#76
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#77
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On multi-element piezos: many or most piezo pickups used to have individual elements, such as the Martin Thinline made by Fishman. The best live acoustic guitar I ever heard was a D28 with an old Thinline. Nevertheless, the thin ribbon pickups used today are an improvement over those old designs, in part because they don’t mess with the bridge as much.
I’ve tried lots of pickups and now have the K&K. It has three elements, so I’m probably still in the multi-element camp. Electrically, the quack probably comes from the piezo’s similarity to a ceramic capacitor. With some exceptions, ceramic capacitors change their capacitance with voltage, so they distort sound waves. The higher the voltage, the more distortion, and even the typical guitar signal of 1 volt is enough. Furthermore, the distortion is the unmusical/harsh type - odd harmonics. Most of the audible quack can be reduced with a simple circuit that disfavors those odd harmonics. P.S. for the electronics nerds: https://www.edn.com/signal-distortio...ic-capacitors/
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------------------------------- Gibson J45 12 string Gibson J45 Studio Walnut 6 string Furch D24 SR 12 string Rickenbacker 330w 6 string |
#78
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#79
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Back in early December 1982, while sitting on the Martin factory floor and demonstrating what I heard as acoustic-electric tonal deficiencies (quack) in my recently-purchased new 1982 Martin D-28E with its recently developed UST, three-crystal bridge saddle/pickup to John Marshall, John hinted that a new thin under saddle pickup was coming. Sure enough, in Spring 1983, Martin started equipping their acoustic-electric models with a Fishman Thinline-style pickup. In June of 1983, I bought a Martin MC-28E with that new pickup in it. Frankly, both styles of these UST pickups didn't sound as good as the Ovation guitars with their UST-based pickup/preamp. Although the two Martin guitars were excellent sounding acoustically, I traded them in later that year.
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Martin HD-28 Sunburst/Trance M-VT Phantom Martin D-18/UltraTonic Adamas I 2087GT-8 Ovation Custom Legend LX Guild F-212XL STD Huss & Dalton TD-R Taylor 717e Taylor 618e Taylor 614ce Larrivee D-50M/HiFi Larrivee D-40R Blue Grass Special/HiFi Larrivee D-40R Sunburst Larrivee C-03R TE/Trance M-VT Phantom RainSong BI-DR1000N2 Emerald X20 Yamaha FGX5 Republic Duolian/Schatten NR-2 Last edited by SpruceTop; 01-22-2022 at 08:31 AM. |
#80
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When I ran the desk at the local open mic in the cinema bar, I would mic' the guitars and keep the volumes down. Folks would whisper their orders at the bar and walk out of the bar into the auditorium to chat with friends. If I turned the volume up, folks would shout their orders at the bar, and shout conversations with their friends in the bar room. We ran a few sessions completely acoustically if the p/a was being used for something else (not so good for those who bought plug-in kit LOL!!!) or single mic'd (my favourite). I really don't want to plug in when I play - and I have seen enough bands and solo artists at large (5000 seat) venues who have just mic'd to know its possible. One or two Ear Trumpet mic's are on my wish list for live gigs (if I actually get into doing enough to warrant the expenditure). I do have a Rode NT1a and SM57 (plus some 58s) so I can more than get away with what I already have. We would always single mic' when I played in a bluegrass band, but did plug in the bass player to a kick-back bass amp well back behind us all and let that bleed into the single mic. He had a crappy cheap laminated 3/4 upright that he had painted with black gloss paint, so it needed a lift.
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I'm learning to flatpick and fingerpick guitar to accompany songs. I've played and studied traditional noter/drone mountain dulcimer for many years. And I used to play dobro in a bluegrass band. |
#81
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A few years ago I was doing a duo with a singer. We were playing a Friday then Saturday night. On that Saturday morning, the club installed some acoustic treatment hanging panels which hung down maybe eight inches from the ceiling.
The difference was unbelievable. On Friday, the conversation in the bar was really loud and we did our best to be heard over it. On Saturday with the acoustic panels, the same conversations were quiet, and we were able to play much softer. I never would have believed that the acoustic panels would make so much difference if I hadn’t had that experience. |