#1
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Replaced Coaxial UST With Solid UST + K&K
I have an Eastman slope-shoulder I use a lot for playing out. It came with a Fishman Sonicore installed which I could have lived with except for the fact that the output was very uneven across the strings and dulled the acoustic tone. I removed it, made a new saddle and put in a K&K Pure Mini, which I have in all the other guitars. As much as I like the K&K's they work best when you have some control over the sound, not always the case, even with a Pure Preamp.
I had an old Martin Thinline passive UST that's been laying around for over 20 years and thought I'd install it to use it as part of a dual source with the K&K. There was an issue with the hole in the saddle slot for the old Sonicore since these coaxial UST's holes are drilled on a 45 degree angle. I was reluctant to drill yet another hole so I tried feeding the wire into the 45 degree hole. Surprisingly, it seemed to work without forcing and lay flat so I wired it in to the stereo jack, installed a new saddle and ran a stereo cable out to a Schatten Mini-Pre 2. Used it out tonight and I think these pickups work well together. You can use them individually or blended, depending on the venue and sound system. I think blending a little of the UST adds some snap to the K&K. |
#2
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Great solution! I’m glad you’re finding something that works for you.
__________________
"Lift your head and smile at trouble. You'll find happiness someday." |
#3
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Thanks for the description of the swap-out. I actually bought a Matrix pickup with the idea of possibly swapping it for the current flexible flat UST (which replaced the original Sonicore). I somehow got the idea that the access hole through the bridgeplate is perpendicular in my particular guitar. I'll have to re-check that if I decide to try the Matrix.
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#4
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For quite some time (probably about 4-5 years ago), I really played around with the idea of a UST + K&K dual source. I never went through with it but I bet it produces a nice round tone. I am going to be putting the K&K in my Taylor since I have two jacks so for experimentation purposes, I will try blending it with my current Matrix UST.
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#5
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The fact that the hole wasn't perpendicular gave me some pause. I seem to have lucked out with the existing hole but it probably would have been better to drill a new one. Doing that would have put the new hole on top of the old one but at a different angle and I wasn't sure if that was wise.
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#6
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I'm not familiar with the UST that you mentioned but I will tell you this. I installed a Fishman Matrix UST, which is also meant for a 90 deg hole, into a guitar that was drilled at a 45 for an LR Baggs element and it went in fine and looked ok and worked fine plugged in. After roughly a week it failed due to the pressure from the strings pushing down on the wire, and it's not repairable. The Matrix is very weak at the point where the wire meets the UST, yours might be different I'm not sure. If it were me though I would be drilling a 90 deg hole just in case.
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