Jesse_Dylan

Yep generally all martins come with plastic pins and have since the 1930s or earlier (when plastic was amazing!). Some Martins, like the new 15 series, now come with ebony pins. Sometimes I think pins make a difference. Sometimes I don't. Doesn't seem like the should.

Looks like I'm too late. Regardless... It should be pretty easy to get it swapped for an L.R. Baggs Anthem. This combines a microphone inside the guitar with the Element under the saddle (which is the stock). This lets you get some of the real sound of the guitar and is about as good as I've found next to using an actual microphone, which is what I still prefer and usually use if I can get away with it. I'm not a fan of pickups in general or quack. Baggs Anthem with your Baggs pedal would make a darn good combo, though, and would probably sound pretty good.

I think J-200s are generally just average to heavy guitars. Hummingbirds, on the other hand, and for whatever reason, are featherlight. I've only played a few but have always been shocked at how light they are. I played a maple Hummingbird, on the other hand, and it's not featherlight. :) The nice thing about the Aura is that it allows you to "color" your pickup's tone so that it sounds more like a real guitar. With the Baggs Element, you don't get that, just the pure sound of the pickup, and you don't hear your actual guitar at all. However, if you can't get a good tone out of the Aura, then I agree, it is actually worse than the Element. Fishman stuff sounds really bad "naked," where as, as far as pure piezo pickups go, Baggs Element sounds about the best. Guess that's not much help, though. You aren't the only person I've heard who has had trouble with the Aura stuff. You'd think if it was built right into the guitar, it would be easier to get a decent tone than with the pedals, but apparently not! Makes me think the Baggs Anthem or Lyric is a better bet (which augments the pickup with a mic and the actual sound of your guitar in the Anthem's case and nothing but the mic in the case of the Lyric, though rather compressed sounding). I wonder if it would be hard to swap the Aura out for an Anthem since you already like the Element?