Choosing an Acoustic Pickup

I have used a Schaller soundhole pickup on my Eko Ranger6 for MANY years.
I take it off when I do not need to use it. It was never a great match because the pickup was never wide enough for the string spacing.

Now I have a new Crafter DLX3000 . I chose it for its acoustic sound with a plan to sort the pickup later. I chose it because it also has wider than average string spacing.

If I had bought an electro-acoustic it would have come with an under-saddle piezo-electric pickup.
I had assumed that I would be adding one of these.

But having spent the money, the idea of drilling holes is a little daunting. So first I bought another soundhole pickup, Artec – MSP-50. It is pretty good and has adjustable pole pieces so that I get much more even pickup from each string. But it does impede the acoustic sound a little.

Looking harder at 'invisible' under-saddle pickups I started to see references to 'quack' and comments that such pickups can be quite harsh. Then I found Schatten.

The Schatten HFN installs inside the guitar, under the bridge.
I bit the bullet...
I'll let you know how it goes....

Want to try a wide neck?

I am very happy with my Crafter DLX3000/SK.
If you can get to Reading (UK) and want to try it, drop me a line.
In exchange for a contribution for my time etc, I'd be pleased to let you try it.

You can compare it with my old Eko Ranger 6, and try a yamaha FG-312 12 string, and bring your own guitar for reference.

I'm now selecting the right pickup to install.

My list of guitars

Bottom line:
I bought a Crafter DLX3000/SK from Modern Music in Truro

I did try a Tanglewood TSM at Mr Music - beautiful but out of my budget (£1200)

Other wide necks that I would have liked to try include:

• Tanglewood TW15WN / TW15NSWN try Mr Music
• Hopf D 6-0 47 TA
• Timberline T70D
• Seagull Artist

Now I will add the Tanglewood TW73WN (the 'WN' is key). A Parlour, not a Dreadnought, but I would like to compare.

The hunt for a new guitar

I went looking for a new acoustic guitar.
There are thousands, but if you know what you want it is hard to find!
If you want to try before you buy then it is nearly impossible.

I had an old Eko Ranger6.
I wanted a new Dreadnought.
I wanted to choose it for its acoustic sound, but occasionally want to plug it in.
After a few discussions I accepted the advice to ignore pickups until I had chosen my guitar, then get a pickup installed.

Faced with the huge range I decided to reject cutaways, on the basis that the reduced body size would have a negative impact on the acoustic sound, and I just don't play up there.

Then I discovered 'nut width', string spacing. The nut is the bit of plastic or bone right at the top of the fingerboard.

A typical nylon-strung classical guitar has a nut-width of 51mm (2 inches).
Every electric guitar I have seen has a nut-width of 43mm (1 11/16 inches).
My Eko has a nut-width of 47mm.....
I like to finger-pick mostly ( I have a 12-string Yamaha strumming machine for big chords).
I tried a few guitars and found that finger-picking the narrow neck was challenging.
Then I discovered that almost every acousic guitar today has an electric guitar nut-width.

So I decided to look for guitars with wider neck and got very frustrated with the number of guitar web-sites that do not state the nut-width, even the makers.

Bottom line:
I bought a Crafter DLX3000/SK from Modern Music in Truro http://www.modernmusic.co.uk/