What pickup is everyone using on a vintage instrument?

[BluesKing777]

56 minutes ago, gibsonchiq said:

I miss typed the title. It's not actually a vintage guitar. It's a 2 year old reissue. 

Since it is a Reissue, installing a pickup won't affect it's value right?

 

Mistype?

No matter, Gibson probably put the wrong neck on the guitar anyway!

Kidding...

It is still quite an expensive acoustic - the answer depends on your plans. What do you want a pickup for? Are you playing solo. Are you in a band? Got gigs? Playing just open mics? Playing at home to learn the gear?

So if you are just playing at home or a friend’s to try things out, just place a soundhole pickup with the leading hanging out, for now.

If you doing open mics or gigs, get the pickup installed so you don’t trip on the lead!

 

BluesKing777.

 

 

[gibsonchiq]

2 hours ago, BluesKing777 said:

 

Mistype?

No matter, Gibson probably put the wrong neck on the guitar anyway!

Kidding...

It is still quite an expensive acoustic - the answer depends on your plans. What do you want a pickup for? Are you playing solo. Are you in a band? Got gigs? Playing just open mics? Playing at home to learn the gear?

So if you are just playing at home or a friend’s to try things out, just place a soundhole pickup with the leading hanging out, for now.

If you doing open mics or gigs, get the pickup installed so you don’t trip on the lead!

 

BluesKing777.

 

 

I play open mics, i'm playing a festival next weekend, im also a recording artist.

However, im not sure what the goal of this particular banner gibson is, whether i would even take it to a festival where im playing it outside and jumping around or just keeping it in the studio. It would be nice to have the ability to plug in, live though. 

Another question. 

If I went ahead, and went for a piezo under saddle transducer like the LR Baggs Element VTC, and the guitar doesnt sound as good unplugged, was it drilling the hole through the body for the pickup the issue, or is it the piezo itself?

another way of phrasing the question, can i undo the worsening of the unplugged sound by taking the piezo out, or is it permanently altered because i drilled that extra hole?

I feel like it should go back to how it was before since it comes with 6 holes already drilled through the body (for the strings)?

[dhanners623]

2 hours ago, gibsonchiq said:

I play open mics, i'm playing a festival next weekend, im also a recording artist.

However, im not sure what the goal of this particular banner gibson is, whether i would even take it to a festival where im playing it outside and jumping around or just keeping it in the studio. It would be nice to have the ability to plug in, live though. 

Another question. 

If I went ahead, and went for a piezo under saddle transducer like the LR Baggs Element VTC, and the guitar doesnt sound as good unplugged, was it drilling the hole through the body for the pickup the issue, or is it the piezo itself?

another way of phrasing the question, can i undo the worsening of the unplugged sound by taking the piezo out, or is it permanently altered because i drilled that extra hole?

I feel like it should go back to how it was before since it comes with 6 holes already drilled through the body (for the strings)?

The difference in sound (if there is any) comes not from drilling a small hole for the wire(s) attached to the piezo element. The difference comes from inserting the piezo element between the saddle and the bottom of the saddle slot. Unless everything is perfectly flat, there will be issues, plus you’re breaking the connection between the saddle and the guitar. Also, I’m convinced — although others can argue otherwise — that the added weight of a volume/tone control and a battery pack have an impact on the tone. I had the Baggs Element system removed from my ‘16 J-35 and the guitar was lighter and sounded better to my ears.

I’m confused by your reference to being unsure of the “goal” of the guitar. The guitar’s goal is to make music. It is a tool. While it is an expensive guitar, it is not an heirloom vintage guitar that requires babying. Take care of it, yes, but it’s built to be played. At open mics. At gigs. At festivals. At the local farmers’ market. In your living room. I’m always intrigued by people who go to the expense of buying a good guitar and then develop a phobia about taking it out of the house.

If you’re a recording artist, perhaps provide us with some samples of your work or a performance video or two. It might be easier to judge what might work best for you after hearing/seeing those. There are a lot of knowledgeable people here with many years’ experience. I have learned much from them.

[BluesKing777]

2 hours ago, gibsonchiq said:

I play open mics, i'm playing a festival next weekend, im also a recording artist.

However, im not sure what the goal of this particular banner gibson is, whether i would even take it to a festival where im playing it outside and jumping around or just keeping it in the studio. It would be nice to have the ability to plug in, live though. 

Another question. 

If I went ahead, and went for a piezo under saddle transducer like the LR Baggs Element VTC, and the guitar doesnt sound as good unplugged, was it drilling the hole through the body for the pickup the issue, or is it the piezo itself?

another way of phrasing the question, can i undo the worsening of the unplugged sound by taking the piezo out, or is it permanently altered because i drilled that extra hole?

I feel like it should go back to how it was before since it comes with 6 holes already drilled through the body (for the strings)?

I am the wrong person to ask, sorry - I can’t stand the sound of Baggs Elements.....I have spent fortunes installing dual source pickup systems (pickup and mic and preamp) to get a realistic acoustic sound. I also own 4  true road warrior dual source Maton 808s, the best pickup systems in existence. 

So my advice would be to buy a passive soundhole pickup like the Mojotone or the Black Angel and take it out when finished. I myself would not be taking my newly bought Gibson to play outside, but ....people do.

 

BluesKing777.

 

 

[Murph]

18 hours ago, dhanners623 said:

Another consideration to keep in mind is that unless your audience is made up of gearheads, they don’t care if you’re playing a pricey Gibson or a cheap Chibson. Their two main criteria are 1) can we hear the guitar? and 2) can we hear the guitar? That’s it. We obsess over the intricacies of the guitar and sound, but they don’t.

Words of wisdom.

[jt]

I regularly gig with my vintage Gibsons. If micing the guitar is not an option (because of a noisy environment), I use an LR BAggs soundhole pickup, with the cable hanging out the soundhole.

 

Here's a very old video of me playing my 1942 Banner LG-1 at a club in Liverpool, England:

 

[dhanners623]

1 hour ago, jt said:

I regularly gig with my vintage Gibsons. If micing the guitar is not an option (because of a noisy environment), I use an LR BAggs soundhole pickup, with the cable hanging out the soundhole.

 

Here's a very old video of me playing my 1942 Banner LG-1 at a club in Liverpool, England:

 

The Baggs M1 (or M80) with the cord hanging out is a great and affordable solution to getting a good sound with a pickup that involves zero modification to the guitar. (I’m reminded, though, of Lyle Lovett, who famously uses a Sunrise with the cord hanging out. He says he does so because he can’t bear the thought of having someone take a drill to his Collings guitars to make a hole for an endpin jack. Of course as people at the Collings shop have noted, the irony is that the tape Lovett uses to secure the cord to his guitar screws up the finish.)

I will posit there is no “best” guitar pickup. What sounds like a great pickup in my guitar might sound lousy in yours, and vice versa. Also, you’re not the only person in the equation; there may well be a sound person involved at the gig (or an engineer in the studio) and they will have their idea of how the guitar should sound. Then there’s the equipment the sound is actually coming out of. A great pickup played through lousy speakers is going to sound bad.

Another factor to consider for what is “best” is how much alteration you want done to the guitar. A Baggs M1 requires none. The Maton system referred to elsewhere requires cutting a rectangle of wood out of the lower bout to install the rather sizable control panel. Heaven knows what the whole shebang weighs.

Years and years ago, I was a broke college student who could only afford a “lawsuit” Takamine F-360. From 20 feet away, you’d swear it was a D-28. When you started playing it, you definitely knew it wasn’t a D-28. It had a plywood top and the sound was on the tinny side. I got a Baggs LB6 pickup installed — the very first pickup Baggs offered. Plugged in and with just the right EQ, it was an excellent-sounding guitar. One guitar repair guy told me it was because of the combination of the pickup and the plywood top, which vibrated less (and made for a cleaner signal) than most solid tops. So the bottom line is, there are a lot of variables is what pickup might sound good in your guitar.

Edited September 17, 2023 by dhanners623

[gibsonchiq]

5 hours ago, dhanners623 said:

The difference in sound (if there is any) comes not from drilling a small hole for the wire(s) attached to the piezo element. The difference comes from inserting the piezo element between the saddle and the bottom of the saddle slot. Unless everything is perfectly flat, there will be issues, plus you’re breaking the connection between the saddle and the guitar. Also, I’m convinced — although others can argue otherwise — that the added weight of a volume/tone control and a battery pack have an impact on the tone. I had the Baggs Element system removed from my ‘16 J-35 and the guitar was lighter and sounded better to my ears.

I’m confused by your reference to being unsure of the “goal” of the guitar. The guitar’s goal is to make music. It is a tool. While it is an expensive guitar, it is not an heirloom vintage guitar that requires babying. Take care of it, yes, but it’s built to be played. At open mics. At gigs. At festivals. At the local farmers’ market. In your living room. I’m always intrigued by people who go to the expense of buying a good guitar and then develop a phobia about taking it out of the house.

If you’re a recording artist, perhaps provide us with some samples of your work or a performance video or two. It might be easier to judge what might work best for you after hearing/seeing those. There are a lot of knowledgeable people here with many years’ experience. I have learned much from them.

What I mean to say is I don't know what this guitar excels at. It's my first Gibson. I have some guitars that are good at some things and better at others and if I have a guitar that's really good at something that another is really bad at, I will use it for its respective things

[fortyearspickn]

3 hours ago, jt said:

I regularly gig with my vintage Gibsons. If micing the guitar is not an option (because of a noisy environment), I use an LR BAggs soundhole pickup, with the cable hanging out the soundhole.

 

Here's a very old video of me playing my 1942 Banner LG-1 at a club in Liverpool, England:

 

Amazing   rendition of two songs.  I heard a Chet Atkins recording of the blend -  got the tablature...  Decided I'd stick with chewing gum and walking !   Sort of funny how similar the two songs are !   Great, thanks. 

[Jinder]

If I was amplifying a new Gibson and wanted a non-invasive install, I’d go with the new(ish) Baggs Hi-Fi. Similar to a K&K but active, great sound and super lightweight. No glue etc, will need the endpin hole reaming to accept the strapjack but that’s it. 
 

They are relatively feedback resistant and are very natural sounding. I’m seriously considering putting one in my SJ200.

[gibsonchiq]

36 minutes ago, Jinder said:

If I was amplifying a new Gibson and wanted a non-invasive install, I’d go with the new(ish) Baggs Hi-Fi. Similar to a K&K but active, great sound and super lightweight. No glue etc, will need the endpin hole reaming to accept the strapjack but that’s it. 
 

They are relatively feedback resistant and are very natural sounding. I’m seriously considering putting one in my SJ200.

This is actually what I ordered for the reissue custom shop today.

 

Sometimes I hit the top to get a kick drum sound. I hope the hifi can pick that up well and translate it into a kick like sound

[BluesKing777]

1 hour ago, gibsonchiq said:

This is actually what I ordered for the reissue custom shop today.

 

Sometimes I hit the top to get a kick drum sound. I hope the hifi can pick that up well and translate it into a kick like sound

 

Cool!

Please don't forget to report back later on how you find the guitar AND the pickup!

 

BluesKing777.

 

 

[jt]

19 hours ago, fortyearspickn said:

Amazing   rendition of two songs.  I heard a Chet Atkins recording of the blend -  got the tablature...  Decided I'd stick with chewing gum and walking !   Sort of funny how similar the two songs are !   Great, thanks. 

Thank you! It took me a long time to work that out.

[Murph]

1 hour ago, jt said:

Thank you! It took me a long time to work that out.

Slick as a snake's back, old man...

[jt]

11 hours ago, Murph said:

Slick as a snake's back, old man...

Thank you, kind sir.

[gibsonchiq]

I just got the guitar back from the luthier. So I had a few things done to the guitar. I had the action lowered, I had the LR bags high five installed and I added a strap button. The previous owner still had the factory strings on the guitar. So new strings were installed as well.

Unplugged the guitar seems to play a little softer, and I think I have lost a little bit of that dry Woody Gibson tone. Also it is way brighter, because of the new strings.

 

Plugged in with the LR bags hi-fi, I got to say, I don't really like it. You have to turn the tone all the way down in order to get the sparkly-ness of the strings out of the sound. The highs are so pronounced. It's like every little touch of the strings can be heard. And it's got this very brittle high frequency sound to it. I would almost argue that the pickup is unusable unless the tone is slammed all the way down.

 

Overall, I am kind of bummed about it.

 

String gauge stayed the same, I actually think that one of the bigger causes of the reduction in sound quality is the lowering of the action, the tension on a saddle is reduced in my opinion

[BluesKing777]

1 hour ago, gibsonchiq said:

I just got the guitar back from the luthier. So I had a few things done to the guitar. I had the action lowered, I had the LR bags high five installed and I added a strap button. The previous owner still had the factory strings on the guitar. So new strings were installed as well.

Unplugged the guitar seems to play a little softer, and I think I have lost a little bit of that dry Woody Gibson tone. Also it is way brighter, because of the new strings.

 

Plugged in with the LR bags hi-fi, I got to say, I don't really like it. You have to turn the tone all the way down in order to get the sparkly-ness of the strings out of the sound. The highs are so pronounced. It's like every little touch of the strings can be heard. And it's got this very brittle high frequency sound to it. I would almost argue that the pickup is unusable unless the tone is slammed all the way down.

 

Overall, I am kind of bummed about it.

 

String gauge stayed the same, I actually think that one of the bigger causes of the reduction in sound quality is the lowering of the action, the tension on a saddle is reduced in my opinion

 

No good?

Ratz.....

When you say plugged in, what are you plugging to? This could make a big difference in sound.

Pickups and forum advice....phew.....I’ve had 2 guitars with Anthem mentioned, OK but.....I didn’t really like. So, next mission is to firstly, make your paid for pickup sound better and if still no good, remove it and try the other 4000 pickups available......

 

BluesKing777.

 

Edited September 29, 2023 by BluesKing777

[Larsongs]

What are you plugging in to? What Strings are you using? Are they Electric Guitar strings? I’m using Martin Retro Monel (.011) Strings as they are designed for Acoustic and Electric playing.. All the other Strings I’ve tried sounded good unplugged but not plugged.. The Retro Monels sound great both Unplugged or Plugged…

I’ve had 2 Guitars with L.R. Baggs Anthem Electronics.. A Martin HD-28E & a Guild D-40E. I played both of them through 2 different Amps.. A Fender 65 Princeton Reverb Reissue & a modded Vox AC10-C1..

Both Guitars sounded excellent plugged in.. Although, I didn’t keep either.. 

As good as they were neither sounded better than my Martin D-35 with Fishman Electronics or my Gibson Bozeman Masterbilt Solid Top J-160E with P-90 & factory Passive Electronics… Also, each of the new Guitars sounded too similar to the Guitars I already have..

I wouldn’t hesitate to buy another Guitar with L.R. Baggs Anthem.. I’m still looking for one that sounds different than my 2 Guitars..

Good luck!

Edited September 29, 2023 by Larsongs

[gibsonchiq]

I'm plugging into a voice live 3 extreme into a JBL Eon compact one PA.

I use the pre section of the voice live 3 extreme to do a -18db reduction in the high frequency at 14,000hz with s bandwidth of 3.0 and it takes the edge off of the high shrill 

[BluesKing777]

42 minutes ago, gibsonchiq said:

I'm plugging into a voice live 3 extreme into a JBL Eon compact one PA.

I use the pre section of the voice live 3 extreme to do a -18db reduction in the high frequency at 14,000hz with s bandwidth of 3.0 and it takes the edge off of the high shrill 

 

That should sound great for guitar AND vocal!

So, though gear like that, I would want a pickup that needs.......err, no adjustment at all,  just sound great plugged direct.

So big pain, you need to sort this pickup or ...move it. And somehow try all the other pickups.....or fluke one you like. Could get expensive!

Like I said earlier, my Maton 808s are ready to plug anywhere, anytime.....good enough for Tommy Emmanuel, way too good for me then! But then you have to buy a Maton. I spent a small fortune trying to make my other guitars road ready like the Matons. After a lot of trial and error, and a large box of pickup failures, I found I like the K&K Trinity system. It has an internal mic and a K&K pickup in the guitar running to a black box preamp with controls  outside the guitar.......a bit of a nuisance - the comprehensive Maton controls are on the side of the guitars.

P.S. My first foray into the K&K Trinity - I took my guitar to my luthier and asked for him to order and install a K&K Trinity. When he rang me to say it is all done, I arrived to find he bought the wrong model -  a fully Onboard K&K Trinity system - everything in the guitar, battery, mini EQ, mini gain etc......the parts stick to the back of the guitar non permanently, I am told.....but it most certainly made the guitar a lot quieter acoustically, stopping the back moving! I forgave the luthier everything because it sounds sensational! And they don’t really make the onboard anymore - unless you order. So.....

 

BluesKing777.

 

Edited September 29, 2023 by BluesKing777

[Larsongs]

7 hours ago, gibsonchiq said:

I'm plugging into a voice live 3 extreme into a JBL Eon compact one PA.

I use the pre section of the voice live 3 extreme to do a -18db reduction in the high frequency at 14,000hz with s bandwidth of 3.0 and it takes the edge off of the high shrill 

Aren’t those for Vocals? I’m not a fan of all in one FX  devices for vocals.. And doubt I’d use them for Guitars. Especially Acoustic Electric Guitars.. Which, in my experience, aren’t as straight forward as an Electric Guitar to amplify.

If you have a good Guitar Amp try that.. Preferably a Tube Amp. Use the Voice FX Pedal with the JBL for voice.. I think you’ll get much better results..

The Gibson 50’s LG-2 uses an Anthem VTC… They must have thought it best suited that Guitars.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/OCSBLG50VS--gibson-acoustic-50s-lg-2-vintage-

I’m not finding any YouTube Demos that demo the Anthem with LG2’s?

Good luck.

Edited September 29, 2023 by Larsongs

[fortyearspickn]

Sorry to hear you feel your 'new' LG2 is not as 'tuneful'  after the various adjustments.  I'd sort of prioritize the issue you discussed in a concurrent thread - the leaning saddle in the bridge slot.  From the photo in that thread,  it looks ... not good.   My observation then was to get it fixed as soon as you could.  My observation now, that your luthier attempted to, but was unable to fix that issue, is the same - you should get it addressed, before tweaking other things like lowering the action.  I'm sure it's a great guitar and  there is someone out there who can fit a saddle to the slot so it isn't leaning forward like a big dog.  Consider a tusk saddle.  More consistent than bone though not what a  purist might choose.