Rare Earth blend observation

[Vtckf]

I recently bought a Froggy H14 that had a Fishman RE Blend. I wanted to put support magnets for a guitar support (sage work) so I had to take out the REB. I forgot and left it out. I'm glad I did as it really was dampening the top vibration. I mean a lot. It's a totally different guitar...way louder deeper bass more sustain.
I didn't have the REB in there very tight either. Guess I'll find another pickup as I won't consider reinstalling it.

[lppier]

I Guess it’s a common theme across all magnetic pickups - you are putting something that clamps across the sound hole top, there inevitably will be some effect on the acoustic sound.
Seems like the new way to get a good sound would be soundboard transducer (which is pretty lightweight) into something like a tonedexter. Reference Doug’s tonedexter video, so so good. [emoji16]

[MrErikJ]

I haven’t observed this in my guitars that have the REB and I wouldn’t expect it to as it’s a small unit and the soundhole rim isn’t particularly resonant. Of course, all guitars are different but I’m surprised to hear that.

[BlueStarfish]

I have observed a similar effect using a Seymour Duncan MagMic in two different Seagull guitars. The MagMic is very similar to the Fishman Rare Earth Blend. Neither guitar is very expensive, both mid-range (few steps up from S6) but purchased used at the ~$500 mark. In both cases, I was much happier with unplugged acoustic tone after taking the MagMic out. I kind of liked the plugged-in sound on the MagMic but playing unplugged was no fun. I now have an unused MagMic, will have to figure out how to move it on to a better home.

[BluesBelly]

I find the Fishman Rare Earth Blend to perform very well when amplified but it is heavier and with more mass than any of the Fishman NON BLENDED sound hole pickups and would agree that those factors may in fact have a direct bearing on the sound volume and tone of a given instrument which is subjective like all other things musical but in the end what you hear is What matters.
I have had the most luck using the Fishman Rare Earth Humbucking Sound hole pickup (not the Blend unit) feeding into a Fishman Aura Spectrum and then into an amp or board.
I move the pickup between guitars as needed. I Have one nice OM guitar that I can mount the pickup into so it looks permanent with the chord running out of the tail piece and zip tied into a coil inside. It’s a bit more of a PITA to install and take out as the strings have to be unpegged from the bridge but after a few times doing this I have a system that works good and it’s about a 10 minute job. Might be a good excuse to buy a second pickup and leave one mounted.
I will say that the RE Blend is a bit more cumbersome to install because If the mic extension.
Blues

[rschultz]

My opinion, any small perceived difference in sound has less to do with the weight or reduced vibration of the top, and more to do with part of the sound hole being covered.

I have the Rare Earth Humbucker, and have always felt that the Fishmans were smaller/lighter than most other sound hole pickups. So I weighed it just now:

Rare Earth Humbucker: 73g (no cable/jack)
Baggs M1a: 132g - > almost twice as heavy

I have also had the MagMic, Blackstack and Sunrise, I suspect they are all very similar in size and mass to the M1. The Fishman is the exception, being much lighter.

YMMV

[jemartin]

I had similar issues with the Rare Earth Blend pickup. My Taylor Custom GS7 with lighter bracing suffered with the pickup in, so I removed it. (It is a very responsive and loud guitar with Cedar top and Rosewood back and sides.) I haven't tried it in any of my other guitars, but would expect the difference to not be as dramatic as it was with the GS7 with a Cedar top and CV bracing.

[Shredmaster007]

I put just the plain Rare Earth in my J45 and had to take it out, it completely killed the top! Weirdly the M80 that I replaced it with hardly makes a difference - I think the problem is maybe the cork pads on the Fishman? It did sound nice though.