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Best type of pickup for classical/nylon stringed acoustic


spiral light

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A friend of mine asked me about getting a pickup for his nylon stringed acoustic so he can play it through an amp. There's the soundhole variety of pickups, piezos and I've also seen mini microphones mounted in the soundhole. Personally I would recommend the microphone mount to get a more acoustic sound but maybe the pickup method would work fine??? I don't think he wants to spend big bucks, but I would also like to suggest something decent to him, any ideas???
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A friend of mine asked me about getting a pickup for his nylon stringed acoustic so he can play it through an amp. There's the soundhole variety of pickups, piezos and I've also seen mini microphones mounted in the soundhole. Personally I would recommend the microphone mount to get a more acoustic sound but maybe the pickup method would work fine??? I don't think he wants to spend big bucks, but I would also like to suggest something decent to him, any ideas???

 

A soundhole pickup won't work because those are magnetic & the top 3 nylon strings are nylon, i.e. non-ferrous, so no interaction with magnets & coils. Piezos, in my opinion, sound like crap. They're harsh, scratchy, & brittle, which is especially bad, given the mellow nature of nylon strings. Internal mics are the most realistic of the built in variety, but are the most prone to feed back. I would always go with a good external mic, but if there's some overiding reason not to, where convenience is more crucial than sound quality, I'd steer your friend to an internally mounted mic.

 

Scott Fraser

Scott Fraser
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My experience with Nylon strings mirrors Scott's. The absolute best solution is to not exceed that hall capacity that the volume of your technique and your guitar can produce unamplified. If you have to use amplification, then the best reproduction is using an external mic and PA, and use as little volume as you can get away with.

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BWAAAHAAAHAAHAAA!!!

 

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I'll third the "external mic" and add that a good classical played with good technique is surprisingly loud.

 

That said, Sharon Isbin, who has gorgeous live tone (and is a hottie to boot!) uses a small wireless mic clipped to her soundhole. You'd need a hi-fidelity amp, something that doesn't add color to the sound (like an electric guitar amp does).

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A soundhole pickup won't work because those are magnetic & the top 3 nylon strings are nylon, i.e. non-ferrous, so no interaction with magnets & coils.

 

Scott Fraser

 

Duuuhhh!!!! I should have realized that, it was early when I posted. Sounds like an overwhelming external mic.

 

Thanks :thu:

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