2ndCareer

The original pickup in my 2005 Korean-built EJ160e was terrible. Even with different strings that were supposed to do better, still sucked. I had a Fishman Matrix Infinity pickup installed - the only permanent "damage" it does to the guitar is enlarging the strap button hole on the bottom of the guitar (for the guitar cable), but otherwise no permanent alteration. I left the original jack and controls in place, so the external appearance is unchanged. Inside the soundhole, barely visible but easily accessible, are the tone and volume controls. This pickup made a huge difference. In March 2017 I played with a Beatles cover band at the famous NYC venue, The Bitter End. I handled JL's rhythm guitar part on my EJ160e. Sound guy ran my sound through a DI to the PA. It sounded great on stage and my friend's video's of some of the songs proved how nice my guitar came through. The Fishman has a pre-amp inside the body located back where the cable jack is and elsewhere in the body, attached with Velcro, is the 9 volt battery to power the pre-amp. As long as you don't leave the guitar cable plugged into the guitar, the battery will last a long time. For about $250 installed, it has transformed the plugged-in use of the guitar. It would probably be pretty easy to save part of that cost by installing yourself (it seems pretty easy to do), the cost would be more like $150 plus tax. I am very happy that I did it. I highly recommend the Fishman as an effective fix that minimizes any permanent alteration to the guitar.