Humbucker + Acoustic

[blackjack]

i have an acoustic guitar that i hardly ever use, and some variety of humbucker i removed from my les paul ages ago.

i was thinking that for a bit of fun i could attach it to my old acoustic. it wouldnt be hard to do, and it i wouldnt be bothered if it messed up or sounded bad.

but just out of interest, does anyone have any idea what it would sound like? its just a standard acoustic guitar, nothing fancy and a normal les paul pickup.

how do pickups react with acoustic strings?

thanks for your time

[LukeR]

From memory, didnt Kurt Cobain use something similar at the unpugged concert?

You will have to use electric strings, however.

[crafty]

There's no reason to use electric strings at all. Just as long as they're regular steel-strings the pickup will be able to sense the strings with no problem. You can't really use it on a nylon/classical guitar, obviously, but it shouldn't be a problem with a regular guitar. I use a Seymour Duncan Woody with my Big Baby Taylor and it sounds great.

Some magnetic-soundhole pickup manufacturers put some kind of volume control on the pickup. Gibson used to do this before they had piezo-bridges and would simply mount the volume on the upper bout of the instrument. With the humbucker, you may lose some of the clarity and high-end of the frequency range, but it should sound fairly good. Especially if it's out of a Gibson Les Paul.

[frank falbo]

Well, there is a reason to use electric strings, but I wouldn't. Soundhole pickups are designed to give you a lot more volume on the wound strings. Acoustic strings are generally wound with a non-magnetic metal. So your pickup is "hearing" the steel core of the string and not the winds. That means that all the wounds strings are much quieter than the top two. So you can screw the screw poles way down on the top two strings and up on the wound ones, or you can use an acoustic or electric string with a magnetic wind. I don't know if DR still makes them, but they used to make a "Zebra" string which was a nickel wrap and a bronze wrap next to eachother. So if you looked close, the colors of the winds alternated. It looked cool, and the sound was somewhat in between an acoustic and electric set. But it works much better with a magnetic pickup.

[Drak]

Also, if you are thinking about cutting a hole in the top to mount it, you will probably be cutting into a brace underneath and possibly sacrifice some part of the tone or structurally disembowel the thing.

...Really, I'd recommend using a pkp specifically designed for an acoustic as Frank described and leave the magnetic pkps to your electric guitars.

[HeavnerGuitarWorks]

I did this once and I would NOT recommend doing it. I installed a Gibson humbucker on my old acoustic (one of the nicer Harmony guitars if that is possible). I cut the last fret off the guitar and attatched a slightly modified pickup mounting ring to the top of the guitar. When I plugged it in and played at a low volume it was fine. Not quite acoustic sounding. When I turned the amp up... that's when all hell broke loose. Feedback out the arse. And I'm not talking about the high pitched squeal, but the low rumble of the low E string. You could actually see the string wildly vibrating out of control. Yes, the pickup was at a decent height... before anyone asks. Of course, it was a high output pickup, so I'm sure that didn't help. Its funny though, cause the singer for Cake had the exact same guitar with a humbucker duct taped in the soundhole that he played at all of their shows and never had that problem. I guess it's all in how you mount it.

Edited November 18, 2004 by HeavnerGuitarWorks

[LukeR]

Thanks frank- thats what i meant. years ago, i broke a D on my sg, and, with the shops closed at that late hour, borrowed a D from my accoustic.

Luke

[unclej]

i've got two old silvertone flat tops without truss rods and the strings were so high that i set them up for dobro style playing. just for fun i put a single coil in one and a humbucker in the other. i actually mounted them in the sound hole by using pickguard material and making a holder that lapped over the sound hole and i screwed it on. on this one i even installed volume and tone pots. using acoustic strings it sounds pretty raunchy..and that's a good thing.

http://www.villagephotos.com/pubbrowse.asp?folder_id=1099280

[Douchebag]

Check out early Alarm videos, you'll see how it's done

I think it'll probably sound better if you put it towards the bridge, but definitely look inside the guitar first. You don't wanna cut the top's bracing when you make a hole for the pickup.

[Kyle Cavanaugh]

I mounted an AlNiCo V humbucker in the neck of a dreadnaught type guitar's soudhole by taking one of those rubber feedback reducers and cutting it with a razorknife and screwing it on. It wasn't very close and I had to lower the polepieces on the B and E strings signifigantly. It was great for Jazz, but not great if you want to simulate the acoustic guitar's natural character.

[blackjack]

thats alright, im not tryig to simulate the acoustic sound, it already has an acoustic pickup in the bridge. i want to create a sound similar to jack whites live sound.

i had a look and it appears there is no bracing near the bridge that im going to hit if i place it correctly.

i might use the soundhole cover idea seeing as its easy and means not damaging the guitar

[sashimimi]

I was reading once about the beginings of electric guitars and your stories of feed back reminded me of that. The original electrics (know as spanish electrics SE for short) had that same feedback problems. That led to the invention of the solidbody (to stop some of the feed back). I believe that if you tried it it could be a neat project idea but could damage the guitar top through the excessive vibrations. But if you dont care about the guitar why not experiment and have fun.

[Kyle Cavanaugh]

If you're trying to sound like Jack White, why don't you save yourself the trouble of messing with the acoustic and just get yourself a cheap 60's Japanese solid-body from a pawnshop. Trust me, you don't need a very expensive setup to sound like that guy. In fact, the cheaper the better, IMO.