Bridge pickup replacement for Takamine

adventureboy · #1 06-26-2010, 11:55 PM

Hi there,
I bought a Takamine EG522sc electro/classical from a girlfriend's brother about 8 years ago. In his infinite wisdom, he had attempted to adjust the action and ended up damaging the bridge pickup by somehow removing a copper strip and rendering it useless. I've played it since and I love the guitar sound-wise and have recently thought about having the pickup repaired, mainly for recording. As far as I am aware, the preamp and electronics are still intact and it's just the pickup that's damaged. I've lifted the bridge which is now just a standard plastic one and not the original factory fit, and there doesn't seem to be any way of removing the pickup in order to replace it with another. Does anybody have experience of how they are fitted on a Takamine - I was even wondering if the pickup is actually somehow embedded in the saddle. Do I need to remove the saddle? Is there glue involved? Sorry for all the questions

I don't particularly want to pay a fortune to have it repaired and was just wondering if it was possible to do it myself without damaging the guitar. Thanks
Rob

martinedwards · #2 06-27-2010, 09:49 AM

Hi there, welcome to the forum!!

Up front, I'm not familiar with the Tak pickup you have......

but.

it should be an easy fix for a luthier. an under saddle piezo strip can be bought for about $10.

the one that is in there will push up from within and will either be connected to the preamp with a microjack or hard wired on . if it's the jack type tyhen its a REALLY easy fix, if it's hardwired, then its a cut & solder job.

depends on how "handy" you feel you are.......

adventureboy · #3 06-28-2010, 04:01 AM

Thanks Martin,
it I think it's connected via micro jack. I'll need to have a look under there again sometime soon. It just seemed as though it wouldn't budge last time I tried to move it but I never tried to push it out like you said. Thanks for the reply

colinmac · #4 06-30-2010, 05:55 AM

Have a look at this diagram of the Takamine pickup mechanism. It's not just a drop in piezo pickup, but something much more substantial.

It may turn out to be better to just abandon the built-in pickup and fit a SBT pickup (e.g. K&K pure mini) instead, but at least the diagram should help you to take it out and have a proper look.

adventureboy · #5 07-02-2010, 01:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by colinmac

Have a look at this diagram of the Takamine pickup mechanism. It's not just a drop in piezo pickup, but something much more substantial.

It may turn out to be better to just abandon the built-in pickup and fit a SBT pickup (e.g. K&K pure mini) instead, but at least the diagram should help you to take it out and have a proper look.

Thanks, Colin
that diagram looks a little too complex for me to be fiddling about with. I have little or no experience of types of pickup but looking at the SBT type, perhaps that's the best option. So, I already have the input jack socket built into the guitar - does this mean that I could in theory connect an SBT to that socket and also have it wired to the onboard pre-amp EQ box? That would be great if I could get that done. I really love this guitar

colinmac · #6 07-02-2010, 03:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by adventureboy

Thanks, Colin
that diagram looks a little too complex for me to be fiddling about with. I have little or no experience of types of pickup but looking at the SBT type, perhaps that's the best option. So, I already have the input jack socket built into the guitar - does this mean that I could in theory connect an SBT to that socket and also have it wired to the onboard pre-amp EQ box? That would be great if I could get that done. I really love this guitar

One the one hand, a SBT might be affected by the bulk of the existing pickup being in place. The ideal fixing location for the SBT might already be occupied by the aluminium body of the Takamine pickup, which wouldn't be helpful.

The arrangement in my Takamine, and I'll assume yours is similar, is that there is a lead from the pickup to the preamp then there's a lead from the preamp to the jack socket. Both leads have plugs on where they meet the pickup, so in principle you could take a SBT and attach a plug on it so that it goes into the Takamine preamp neatly.

There are some risks with this though. The SBT may not be a good match to the preamp, in terms of impedance, frequency response, signal strength, and so on. The preamp and pickup are designed as a pair, so you might not get the same plugged in sound that you are used to.

Also, some SBTs have a bit of stuff going on inside the jack socket, so you'd need to either open up the jack socket and preserve the circuitry in there, or run a short 1/4" to whatever lead from the SBT's jack socket to the preamp (which would leave the SBT's jack socket hanging inside the guitar, so you'd need to secure that somewhere, e.g. a good velcro attachment to the end block or something of the sort.

So if you were to go with a SBT then the simplest plan would be to remove the Takamine end-pin jack along with the cable to the preamp, fit the transducers (assuming there is room on the bridge plate) and then put the jack socket that comes with the SBT in place of the Takamine one. This might well involve making the end pin hole bigger, and of course it means that the Takamine preamp is no longer involved.

In short, the SBT options are not really ideal. I'd say the best thing would be to have a go at fixing the existing pickup. It should be easy enough to lift off the screw caps, then it's just a case of unscrewing the pickup assembly and, in theory, remove it from the inside of the guitar. At least then you can have a go at fixing it, or take it to an electrician / guitar tech and ask them to have a look.