Rain song replacement pickup

[mrmurph]

I have an early Rainsong WS1000 with the onboard Fishman system. It's been a pretty decent sounding system, for the most part and it's my go-to guitar for almost all of my outdoor gigs. ( which are typically in the hot, humid, summer months on Edisto Island in SC) anyway, I was playing a gig the other night and the pickup kept dropping out...like it had a short in the bridge area. I kept tapping on the bridge and it would come back on but cut out again shortly (pun intended).
All my other acoustics have K&K Minis, which I really like, and have the off board pre Amps for etc. I'm wondering f anyone has put a K&K in their Rainsong, and if so, how it sounded etc? Any thoughts or xperience with another pickup in a Rainsong, other than the factory installed one?

[steelvibe]

I've been considering installing a K&K in my Shorty for some time. I think you may need to go with a quality outboard preamp though if you want the best results. Here are a couple videos demonstrating Rainsongs with K&Ks

I have the K&K in my nylon Parlor--I like it. The guitar is well balanced and I do not use an outboard preamp. I have a volume control cord and feed straight into my amp. This works for me. I know that players more into performance and total control tend toward more complicated systems but I like simple and have not had problems when playing solo or with groups.

[Acousticado]

Originally Posted by steelvibe

I've been considering installing a K&K in my Shorty for some time. I think you may need to go with a quality outboard preamp though if you want the best results. Here are a couple videos demonstrating Rainsongs with K&Ks

From the K&K vs Lyric comparison video, I prefer the Lyric.

[jonfields45]

I put a K&K in a CO-DR1100N2 with good results. Compared to a MiSi Trio UST I put in a H-DR1100N2, it was more feedback prone but better sounding. If you play loud, or play with floor monitors, I would not recommend switching to the K&K and I would just replace the UST (which will keep the barn door functioning properly too). I've found the Matrix UST with no preamp on eBay for reasonable prices in the past.

[tomana]

K&K? Yea, I'd buy 6 of them, mount them in a circle behind the bridge and you should be good to go ... or not

I play a WS-1000 N1 (made in 2000 at the Hawaii plant). I tossed the under saddle pickup asap and popped in a Baggs M80 and never looked back. If you don't want/need the microphonic qualities of the M80 or to spend 1/2 the price of an M80 then maybe an EMG ACS might be a better way to go (there's also Baggs M1 and M1a, Sunrise, etc). I play through a Boss Pro SE-50 to add just a taste of chorus and reverb and it sounds very good. I'm not after the most natural sounding acoustic amplification but what sounds very good, a bit unique and especially that it fits well in the mix

[ukejon]

Just wondering, have any of you taken the barn-door unit out and used the opening as a sound port? By the way, when playing acoustically (not plugged in) I hear my OM1000N2 better and more clearly than almost any other guitar I've owned. Curious phenomenon....

For now I'm still getting to know the Fishman so no changes here in the near future.

[JLS]

Originally Posted by ukejon

Just wondering, have any of you taken the barn-door unit out and used the opening as a sound port? By the way, when playing acoustically (not plugged in) I hear my OM1000N2 better and more clearly than almost any other guitar I've owned. Curious phenomenon....

For now I'm still getting to know the Fishman so no changes here in the near future.

I did, during the first year (2001-2) I had my OM1000. Replaced the Fishman system with passive K&K.

[Earl49]

I happen to like the OEM Fishman on-board Blender in my 2001 Hawaii built WS-1000. With a little bit of microphone blended in to smooth out the UST, it is among the best sounding of the guitars I have used on stage.

The original barn door system has not been removed, but I do occasionally open it up to act as a sound port. It makes a small but perceptible difference. If the system died, I would likely replace it with another more current Fishman product, but certainly see the validity of trim around the edges and keeping a sound port.

PS: Post #2000 here. Does that mean I can buy another WS-1000?

Yo! Earl;

Email Rainsong and tell them I said it's OK for the company to make you a WS-1000, to your specs Let me know how that works.

[Earl49]

Nice thought Evan, but one is enough and I'm really happy with it. I wish they could be talked into building the WS-3000 twelve string again. I might have to wait for another 1,000 posts though. . Maybe I can call Dave tomorrow.....

I will be adding a Lucky 13 at some point because I don't have a small blues box / 0-sized guitar. And if Rainsong never builds another 12-er, there is the Emerald Chimaera double neck with six and twelve string necks. I have that page bookmarked too.

[mrmurph]

OK weird...I just got back to Atlanta from Edisto, got the Rainsong out to do some trouble-shooting...and it's playing perfectly. I literally can't get it to duplicate the issue I had with it at the gig the other night. I guess I need to go through every component in the chain, ie cables, tuner, etc to find out where the problem was. I guess it was a coincidence that tapping on the bridge seemed to make it come back in after it had cut out. Oh well, I'm happy (I guess)..I still hate to not know what caused it...cause it will happen for sure on my next gig !

[Earl49]

With this new information and re-reading your original post, I have to wonder about the battery. If it was getting tired during your gig, cutting out is one of the first symptoms. With some down time, it recovered some voltage. On rare occasion, I have opened a fresh package to find a dead or nearly dead 9V.

Beyond trouble shooting the entire signal chain as you described, the only other thing that comes to mnd is excess humidity or moisture causing a short. I hate intermittent electrical problems..... so frustrating.

[SpruceTop]

Originally Posted by mrmurph

I have an early Rainsong WS1000 with the onboard Fishman system. It's been a pretty decent sounding system, for the most part and it's my go-to guitar for almost all of my outdoor gigs. ( which are typically in the hot, humid, summer months on Edisto Island in SC) anyway, I was playing a gig the other night and the pickup kept dropping out...like it had a short in the bridge area. I kept tapping on the bridge and it would come back on but cut out again shortly (pun intended).
All my other acoustics have K&K Minis, which I really like, and have the off board pre Amps for etc. I'm wondering f anyone has put a K&K in their Rainsong, and if so, how it sounded etc? Any thoughts or xperience with another pickup in a Rainsong, other than the factory installed one?

When I suspected a problem with the LR Baggs Element UST in my now-traded 2008 RainSong DR1000, I asked RainSong if they could ship me a new Element UST. Not only did they do that but they also included a Tusq saddle, and sent it all free-of-charge! Maybe you could inquire about a new Matrix UST if that's what is in your RainSong?

[Ted @ LA Guitar Sales]

I think you will be quite happy with a K&K, many of our clients have installed them in their Rainsongs.