Review: Schertler C-DYN Internal Guitar Pickup

[cary]

Hi Everybody,

I originally posted this on the UMGF, but it just struck me that most of the discussion I've had online about Schertler have been here at AGF, so I thought I'd move it over here.

I know a lot of you are lovers of Schertler's amazing DYN-G guitar pickup (as am I,) and I know that many of you have considered installing one of their new internal pickups in your guitar, so I wanted to relay my recent experience to you.

A few months back I purchased a C-DYN at a rock bottom price, and had it installed by my luthier at the same sweet-spot that works so well with my DYN-G –– on the bridge at the treble side, except of course internally. I also recently acquired a Schertler David, so the signal chain is pure Schertler. Unfortunately, the C-DYN does not just sound like an internal version of the DYN-G... where the DYN-G is nearly transparent, and captures the tone of my guitar very much like a good external mic, the C-DYN is overly boxy.

After much fiddling on the David I was able to get a tone that was somewhat usable, but that required cutting the midtones out completely, and still left me with a tone that was overly boxy in the treble. Basically, strumming sounded ok, but any kind of flatpicking on the G, B, or E strings, sounds like I'm playing from inside a cardboard box. In a word: ugly. Not at all up to Schertler's standards.

In various attempts at getting a better tone I have moved the pickup to a few other spots inside the guitar, but to no avail. That boxiness isn't going anywhere.

As I understand it (and this could just be heresy,) the C-DYN was a short-lived internal version of the DYN-G, and has now been replaced by Schertler's internal RESOCOIL pickup. The shop owner I bought the C-DYN from told me that consumers had apparently not been too happy with the C-DYN, and so Schertler had come up with the new design.

I was willing to give the C-DYN a chance though, mostly because I got it for dirt cheap. At that price, I don't even mind taking a hit to give this pickup a try for the benefit of the greater community.

To replace it, I have now ordered a K&K Mini and an Orchid Muting DI, so that I can use my new pickups with my wonderful Schertler David, and not have any impedance mismatch issues.

It's my guess that the RESOCOIL may indeed be a better sounding pickup, but unfortunately,on their brand new pickup Schertler has abandoned the standard 1/4" endpin jack, which required little to no modification of the guitar, in favor of an actual XLR jack... yep, that means cutting a large rectangle block in the bottom of your guitar, and screwing this new jack in with three screws (if I remember correctly.)

Anyway, I hope this info may help anyone considering the purchase of a Schertler C-DYN. As always, YMMV.

[cary]

Just a quick update.

Yesterday I received and easily installed the K&K Pure Western Mini, and I have to say that I am ecstatic with its sound.

While it does not sound quite as "airy" as my guitar through a nice mic, the tone is eminently more musical to my ears than the other pickups I've used, including the well-respected DYN-G.

For ease-of-use, and excellent tone, these are easily the best pickups I've ever owned for any of my guitars.

It's not that they offer a perfect replication of my guitar –– they don't –– but the sound they produce is simply lovely, and easy on the ears. Particularly for flatpicking, on my 000-18GE the K&Ks sound amazing.

I dialed the mids down about 25% and cut the treble and bass maybe 10%. They produce a wonderful sound when strumming, and a very passable sound for fingerpicking.

As always, YMMV.

[BuleriaChk]

Hi, Cary,

Thanks much for the review. I A/B'd the DYN-G some time ago against my Takamine nylon string TC-132C (Palathetic pickup, CTP-2 preamp, flat EQ), and after I found the "sweet spot" they were, for all practical purposes, indistinguishable, which is also the case with any of the condenser mics I have tried. (I play at fairly low levels, however, into excellent acoustic amps...)

I had been considering the DYN-C as a possible second input to the CTP-2, and your review was consistent with my experience with internal mics in general.....