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  #1  
Old 11-26-2019, 06:44 AM
Ncbandit Ncbandit is offline
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Default 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.
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  #2  
Old 11-26-2019, 06:55 AM
rokdog49 rokdog49 is offline
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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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Old 11-26-2019, 07:00 AM
jonfields45 jonfields45 is offline
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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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Old 11-26-2019, 09:15 AM
Ncbandit Ncbandit is offline
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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.
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  #5  
Old 11-26-2019, 09:38 AM
ChrisE ChrisE is offline
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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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Old 11-26-2019, 09:51 AM
Ncbandit Ncbandit is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ChrisE View Post
I'm not sure about acoustic tone but I know your amplified volume will be much lower.
Lol!! With the pickup system this had you wouldn't want to amplify it.
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Old 11-26-2019, 11:17 AM
Ralph124C41 Ralph124C41 is offline
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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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Old 11-26-2019, 11:32 AM
redir redir is offline
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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?
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Old 11-26-2019, 11:56 AM
drive-south drive-south is offline
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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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Old 11-26-2019, 11:59 AM
L20A L20A is offline
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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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  #11  
Old 11-26-2019, 12:24 PM
Ncbandit Ncbandit is offline
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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.
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Old 11-26-2019, 12:26 PM
Ncbandit Ncbandit is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by drive-south View Post
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.
Thanks for the information and yes this is definitely on the agenda.
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Old 11-26-2019, 01:13 PM
Tony Burns Tony Burns is offline
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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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Last edited by Tony Burns; 11-26-2019 at 01:22 PM.
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  #14  
Old 11-26-2019, 01:39 PM
why2 why2 is offline
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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.
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  #15  
Old 11-26-2019, 01:58 PM
Ncbandit Ncbandit is offline
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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.
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