Round piezo/piezos or under saddle wire?

[harpon]

What do you prefer of those two choices and why?

I got stuff coming- all very cheap on ebay, including clip on and soundhole strat style.

If I decide to install anything, it's probably to an end "strap" jack- those come with mini plugs or lead wires. Anything wrong with the mini plugs?

[shufflebeat]

Depends what you require.

Single cheap piezo disc SBT, too localised so generally not well balanced and reproduces (badly) all the nasty resonances local to wherever you place it which would are normally not apparent when listening to the whole guitar from distance.

Multi-piezo SBT, heard good reports but cheap ones are inconsistent in quality and often reliant on post-processing which might negate any savings.

Under-saddle, as above.

Soundhole single coil - very susceptible to RF interference. If you don't like the sound of magnetic pickups cheap, badly designed ones will really bug you. Strings #1, #2 will be much louder than others unless you use electric strings.

Saddle pickups (UST) feed back much less than SBT discs. Mags are generally best at avoiding feedback but sound awful.

Cheapest reliable system is Fishman matrix UST fitted by someone who knows what they're doing.

I've never seen a mini plug/socket which will survive very long in real world conditions

I have lots of experience of spending money on this kind of project and have used just about every pointless shortcut to a decent sound, none work. Currently using Matrix, K&K and Vanden mag equipped instruments.

[roylor4]

Multi disc SBT's sound the best by a long shot if you are talking low maintenance, easy install, decent sound and reliability would be my first choice.

I despise the sound of UST's and prefer mag's, but that's just me.

Mag sound hole pickups are ugly but reliable. If you have adjustable pole pieces you can dial in even string to string balance but can't without them. They do not sound as good as SBT's to me but offer better feedback resistance.

FWIW, I gig with a guitar with a mag P'UP (DeArmond ToneBoss) and others with SBT's (JJB Prestige 330). Neither is a perfect solution, but with a preamp I can dial in a decent giggable tone with both.

[M Hayden]

Any pickup will work if you take the time to learn how to use it.

SBTs are great but they’re often feedback-prone.

USTs are reliable but can be quacky.

Mags are easy and usually pretty plug and play without a preamp but are often placed on a node that cuts off the 1/4 string length harmonics.

With any of them, there are drawbacks and compromises. You’ll need to figure out what you’re willing to live with and what your needs are. Do you need easy plug and play? Maximum sonic fidelity? Feedback resistance? Something else? That’s the kind of work that’ll help you figure out the pickup for you.

[M Hayden]

Didn’t need to be posted twice