Humbucker in an acoustic? Help....

[PowerTube]

Okay, so I'm recording a sort of "Christmas Album" for my wife and I'm hoping to be finished by early next week at the latest.

Here's the issue:

I've done eight songs on the Jackson, but now I want to do a track with my old acoustic. I can get a snap-on type acoustic pickup locally for $25.00, but I really don't want to spend the money for just one song. Plus, the acoustic in question is a total cheapie. Last night I tried just miking it through the POD, but my mike is junk and it doesn't pick up for squat.

I'm thinking of taking an old humbucker and wiring it to an input jack, then mounting it to a popsicle stick or whatever and taping it in the sound hole as a temporary solution.

Two questions:

1. Will it sound passable? I honestly think it will as long as I EQ it right.

2. Where should I run the ground wire?

[Number Of The Priest]

Re: Humbucker in an acoustic? Help....

In my opinion, there isn't enough steel in the brass acoustic strings for the electric guitar pickup to pick up. That's why acoustic guitars typically have that under-saddle piezo transducer stuff which detects direct vibrations rather than sensing the magnetic field being disturbed. However, the high E and B strings are plain steel and those may be louder than the wound low E, A, D, and G strings.

But, keep in mind that I've never tried something like this, so I could be talking about of my arse. What you might want to try is putting nickel-plated steel electric guitar strings on the acoustic. Try to match the gauge. Then, the humbucker may be able to pick up the magnetic field disturbances a bit better.

[etaeniura]

Re: Humbucker in an acoustic? Help....

I actually put acoustic strings on an electric one time and it worked-it didn't sound great-but it worked. The ground wire will attach to the other lug on the jack that id for the "sleeve" of the cable. If it is a 2 conductor pup, the hot goes to tip, ground to sleeve. It will hook up the same as an electric guitar.

[Emthrax]

Re: Humbucker in an acoustic? Help....

So.. like... a... Humsicle?? [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

I have NO idea if that would work, but that is a real interesting idea.
Sorry I am no help (I use a Dean Markley pup in my acoustic). But good luck. I'd be interested to hear what you do!

Humsicle... hee hee.

Em

[PowerTube]

Re: Humbucker in an acoustic? Help....

[ QUOTE ]
So.. like... a... Humsicle?? [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]


[/ QUOTE ]

[img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[Ace]

Re: Humbucker in an acoustic? Help....

NOTP is right about brass strings sounding like total crap. Also if you just ground the pickup to the input jack you are going to get a ton of noise. If you can, make a jumper cable with two alligator clips on the ends, and attach one end to the ground and one to something conductive that is in contact with the strings, preferably all of them. Maybe try wrapping them above the nut with tinfoil. Use the lowest output humbucker you can find, and maybe try and wire in a VU knob. It will look hideous, and not sound right, but it should work.

[Grandturk]

Re: Humbucker in an acoustic? Help....

I don't suppose you have a POD XT, do you? The XT has an accoustic-like amp model that doesn't sound that bad in a pinch.

[nonamemx]

Re: Humbucker in an acoustic? Help....

Buy the pickup, use it, RETURN IT! [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[dinkyjacksonman]

Re: Humbucker in an acoustic? Help....

Why not to buy a Boss Pedal that has Acoustic sound?
Don't remember the model # though..

[Brad_Olson]

Re: Humbucker in an acoustic? Help....

If you are going to need a better mic eventually,
you may want to buckle now and get one. "Honey, I needed
the new microphone to record your Christmas CD. I was just
being thoughtful!" [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

[xenophobe]

Re: Humbucker in an acoustic? Help....

Just buy the accoustic pickup and return it. lol Buying a good mic is another option.

[Number Of The Priest]

Re: Humbucker in an acoustic? Help....

[ QUOTE ]
Why not to buy a Boss Pedal that has Acoustic sound?
Don't remember the model # though..

[/ QUOTE ]

Boss AC-2 Acoustic Simulator pedal. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[dinkyjacksonman]

Re: Humbucker in an acoustic? Help....

Yea, that's the one.
I've heard the demo of that pedal and it sounded amazing..
Would be the best way to get an acoustic sound out of my Jackson and save money without buying a Koa Taylor [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Number Of The Priest]

Re: Humbucker in an acoustic? Help....

Haha, that's interesting because I was playing the koa Taylor for an hour yesterday, then decided to play the Shannon for another hour through my GT-6 and trying to dial in a good acoustic simulation tone, but kept thinking how much it sucked in comparison to the real acoustic guitar... [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] You'd think by now, in a world of near-perfect distortion/amp modelling and multi-effects processors with a huge array of high quality effects, that they would have perfected acoustic tone simulation, but noooooooooooo! [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[dinkyjacksonman]

Re: Humbucker in an acoustic? Help....

Do you play your Acoustic with any amps or just play unplugged?
I am sure it would sound sweet without any amps but I never like the sound of preamps in these electric acoustic and always prefer to have a mic in front of the sound hole of acoustic..

I would love to have a nice acoustic like yours and it doesn't have to have the preamp in it.
I would just play it unplugged [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]