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Old 07-10-2019, 01:12 AM
Thisisme Thisisme is offline
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Default K&k sounds bad in my. Guitar but amazing in the other guitar

I have 2 acoustic guitars one that is a voyage air (nicest guitar ever) and a fender (that also has a folding neck) in my voyage air the k&k pure mini sounds unusable I cannot get a decent sound from it even with a pre amp and eq however my fender sounds amazing with the k&k pure mini when I put it through my preamp. It’s like it’s a completely different pick up all together. The funny thing is the guy that installed my k&k in my voyage air is a very well respected luthier and the guy that installed my k&k on my fender is just a standard luthier

Do you think he did a bad job? Or a defected pickup? Or maybe it is just the wrong pick up for that particular guitar
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Old 07-10-2019, 02:34 AM
GoneTroppo GoneTroppo is offline
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I had one in a Yamaha FG350W that never worked for me. Acoustically the guitar was rich sounding with strong bass and shimmering tops, but plugged in the sound was hollow/metallic sounding and feedback was bad. Totally different to the other guitars I have installed them into..
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Old 07-10-2019, 03:14 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Thisisme View Post
I have 2 acoustic guitars one that is a voyage air (nicest guitar ever) and a fender (that also has a folding neck) in my voyage air the k&k pure mini sounds unusable I cannot get a decent sound from it even with a pre amp and eq however my fender sounds amazing with the k&k pure mini when I put it through my preamp. It’s like it’s a completely different pick up all together. The funny thing is the guy that installed my k&k in my voyage air is a very well respected luthier and the guy that installed my k&k on my fender is just a standard luthier

Do you think he did a bad job? Or a defected pickup? Or maybe it is just the wrong pick up for that particular guitar
Do you know if the K&K was glued or taped in to the voyage air. I had a tech tape in a k&K once and it sounded terrible. All was better once he glued the sensors to the bridge plate
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Old 07-14-2019, 02:39 AM
Thisisme Thisisme is offline
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Yea was defenently glued. Will take it out I reckon coz it isn’t usable. I will probably get a decent sound hole pickup that is quick to take in and out. I have a lr baggs m1 but that’s time consuming to take in and out
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Old 07-14-2019, 06:25 AM
jonfields45 jonfields45 is offline
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As long as you are taking it out, why not remove the middle transducer (or cut its lead) first and then retest for tone. A few people have reported that this worked for them.
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Old 07-14-2019, 11:33 AM
Pitar Pitar is offline
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I've said it before here relative to the DIY products out there mounted to the bridge plate; The bridge plate is not the last word in sourcing the best spot for the transducers. I added length to each of the three transducer conductors in my last K&K PWM install and mounted each of them at spots that best realized frequencies in volume and balance to each other. Those spots were not on the bridge plate.

If the product manufacturers described an installation that required sourcing the best spot for each transducer (3-transducer arrays) before securing them they'd lose a certain amount of market share from people who could not be bothered to do that.

I found the "sweet" spots for each transducer (bug) by using a Shadow single removable transducer and temporarily placing it all over the sound board searching for three frequency spots with respect to the hi, mid and lo bugs. That was on the top of the guitar to keep it easy. Once found, I secured each of them inside the guitar below those selected spots. Before securing I ensured the spots did not conflict with an internal brace and moved them if necessary.

My history with the K&K PWM. Two guitars. Both Goodall RCJC. One with the K&K instructions faithfully followed did not perform as expected and I passed it off as usual market hyperbole. I sold that guitar. Then, missing it a couple years later I bought another but this time performed a more sound reaching installation to take better advantage of the K&K PWM.

Piezo is Piezo no matter who uses it in their products. It's up to the installer to put it to its best use. The product manufacturers (K&K, JJB, et al) currently do not construct their products to do that.
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Old 07-14-2019, 02:23 PM
Marty C Marty C is offline
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For whatever reason, ( bracing, tonewood density, body shape, etc) it just doesn’t seem to work in every guitar. I had them in two dreadnoughts and I never could eq out the strong midrange. My cousin has it in a 000 Martin and his sounds great, plugged directly in to the PA at church. Mine needed to be EQed to no end. We both scratched our heads. Similar guitars and same tone woods. Same manufacturer. Same guy did the install.
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acoustic, fender, k&k mini, pick up install, voyage air

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