless bridge. I had played the guitar at jams and other people knew what the guitar sounded like. They all were impressed with how much better the guitar sounded with the pickup removed. There was also another factor that had to have some impact though. I installed a new bone saddle at the same time. The old saddle was what ever Taylor was using in 1991. In another guitar, a new saddle didn't give me the better sound that I was looking for. I later found that there was a shim under the new saddle. WHAT? After removing that saddle and shim and installing another new bone saddle, I did here some improvement but not as drastic as it was with the Taylor.
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Happiness Is A New Set Of Strings L-20A |
#11
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Update #2
I was able to remove the pickup from my Eastman SS Dread and also noticed a tonal improvement. I already loved the sound of this guitar but to my ears it definitely seems a little richer and fuller. To the casual listener they might not notice but as the player I have no doubt. BTW, to answer redir's previous question yes I used the same strings on both guitars. I couldn't remove it from the 3rd guitar because I need a taller saddle. |
#12
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Quote:
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#13
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I would say removing the pickup in my C Fox Clopped dread changed that instrument
considerably for the good -but it had a tad bit more of garbage to hold in the pickup in the first place -those who have less to attach the pickup would probably not notice the difference - my guess is that it was put in by the original owner not a pro-tech or luthier -that may be why some sound better and some don't . Id love to have at least one guitar with some sort of pickup -at present none . but presently I not playing out etc -so at least for now I'm ok with that . funny but another instrument i own had some remnants of a past pickup left behind-which i took my time removing -
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#14
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I had a nice little Martin a few years back with a pickup in and decided to lose it for cleanliness and I don't amplify. There was a shim under the saddle made of thick paper.
What were they thinking? It certainly sounded better after the cleanup. |
#15
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The Fishman sonitone is gone from The Eastman. It wasn't a big job but I need an end pin now. If I need to amplify I will just get a sound hole pup.
I could tell that she smiled when she was freed. |