Taming the LR Baggs M80 pickup

[Brent Hahn]

Originally Posted by Tony Done

Mistook you for the OP.

Impossible. He's much better looking.

[Methos1979]

Originally Posted by Brent Hahn

Impossible. He's much better looking.

Lol - you've obviously never seen me!!!

[Methos1979]

So I worked on my setup a little today. What should have been an easy job got a little ugly! Pulled off the old (actually new) 80/20 Martin SPs. Pulled the pickup out and swapped the cable/jack with another one I had that had a slightly longer threaded area as the one I had in there did not quite stick out far enough. Really took my time and got the cable coiled and tie wrapped down just right, reconnected the M80 and restrung with D'Addario PB 12's. Re-stringing went very well, one of the best slotted headstock jobs I've done.

Plugged in to start my tweaking - nothing! Doh! Loosened the strings, pull the pup and cable/jack out, test a couple things, got it working and re-installed. Got it tuned up and it's now working although I didn't get it tie wrapped down with the strings in the way. Next string change. Picked up the guitar and felt/heard a rattle and spent the next 15 minutes frustratingly getting the little star washer that had somehow slipped off the jack out of the guitar.

FINALLY got around to playing and tweaking. raised the low E a bit, lowered the A a bit, raised the G a tiny bit and left the D, B and high E alone. Tone was more even and overall seemed much better with the PB's over the 80/20's. I did notice this annoying metal ZING on some transitions that I've never heard before on any guitar, ever. Funny that I just read a thread about it over on the General forum so will look into that. I can hear it with the capo on so not sure what the deal is. I'm VERY susceptible to high frequency pings due to a hearing issue I have.

Anyway, overall the guitar definitely sounds better although the real proof will be in the recording which I won't get to until the weekend. I recorded four songs with my wife yesterday so I'll record again this coming weekend and see what the A/B sounds like but like I said, already way better than what it sounded like before - more even and overall better tone.

Thanks again for the tips, especially to Eric for his detailed feedback.

[varmonter]

Congrats and enjoy your new pup. I like mine.
Perhaps the zing you hear is a string hitting a pole piece.
The capo lowers the action.

[Methos1979]

Originally Posted by varmonter

Congrats and enjoy your new pup. I like mine.
Perhaps the zing you hear is a string hitting a pole piece.
The capo lowers the action.

Doubtful but I'll look at it since I did raise the low E pole. But it's still pretty far away and I'm a delicate fingerstyle player for the most part. Also it didn't appear to be the low E when playing that I noticed it. But still worth looking into. I didn't have much time to really check into the issue yesterday but I'll be sure to be more aware of it next time I play.

[JackB1]

Just tried one of these in my J45. Sounds very clear and warm. Pleasantly surprised.