Acoustic Guitar Pickup Choices

Types

Undersaddle Pickups

Piezo pickups that are installed under the saddle have a small wire passing thru the bridge and top thru a tiny hole drilled beneath the saddle. The input jack is mounted in the end bock, taking the place of the original end pin.

Contact Pickups

Contact pickups are usually mounted on the bridge plate though there are some that mount to the bridge or top. They sense the vibration of the soundboard and as such are adept at picking up any tapping on the body.  

Because contact pickups do not rely on the saddles height or the strings pressure they often excel in providing a well balanced, even string balance and are ideal for instruments with non-standard saddle slots.

Soundhole Pickups

These are easy to install pickups that mount in the soundhole. They can be used on instruments which one would prefer not to alter or to uninstall easily.

Quite honestly, these use to sound simply awful, nothing more than a single coil electric guitar pickup on an acoustic guitar. Today however advances in technology have changed their bad reputation.

Dual Source Pickups

Dual source pickups are exactly what the name implies. Instruments with dual source systems achieve their sound by blending 2 different pickups. These types of pickups often give the player more options when shaping their sound and perhaps more importantly to some...the ability to use the microphone only when feedback is not an issue.

Internal Microphones

Microphones are often hailed for their accurate reproduction of sound. Due to a microphones natural tendency to feedback when used in a loud setting many opt to use them in a dual source set up, giving the user the ability to blend 2 pickup sources and handle a larger variety of demands.