Fishman MX-T replacement in Martin Guitar & Battery Boxes

[meb]

I just purchased a Martin D10-E with the Mx-T system. Various threads
have alluded to how easy the MX-T is to replace.

A couple of posters have mentioned replacing it with an Anthem.
For this, do you re-use the Battery Box/Endpin connector? Does it require de-solder/re-solder?
Could I do a similar thing with a SD Mad/Mic and use the 'Box'?
If I want a passive Soundhole or even SBT, can I bypass the battery and use the endpin in the 'box'?
To just remove the MX-T, do I just de-solder it from the 'box'? and of course untape/unglue the VT & tuner.

I am sure you can tell I am confused, but for now I want to understand my options and degree of difficulty.
I have a local tech that I trust to help me , but he has not dealt with these battery boxes before.

Thanks for suggestions and insight.
Mike

[slooky]

I am thinking that you have a plastic door at the bottom of your guitar that houses the battery. Yes you can use that with the anthem pickup instead of putting the battery inside the hole of your acoustic. I took the sonitone out of a Martin jr that had the battery at the bottom of my guitar and replaced it with a lr baggs element. BTW the sonitone sounded horrible,,but, I put it in a 12 string and something about those 12 strings made it shine. If your thinking of a passive pickup then you will need something to boost the signal. Better off with the anthem.

[lowrider]

I took out the Sonotone and replaced it with a JJB in my Martin GPCRSG. The pre-amp popped right out with a putty knife. There have been a few reports here of the tuner falling out with the Mx-t, so that's just as easy.

The battery box makes the job a lot easier since you can unbolt it and work outside the guitar. I just unscrewed the output jack and put the new one into the now empty battery box. The battery clip clipped right out. A new one might clip right in, but I don't know for sure. If you're not compfortable resoldering the wires, maybe you can have your tech do that for you.

All in all, it's a very easy job to do!

[meb]

Thanks to both for the input. Lowrider, it is ironic that what started this endeavor is
that the VT preamp came loose. :-) Since I must visit my tech to get it
retaped/reglued, I figured I may as look at alternatives. Maybe I will get lucky
and the Tuner will also fall out. :-) So, in the end, your battery box is still installed and
you replaced the MX-T endpin inside the 'box' with your jjb endpin???? I usually use a BlackStack or Sunrise and this would be a similar install as regards to bypassing the battery box.

Yes slooky, the guitar has a plastic door with an endpin and battery inside.
This is where I am confused...When you installed your Element, did you snip off
the battery bag supplied with the Element,
and solder where it was snipped to the plastic battery compartment on the guitar?

Thanks.

[Marty C]

Originally Posted by lowrider

I took out the Sonotone and replaced it with a JJB in my Martin GPCRSG. The pre-amp popped right out with a putty knife. There have been a few reports here of the tuner falling out with the Mx-t, so that's just as easy.

The battery box makes the job a lot easier since you can unbolt it and work outside the guitar. I just unscrewed the output jack and put the new one into the now empty battery box. The battery clip clipped right out. A new one might clip right in, but I don't know for sure. If you're not compfortable resoldering the wires, maybe you can have your tech do that for you.

All in all, it's a very easy job to do!

I did similar to Lowrider. I reused the battery box. I just took all the guts out, threaded the battery cable from my Anthem SL into the box, snapped it to the battery and shoved it all back in. Its tight, but fits. As Lowrider did, I swapped out the end pin jacks.

[slooky]

Originally Posted by meb

Thanks to both for the input.

Yes slooky, the guitar has a plastic door with an endpin and battery inside.
This is where I am confused...When you installed your Element, did you snip off
the battery bag supplied with the Element,
and solder where it was snipped to the plastic battery compartment on the guitar?

Thanks.

yes, snipped off the wires from the battery bag. You can stick your hand inside where the battery box is and from what I remember squeeze it in and push it out. I cut the wires leaving about 2 or 3 inches from the box and bag. I didn't solder directly to the box, I stripped the 2 wires from the battery box. Dry connected the 2 wires and plugged it in so that I had postive and negative connect right. Ran it through the P.A. and it was good, soldered and made sure one wire was covered so you never have the 2 wires make contact to each other. Pushed it back in and done. The element has the preamp in the endjack so I took out the endpin jack and screwed in the element preamp jack.

[lowrider]

Here's a pic of my, now empty, battery box with the JJB output jack in place'



Here's another idea, on a MartinX with a Sonotone, I replaced just the braided UST for a really nice improvement in plugged as well as unplugged sound. I used a generic solid UST that I got from Amazon for about $10



I sold that one and the girl who bought it also liked the plugged and unplugged sound.

[meb]

Thanks to all for your input. I now feel comfortable that I can install a pickup
of my choosing using to plastic compartment without compromising the guitar or its appearance. When removing the MX-T, I assume I will just snip some
cables coming out of the 'box'. Also, I plan to just leave the ust strip in place;;
since it is now integral to the wonderful playability/setup I now have.
I see no need to do another setup. If I have to snip a cable to leave it there, who cares. I see a white junction box, that may allow me to do a clean removal without snipping it.

Once the MX-T is 'removed', I plan to install a passive soundhole pu (Dimarzio Angel) for starters. The install will be similar to the JJb install with an empty battery box and new endpin. This way, my friend/tech can dodge any soldering.....thus less imposition on him

At least I have a plan....if I missed anything important, please let me know.
Thanks.

[lowrider]

Originally Posted by meb

Thanks to all for your input. I now feel comfortable that I can install a pickup
of my choosing using to plastic compartment without compromising the guitar or its appearance. When removing the MX-T, I assume I will just snip some
cables coming out of the 'box'. Also, I plan to just leave the ust strip in place;;
since it is now integral to the wonderful playability/setup I now have.
I see no need to do another setup. If I have to snip a cable to leave it there, who cares. I see a white junction box, that may allow me to do a clean removal without snipping it.

Once the MX-T is 'removed', I plan to install a passive soundhole pu (Dimarzio Angel) for starters. The install will be similar to the JJb install with an empty battery box and new endpin. This way, my friend/tech can dodge any soldering.....thus less imposition on him

At least I have a plan....if I missed anything important, please let me know.
Thanks.

Leaving the braided UST is a bad idea. It really sucks out your acoustic tone. If you don't want to make a new saddle, you can take a scissor and make one or two shims from a credit card to bring your saddle up to height. This is not a permanent solution. Eventually you should get a new saddle, but it's much better than leaving the braided UST.

[JackB1]

Originally Posted by Marty C

I did similar to Lowrider. I reused the battery box. I just took all the guts out, threaded the battery cable from my Anthem SL into the box, snapped it to the battery and shoved it all back in. Its tight, but fits. As Lowrider did, I swapped out the end pin jacks.

So you didn't actually "re-wire" it or do any soldering? You just threaded the Anthem's battery clip into the battery box and clipped the battery on? Never thought to do it that way.

[JackB1]

I have replaced the electronics twice now on Martin guitars with MXT systems.
I actually just left the battery box empty and installed the battery pouch where in normally goes above the soundhole. You replace the battery so seldom with the Anthem SL that it's no big deal to use the battery pouch. I replace my battery maybe every 6 months or longer. I keep a "spare" battery in the unused battery compartment, so I have one handy in case one goes dead in the middle of a gig.

The MXT system is a bit of a pain to remove. The hardest part was undoing that recessed nut that holds everything in place. Also installing the new end pin into the original plastic compartment can be tricky since there is a raised lip that prevents you from using any extra washers to secure it. Yes, it would be ideal to reuse the existing battery compartment, but I have never soldered anything in my life and didn't want to start now. The battery pouch is not a bid deal since you rarely need to go in there to change it out. Just use quality, long lasting batteries.

[Marty C]

Originally Posted by JackB1

So you didn't actually "re-wire" it or do any soldering? You just threaded the Anthem's battery clip into the battery box and clipped the battery on? Never thought to do it that way.

Yes. Tight fit but works. Take ALL the parts out of the battery box. The clip/spring that’s attached to the wire. I did this just for a trial to avoid cutting things so if I didn’t like this or wanted to sell the guitar later, I could put this back in its original form.

[JackB1]

Originally Posted by Marty C

Yes. Tight fit but works. Take ALL the parts out of the battery box. The clip/spring that’s attached to the wire. I did this just for a trial to avoid cutting things so if I didn’t like this or wanted to sell the guitar later, I could put this back in its original form.

I’ll give this a try Marty, but I’m having another issue with my Anthem SL in my SC 13e. I can’t get the endpin secure and it keeps coming loose every few days.
I am reusing the endpin cut out hole from the battery compartment and there’s no way to get that anthem end pin installed normally. There is a small lip on the whole that prevents you from pushing it any further and you can’t put any washer on the the other side to secure it. One solution would be to just disregard that plastic original endpin battery compartment and drill a hole in the center where you would normally put an endpin and then the anthem can be installed as per usual. I’m trying to avoid doing that in case I ever want to revert the guitar back to its original condition. I realize this is a little off topic. I’ll send you a private message you can respond there if you like. Thanks

[meb]

OP Here. Thanks for all the info/replies. I visited my tech friend yesterday,
and he just simply re-taped the loose VT module back into the soundhole, but
recessed it about half an inch. This allows plenty of room to install a Dimarzio Angel soundhole pickup on a temp basis when I need to plug in.
The Angel uses a 1/8 mini-plug that makes it very easy to remove/install.
We left the tuner as it was; since the Angel fits nicely around it.
The MX-T is still functional, for whatever that is worth. Of course, the Angel sounds way better.

For me, the D10E is more of an 'occasional' gig/jam/plugged in guitar; so this should fit my needs.
BTW, my D10E plays incredibly easy and has superb projection unplugged.
If my needs change, I can always look into the more invasive options.

Once again, thanks.

[jricc]

Cool that it all worked meb. And you have a backup built into the guitar!