Acoustic Guitar Pickups | How to CHOOSE and INSTALL

There are TONS of acoustic guitar pickup systems on the market. Dan and Blake show you how to install 3 of the most popular systems, the Fishman NeoD Magnetic Soundhole Pickup, The Schatten EP-01 Soundboard Transducer, and the L.R. Baggs Anthem SL. Practically no experience is necessary, and we even do a side-by-side sound comparison at the end.

Check it out!

0:00 Intro - 3 Great Pickup Options
0:57 Fishman Soundhole Pickup
2:01 Schatten Soundboard Transducer
06:14 L.R. Baggs Anthem System
10:00 Sound Demo

Items used in this video include:

Fishman Neo-D Magnetic Soundhole Pickup

Schatten Soundboard Transducer

L.R. Baggs Anthem SL System

Endpin Jack Reamer

Jack Installation Tool

StewMac Guitar Repair Magnet Set

3-Piece Inspection Mirror

Self-stick Wiring Clips for Acoustic Pickups

Pickup Clearance Gauges
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[mikedandurand]

The expensive one sounds best to me but that sound hole pickup was very nice. With cost and ease of installation considerations that is the one for me. Thanks for yet another very interesting and informative video.

[dudehenchman]

K&K Pure Mini. Only pickup I've heard that makes an acoustic instrument sound like an acoustic instrument. Plus, no battery.

[rayrivera]

Liked all three in their own way. The natural one with less hum was nice, also the clearity of the LR Baggs.

[thebreakfastmenu]

Man, I just love listening to Dan talk.

[chrisruef]

My Seagal artist has the LR Baggs. It has a couple of dial controls, including a battery tester button. High low/bass treble and volume. Thankfully, it was installed at the factory in Canada

[Mrsournotes]

I use a K & K mini on my HD28, with a slim endpin jack, so no drilling required. Also use an LR Baggs M1 on a ‘76 Guild D40. Did drill out the end pin hole. Both sound good, I prefer the K & K.
Thank you for the great video fellas.

Excellent video. I'm always amazed at the clever tricks and jigs luthiers come up with the get an awkward task done quickly and accurately

[cuillerierk]

Awesome video! I like the idea of how easily you can switch out the soundhole pickup, but the Anthem system sounds so smooth.

[Breakbeats.]

For my money I really liked the Fishman. Big and bright tone and the install is un-intrusive. The Baggs system would be great in a professional setting and the tone is just incredible.

[jonathanhandsmusic]

The magnetic sound hole is the easiest by far to use. It sounds good enough to me, but I’ve had one for years.

[CarlWatkins]

Fun video! I personally use a Seymour Duncan Mag-mic. You get a nice adjustable single coil pickup paired with a mic. A knob for mixing the two sources and a knob for master volume. Get the ease of a non-permanent install and an active mic pickup. Would recommend checking it out to anyone looking to plug in their acoustic.

[ia]

I feel exactly the same about that amazing LR Baggs Anthem SL - it's the pickup I went with for my Martin D-18 when it was demo'd by the Baggs channel. What an amazing sounding pickup. I think I may have screwed up and put the microphone further back towards the bridge pin holes, but that can always be reseated. I also didn't like the idea of my beautiful Martin's looks being spoiled by that cream colored sound hole plastic piece, so I mounted mine further back against a brace and I think it works out just fine. It's still close enough for me to adjust it if I ever need to. Best sounding acoustic pickup I've heard as well...

[johnf]

Wonderful video! Thank you for putting in the effort to create a clear top on the guitar so we could see what was going on underneath. Love your attention to detail 👍

[lyonsson]

Incidentally my least favorite was the passive piezo transducer, I’m stuck between the Fishman and the LR Baggs for a favorite.

[kevinsnyder]

Blake, I love your old Gibson lgo. ! I have one just like it - 1958 lgo, all original, plus the case ! It's too fragile, so when it does go out of the house, I put it in another case. I would add the sound hole pickup, cause I don't want to alter mine in any way. It sounds good enough for me. ! Thanks Dan & Blake - great video.! Dan's the man !

[axilleas]

One thing I will never do again is have a battery that needs to be fished out of a sound hole to be changed.
It is one of the many reasons I love the Isys system on my guitar, there’s an externally accessible compartment for the battery. And of course if you need the guitar to look more vintage for whatever reason you could always go with either a passive sound hole pickup or a K&K/JJB/Journeytek type of thing.

[vadeking]

Very informative! Definitely prefer the LR Baggs.

[MyFortressConstruction]

You deserve way more than 221k views on this video. Fantastic videography and tutorial. I love the acrylic faced guitar so that you can see inside. You're a great teacher Mr. Dan.

[tungtobak]

I had the fortune to find a 60s DeArmond soundhole pickup for $100 on ebay a while back. I don't think the seller knew what they had. It now sits in my heirloom parlor guitar (Levin, a Swedish brand) bought in 1934 by my grandmother, handed down to my mother and then to me.

[lyonsson]

I went with a Bartolini 3AV magnetic pickup a while back for my old Yamaha workhorse. I permanently installed it with 500k volume and tone pots. I liked it so much that I installed one in my mandolin and then built a thinline Tele with only that pickup in the neck position!