[Slowhand] Guitars and electronics

[roberte at comcast.net]

This is a thorough answer regarding Grant's question about the EC Martin guitar: For what it's worth, I would consider trying the guitar with a good (narrow condenser) microphone and see how you like it before committing to an installed pickup. Depending on your expected playing situation, it's hard to beat the natural sounds of a miked guitar. However, if you're really going to be playing out live, it can be troublesome (feedback, especially as you play louder). In that case, an internal pickup is more convenient. For one to be installed, the endpin hole must be drilled out to a larger diameter and a small hole is also usually drilled in the top, under the bridge saddle to accommodate the small wire running to the "pickup" that will be there. To accommodate the height (albeit) minimal of the piezo pickup, sometimes the bridge saddle has to be sanded down to keep the action the same. This should all be ok, provided you truly have a skilled (and careful) person doing this work. Someone else is rarely as careful as you are with your instrument, and the guitar in the hands of others, is rarely as safe as it is in yours. As an in-between, you could try some of the pickups that are temporarily used (when required- i.e. playing live) in the guitar's sound hole. The wire just goes out and is plugged in to the sound source. You don't have to do anything to the guitar and it's a way to see if you like that sound. I'm always puzzled by how many guitars have pickups in them and yet never are used for live playing. A pickup is a tool to facilitate playing in a live situation. If the guitar is a home or personal (non-gigging) instrument, you might want to hold off and just enjoy it in it's purest state...no pickup will sound as good as the guitar playing acoustically. ;-)