I use the sound hole cover and a pedal EQ. I have to because I can't play it plugged into anything otherwise. I love the sound unamplified and recorded direct. This thread (nor others) has not convinced me that with a high-end Gibson I can't just walk on to a stage and plug it in. I play with other bands all the time. I literally have never encountered another high-end (nor low-end for that matter) acoustic that can't be played plugged in. Now, it might not sound good without EQ, but they can at least play it.
So, after all this discussion, the final verdict is that high-end guitars have more vibration, or resonance, or something that causes feedback in the pickup and low-end guitar don't have that nice expensive resonance? The solution is to squash the sound with EQ, mute the strings, or install a different pickup? It's really hard to believe.
It seems more like the pickup is simply defective (or positioned wrong) on some of these "high-end" guitars and no one wants to address the issue.
Thoughts?