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  #16  
Old 05-11-2018, 12:03 AM
tadol tadol is offline
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I recently got a Sexauer 0 in braz rw which came with a Barbera pickup. I wont profess any expertise in this, but it is the best sounding acoustic pickup I’ve ever heard. Crisp, clear, and clean, very musical sounding - I am extremely pleased with it, and planning on having another one put into another guitar. But I’m also a fan of the Tonedexter, and want to get one of James Mays Ultratonics installed in something else to test it out, so there is still a chance that the Barbera will get knocked out of first place - but that bar is extremely high -
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  #17  
Old 05-12-2018, 07:39 AM
guitaniac guitaniac is offline
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Originally Posted by tadol View Post
I recently got a Sexauer 0 in braz rw which came with a Barbera pickup. I wont profess any expertise in this, but it is the best sounding acoustic pickup I’ve ever heard. Crisp, clear, and clean, very musical sounding - I am extremely pleased with it, and planning on having another one put into another guitar. But I’m also a fan of the Tonedexter, and want to get one of James Mays Ultratonics installed in something else to test it out, so there is still a chance that the Barbera will get knocked out of first place - but that bar is extremely high -
I currently have two jacks in my Soloist-equipped guitar, so I'm looking forward to eventually switching out the MiniFlex2Mic for a soundboard pickup. (A local luthier here has had great success with his very precise JJB installations.) The anecdotal evidence has suggested to me that ToneDexter works best (with respect to directly recorded results, at least) with SBTs. I'm curious to compare the Soloist/Tone Dexter combo with a JJB/ToneDexter combo.

One nice thing about the Soloist is that it doesn't compromise the guitar's acoustic tone (as a UST would). If it turns out that I favor the JJB/ToneDexter combo for most applications, there won't be any urgent reason to replace the Soloist with a conventional saddle.
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  #18  
Old 03-09-2019, 10:25 PM
lpa53 lpa53 is offline
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I'm thinking of changing out my New World Player nylon's Baggs Anthem SL for a Soloist. Am I correct that the saddle slot would have to be widened to 1'8"? If so, that would mean there's no going back if you didn't like it.
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  #19  
Old 03-09-2019, 11:53 PM
tadol tadol is offline
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Yes, and no -

First, I would recommend having a tech experienced with installing one do it for you - but -

The slot may have to be widened slightly - not sure if its a full ⅛” or not, but that would depend on whats in your guitar currently. I doubt you would ever want to remove it, but if you did, you’d just need to install a new saddle, and those are available in different thicknesses pretty easily - or, if you save your saddle, a very thin shim could be slid in alongside if the slot did need a tiny bit of widening.

But again, I really doubt you or anyone else would ever want to remove it, unless you really just want the aesthetic of a bone saddle -
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  #20  
Old 06-22-2019, 08:41 AM
WPTS WPTS is offline
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Originally Posted by lpa53 View Post
I'm thinking of changing out my New World Player nylon's Baggs Anthem SL for a Soloist. Am I correct that the saddle slot would have to be widened to 1'8"? If so, that would mean there's no going back if you didn't like it.
Refilling/rerouting a saddle slot is a very common job for any luthier, no worries.
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  #21  
Old 06-23-2019, 09:12 AM
lpa53 lpa53 is offline
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Refilling/rerouting a saddle slot is a very common job for any luthier, no worries.
I had one installed and do see that there won't be a problem with the saddle.

I will add that it does sound like my guitar only louder, and when I say louder, I mean it. For a passive system, it has a huge output.
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  #22  
Old 07-11-2020, 11:05 AM
MikeVB MikeVB is offline
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Originally Posted by Doug Young View Post
I did not need a shim, but obviously it depends on the guitar. I don't see shims as a big deal as long as you use good quality material. The Barbara does have the potential to change the acoustic sound of your guitar - you'll be changing from some other material, bone or whatever to the Barbara integrated system. I believe the tone changed in my guitar, tho it's impossible to AB properly, so who knows, but I don't think the tone is worse, maybe just somewhat different. But as long as you're willing to make that change, I don't think a shim should be a deal-breaker.
Doug, did you have your Barbera custom made or intonated? Or did you just order one of the three height options and drop it in your guitar yourself?
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  #23  
Old 07-11-2020, 12:06 PM
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Doug Young Doug Young is offline
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Doug, did you have your Barbera custom made or intonated? Or did you just order one of the three height options and drop it in your guitar yourself?
I have only used the stock ones, and yes, just pop them in myself. Intonation seems to be fine as-is in my cases so far. Super easy as long as your saddle slot fits. I did have to lengthen one slot by like 1/16th of an inch - I had Gryphon do that. I also had one guitar where the low/hi heights were a bit weird, and Rich sent me some tapered shims to address that.
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  #24  
Old 09-06-2022, 03:52 PM
josetorres josetorres is offline
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Default Sixth string doesn’t sound

I’m having a problem with my Soloist. Sometimes the sixth string doesn’t make a sound. I usually fix this by pulling the string out of the indentation and back to it. The top of the pickup is notched where the sixth string is. Maybe the problem has to do with the mass removed from the saddle top because of the string tension, with the conductive part, etc. I have no idea. The luthiers I work with here don’t know a thing about this pickup and I cannot get in touch with Rich. Any recommendations or solution? Maybe somebody have experienced something similar. Thank you!
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  #25  
Old 09-06-2022, 05:29 PM
rb1591 rb1591 is offline
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Originally Posted by josetorres View Post
I’m having a problem with my Soloist. Sometimes the sixth string doesn’t make a sound. I usually fix this by pulling the string out of the indentation and back to it. The top of the pickup is notched where the sixth string is. Maybe the problem has to do with the mass removed from the saddle top because of the string tension, with the conductive part, etc. I have no idea. The luthiers I work with here don’t know a thing about this pickup and I cannot get in touch with Rich. Any recommendations or solution? Maybe somebody have experienced something similar. Thank you!


Jose, I had the same problem on the low E string. Granted, the pickup was several years old. I don’t know what the problem was, but it didn’t seem fixable except by the manufacturer. Ive had more success reaching Rich by phone. I really like both the in-the-saddle pickups available - the soloist and the Baggs LB6. My solution was to go with the LB6.
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  #26  
Old 09-07-2022, 01:07 AM
josetorres josetorres is offline
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Originally Posted by rb1591 View Post
Jose, I had the same problem on the low E string. Granted, the pickup was several years old. I don’t know what the problem was, but it didn’t seem fixable except by the manufacturer. Ive had more success reaching Rich by phone. I really like both the in-the-saddle pickups available - the soloist and the Baggs LB6. My solution was to go with the LB6.


I bought my pickup from a friend but it is not too old.

Apparently nobody sells the LB6 here in Spain. Anyway I would like to keep my Barbera. I’m using it with an internal microphone and I like the results. If I can solve this maybe I’ll go with a Single source with HFN or Ultratonic but I’d rather not change.

I’ve tried contacting Rich by mail and phone after this happened without any luck.
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