Split Saddle Pickup Questions

[hagerty]

has anyone with a split saddle guitar ever taken a regular LR baggs element type (element, anthem, sl) and installed in split saddle? like you could feed it under the first one, drill small hole back into the guitar and feed it up into the second? any reason why this wouldn't work?

it would save a ton of money over the "custom" ordered split saddle from LR baggs.

Thanks!

[Wade Hampton]

You can call Baggs directly and ask - I’ve dealt with those guys for years and they’re very open about answering that kind of question - but I suspect that all you would accomplish if you follow through with this is damage or destroy the regular pickup while getting a poor performance out of it, if it even worked at all.

Remember that these pickups are somewhat fragile to begin with, and you’d be trying to bend it and reroute part of it while subjecting it to a considerable amount of down pressure at the same time.

What could possibly go wrong?

Short version: what you’re contemplating sounds to me like a quick way to destroy a functional undersaddle piezo pickup. It would almost certainly be a false economy, because not only is that very unlikely to work properly (if you even got it working at all,) but the chances are that you’d be taking a previously functional pickup and damaging it beyond repair.

Even though I can’t imagine that working like you want it to, don’t take my word for it: call LR Baggs & Co during West Coast business hours and talk to one of their tech guys. Their product support number is 805-929-3545.

Run that idea past them before you attempt this.

As I’m sure I’ve made clear, this strikes me as a bad idea, but I could be wrong. So call and ask them before you go any further with it.

Hope this helps.


Wade Hampton Miller

[hagerty]

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

You can call Baggs directly and ask - I’ve dealt with those guys for years and they’re very open about answering that kind of question - but I suspect that all you would accomplish if you follow through with this is damage or destroy the regular pickup while getting a poor performance out of it, if it even worked at all.

Remember that these pickups are somewhat fragile to begin with, and you’d be trying to bend it and reroute part of it while subjecting it to a considerable amount of down pressure at the same time.

What could possibly go wrong?

Short version: what you’re contemplating sounds to me like a quick way to destroy a functional undersaddle piezo pickup. It would almost certainly be a false economy, because not only is that very unlikely to work properly (if you even got it working at all,) but the chances are that you’d be taking a previously functional pickup and damaging it beyond repair.

Even though I can’t imagine that working like you want it to, don’t take my word for it: call LR Baggs & Co during West Coast business hours and talk to one of their tech guys. Their product support number is 805-929-3545.

Run that idea past them before you attempt this.

As I’m sure I’ve made clear, this strikes me as a bad idea, but I could be wrong. So call and ask them before you go any further with it.

Hope this helps.


Wade Hampton Miller

yeah I mean I get that they are "fragile" but ive installed them myself for years, never had an issue with them, probably 100 anthems, SL and elements at this point. I think as long as there is enough downward pressure on the element under the saddle it will amplify the strings and there is plenty of slack on them so the 'routing' wouldn't be at a sharp angle, when you install them you drill a 45 degree angle to take pressure off the element, I think you could accomplish the same thing on going back inside the guitar. I paid $100 for this anthem used, so its not a huge loss in the event that it damaged the pickup, but given how the install I dont see it being problematic.

[Wade Hampton]

Well, you have far more experience with installing guitar pickups than I have, so I defer to your expertise. It’s still probably a good idea to talk to the tech support guys at LR Baggs before you proceed, though.


whm