Here's my latest update: Paul sent another saddle. I took the guitar apart and hooked up the new saddle to the original preamp. Still no signal from the "A" string when the Mic is turned off. When I boost the Mic, I get an "A" signal, but it's weaker because the wheel mixes the Mic with the piezos and there's no piezo for that string. Paul says he'll send me a new preamp. That'll mean going inside and doing the whole install all over yet again.
At the same time I ran my other J50 with a Goaa, and my Nick Lucas with a Skysonic pickup, and my GS-min with a Powertap Earth pickup through their paces and thru my NUX Optima Air. The NUX allows me to use a headphones out to listen to the pickups and the FX without an amp and room effects. All of the pickups benefit from some IR programming. Some unexpected but terrific results turn up. By that I mean things like Program 15.T-314 E-MAG works best for the Goaa, and pretty well for the Skysonic Mag too. The Skysonic Mag and the Powertap Earth both work best with 11.T-814-PIEZO or 6.J15 PIEZO. Whodda thunk it?
The final results are excellent though. I think teh J50 with Goaa and NUX is the best. But the NL with the Skysonic and the NUX are just about as good. The GS-Mini with PTE and NUX is quite acceptable, but a little under the other two.
I will follow through with the replacement Goaa preamp (when it comes) in my Eastman guitar. I believe that will be a great sound when the A string is fixed. It already is great, but there are a couple songs I do regularly that I need that string to stand up to the others.
My takeaway from all this, is it's not an install for a regular guy. Even an experienced one. Paul has the ability in his shop to get it right the first time. Other trained installers probably too. But it's 2 or 3 times more complicated than any other install I've seen. And it's very difficult and time consuming to chase down any issues to get it right.
The results are still excellent once it's worked out.
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