soundhole pickup for classical

[giginthesky]

can anyone suggest a soundhole pickup for a classical? i have to play a mozart piece for my friends wedding. i have a cheap electric classical but my old yamaha acoustic sounds beautiful. i'd much rather use the yamaha.
thanx, jk.

[Telarkaster]

Pickups work because the metal strings induce a very mild current in the wire wrapped around a magnet which is then sent to an amp. Since the strings on a classical are nylon, a regular pickup won't work.

You would need an under the saddle piezo style bridge pickup, or a transducer mic on the soundboard, or a mic clipped on the front.

I've never seen a soundhole pop in pickup for a classical, you might have to just mic it...

[giginthesky]

thanx telarkaster, i'm aware of the nylon/steel/magnetic pickup thing. i guess i was vague in my question. can you suggest a transducer or non intrusive mic?

[Telarkaster]

Sorry, after I typed it I thought to myself that he must know this! Sorry if I sounded condescending.

I've seen pickups that you can stick on the outside of your guitar, almost like a suction cup. I also believe there are mics that you can clip on to one side of the soundhole. Unfortunately from what I heard they aren't very good, unless the technology has improved in the last few years.

I have a classical and had a Fishman under the saddle pickup installed. They left the bridge saddle too high and I had to sand it down, but otherwise it didn't really affect the tone too much, nor was it excessively intrusive. It only gets scary when they cut out a hole on the side for volume and EQ, but it certainly comes in handy. New pickups have the controls inside the sound hole so there is less wood being cut out, good if you want to upgrade the electronics later. Finding a smaller sound hole plug for the classical guitar to cut down on feedback was hard for some reason...

I can't name any right now, I haven't shopped for one in 10 years, so I'll be watching this thread with interest. Good luck Gig with the wedding!

[markinlondon]

I had a clamped transducer on a classical years ago. I hope they've improved. The hair on the back of my hand stood up if I went within an inch of it, scary! On the other hand I had a stick on Ashworth transducer which I glued under the bridge in a junk shop Eros acoustic that gave a great tone. Positioning is very important with stick on bugs.

[Jakedog]

Schertler makes a fantastic "stick on" pickup. It's actually a contact mic. VERY sweet sounding, and super high, clean, output. It ain't cheap, I believe it's around $400 or so. But my mando player got one awhile back and holy cow, it's amazing. Just a little round thing that sticks on the top, and whammo, beautiful woody tone that sounds killer.

Jake

[Paul in Colorado]

Originally Posted by Jakedog

Schertler makes a fantastic "stick on" pickup. It's actually a contact mic. VERY sweet sounding, and super high, clean, output. It ain't cheap, I believe it's around $400 or so. But my mando player got one awhile back and holy cow, it's amazing. Just a little round thing that sticks on the top, and whammo, beautiful woody tone that sounds killer.

Jake

+1
Those are one of the best sounding pickups I've ever heard. And believe me, I've done sound for acoustic musicians for over 20 years and I've heard a lot of pickups!

[Stuco]

A good pickup for the price is the k&k pure Classic.