Adding an undersaddle pickup to a Gibson Advanced Jumbo?

[Veeing Fly]

I don't play out acoustically very much. But for some reason, the fact that my Gibson AJ doesn't have a pickup is bugging me. I'm thinking of installing a K&K Pure just to have the capability to plug in and amplify if I need to.

But of course I need the opinions of friendly strangers to broaden my perspective! What say you, AGF?

[Guitarplayer_PR]

K&K is not an "undersaddle pickup," but a SBT (soundboard transducer). There are different ways to amplify your guitar, besides a microphone. The piezo (the "undersaddle pickup") is one of them; the magnetic pickup is another and the aforementioned SBT.

Here you'll find many defenders and detractors of those ways of amplification. I love some of them and dislike others. If you want to go the safe route (although more expensive), a dual source like an LR Baggs Anthem will do wonders. It combines a piezo with an internal microphone.

[Veeing Fly]

Originally Posted by Guitarplayer_PR

K&K is not an "undersaddle pickup," but a SBT (soundboard transducer). There are different ways to amplify your guitar, besides a microphone. The piezo (the "undersaddle pickup") is one of them; the magnetic pickup is another and the aforementioned SBT.

Here you'll find many defenders and detractors of those ways of amplification. I love some of them and dislike others. If you want to go the safe route (although more expensive), a dual source like an LR Baggs Anthem will do wonders. It combines a piezo with an internal microphone.

Thank you for the clarification. The K&K is the one that appeals to me, however I used the wrong terminology.

[drive-south]

Since the Gibson AJ has a long saddle it is not a good candidate for an under saddle transducer.. i installed a K&K in mine and it sounds great. No battery or preamp inside the guitar either. I also have a K&K in a Martin OM28. Works great in that guitar too.

Some people claim the Dazzo SBT sounds just as good or better than K&K for less money.

[jspe]

LR Baggs Lyric is a good option. It has the tailpin preamp and velcro battery bag, and a soundhole volume dial that has a sweetspot adjuster.

[llew]

Another vote for the K&K mini. I have one in my AJ and it works very well. And very little hardware inside the guitar...no battery.

[DCCougar]

I just had a K&K Pure 12-string put in my Guild F-512. Sounds great!

[Veeing Fly]

DriveSouth, how tricky was the installation? I'm fairly handy with guitar maintenance and such.

[JackB1]

KK mini install is very simple and straightforward. Anyone who's somewhat handy should be able to do it.

Originally Posted by Veeing Fly

DriveSouth, how tricky was the installation? I'm fairly handy with guitar maintenance and such.

[drive-south]

I had mine installed K&K pickups installed by a luthier.

[Groover]

Trust me the Lyric is not a good option for an AJ. I have one in mine and its a pain in the butt.

For what its worth I heard an Anthem in an SJ last week and it was much, much better as a plug and play option.

[SalFromChatham]

A K&K is a good pickup. I have it in my J45. It does need taming though (the mids and bass needs to be dialed back via EQ, and it's a hot pickup. I think it might even need more taming in a rosewood long scale AJ.

If you rarely have the need to plug in, I suggest you get a Baggs sound hole pickup. I have the M1 passive because I have a nice preamp already. But you can also choose the Baggs M80 or M1A, which are "active". With such a pickup, whichever of the three you choose, you can :

1) drill out the end pin for a jack, and leave the jack and wire (secured) inside the guitar always, and just pop in the sound hole pickup when you need it, and take it out when you don't if you dont want the look of the pickup always there.

2) don't drill out the endpin. Use the cord provided to plug in when you need. If you. This requires no change to your guitar. Pop it in or out when you need.

The Baggs sound hole pickups are great. They give a great acoustic live sound, and you can adjust the individual height of the pole pieces under each string to emphasize or de-emphasize.

If you didn't go Baggs, definitely go K&K and not UST. Just trmrmbrt you will need to invest in a preamp/eq unit (like the fire eye red eye or K&K XLR preamp)

[Jinder]

I'm a big fan of K&K (I have them in my '67 J45 and Hummingbird 12 string, and have put them in many other Gibsons and Martin's I've owned in the past) but I found the guitar the K&K worked the least in, for me, was my old Rosewood AJ.

The problem is that the AJ is a very complex sounding instrument with extremes of dynamic range and more overtones than something like a D18/28 or a J45/Hummingbird. As such, along with its forward shifted bracing and light build, it's a very feedback prone live instrument. Combined with the K&K's tendency to be a little "lively" onstage with feedback etc, I found that at any sort of workable stage volume the guitar was almost bouncing around on my chest.

I tried everything, soundhole covers, intelligent rack mount feedback crushers, notch filtering, multi band Q etc etc but there were so many overtones that it was impossible to isolate one resonant node...it was like playing Whack-A-Mole!

Eventually, I parted company with AJ after putting a Dtar Wavelength Dual Source in it. A fine pickup which was a bit tricky to install with the long saddle, but some ingenuity solved the puzzle. It is still being played constantly by my friend Mick Terry, a wonderful songwriter with whom I swapped the AJ for my '67 J45. He treasures the AJ, I treasure the J45 and all is well with the world.

Some years later, I fell in love with the short run Maple AJ that Gibson released in 2016ish. I eventually tracked one down to Wildwood in Colorado, and, so smitten was I by these magnificent guitars, that I flew out there from the UK to pick it up. Not a single regret...still probably my favourite acoustic I've ever owned, or at least a tie with my SJ200.

This time, I put a Sunrise in it. No second thoughts. The pickup and guitar are a perfect match and sound incredible. STILL a little feedback prone, despite the Sunrise being about as feedback resistant as a pickup could possibly be, but that's because of the top of the guitar basically being so lightly built that it works as a huge microphone diaphragm.

In short (forgive the loooong post), I would look into putting a soundhole pickup in for gigs, and removing it between shows. My Sunrise is a permanent install, but my guitar does 2-6 shows a week. It's easy to have a pickup rigged for easy removability, and there are a ton of superb magnetic pickups out there currently, Sunrise, Baggs, Seymour Duncan (I LOVE the MagMic I have in my Dove), Fishman...lots to choose from and not unreasonably priced.