xero54 Posted September 2, 2004 Report Share Posted September 2, 2004 Hey, I need some help. I've been playing guitar for a year now and i have a classical and an elecrtic. What i want to know is how exactly i can pit a pickup (preferably a humbucker actually) into an steel-string acoustic. I love the twang (for lack of a better term) of an acoustic but i love distortion. How can I have my cake and eat it too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MurphC Posted September 2, 2004 Report Share Posted September 2, 2004 First remember that you won't get that good of a distorted tone with an acoustic guitar. Also, acoustics ar every difficult to amplify and keep the original tone. There are pickups whoich go in the soundhole, I have used these but the cord tends to get in the way. Alternatively you might be able to install something more permanent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meegs666 Posted September 2, 2004 Report Share Posted September 2, 2004 well first off, is it a guitar you are building or are you installing this on the aforementioned classical? because a classical wont pick up on a humbucker cause it has nylon strings. second of all, you might get more responses if you post in the hollowbody and acoustic category. and also murphc beat me to the tone part. you seriously wont be able to get the same acoustic qualities like the resonance because a piezo, or in your case a humbucker, will only pickup the vibration of the strings. it wont mic your acoustic properties. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlGeeEater Posted September 2, 2004 Report Share Posted September 2, 2004 is it a guitar you are building or are you installing this on the aforementioned classical? because a classical wont pick up on a humbucker cause it has nylon strings He said it was a steel string Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAI6 Posted September 3, 2004 Report Share Posted September 3, 2004 (edited) I have a classical and an elecrtic. As well as Classical........ So, the question is, which is it? Not that it matters, because the answers that have been given so far relate to both of them. More or less... Edited September 3, 2004 by RAI6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xero54 Posted September 3, 2004 Author Report Share Posted September 3, 2004 Hey, thanks for all the replies. Firstly, Im trying to fit a humbucker into an acoustic (steel-string) to get the effect of having an electric guitar. I know that it's possible because I've seen em on tv a couple times (once was during a live performance by nirvana where kurt was using an acoustic with a humbucker in it and the other was the white stripes at last year's mtv awards.) I thought i could just use this second hand semi-acoustic guitar I saw. It's the kind with a mic inside the body; no pickup. I thought I could fit the humbucker in between the sound hole and the bridge but i run into the problem of there already being one output jack for the mic, and I find myself wondering whether i should just create another jack for the humbucker or use the one from the mic. What i was really going after was a kind of all-in-one guitar. I didnt really need the acoustic side of the guitar to be amplified; just the humbucker. Basically what I was going after was to create a guitar which I could play as an acoustic (without it being plugged into an amp) and as an electric (plugged into and amp and using the humbucker), not really playing it as both together. My only problem is how close the strings would be to the humbucker. I think I'd have to either try to raise the bridge or build a rest to place the humbucker deeper into the guitar. Houw much would that affect the acoustics of the guitar itself? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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