Comments on: Acoustic Guitar Tones

By: My Guitar Music

My Guitar Music — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 05:55:20 +0000

K&K Western Standard Acoustic Guitar Pickup…

Today post about something I should have done with my Taylor DN3 long time ago: install an acoustic guitar pickup to have decent sounding live instrument. My first guess (without asking anyone) was to find something portable that I can use live then ta…

By: Blake Simpson

Blake Simpson — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 04:03:36 +0000

I cringe when I hear someone on the smooth jazz station playing lead on what sounds like a plugged in Ovation (of which I’m on my third, btw.) I got the most amazing recorded sound out of an $80 auditorium-sized Epiphone with a cheese-o Audio-Technica mic into the ol’ Fostex X-15 4-track. It’s what’s happening in front of a well-set up gtr with good strings that we wanna hear. The new preamps are sounding better and better, but like you say, it’s the touch. (Really, really thin picks are sort of a magic bullet for a silkier sound, imho.) And why do so few people use a high-strung (Nashville) guitar onstage? That’s a very forgiving setup, and Pete Sifuentes used to string his Guild that way whenever we played with Fitts. You’re on my soapbox there, Sam…

By: chris

chris — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 11:57:39 +0000

Great post. I’ve got a guitarist on a worship team that sits on a stool when he plays. His ono-board pickup is messed up so I use an MXL condenser on a stand pointed at about the 12th fret area. I get compliments every time from the audience when I do that.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 19:42:34 +0000

You’re the man. Totally want to echo how crucial it is to lock in with the drummer’s right side. Get off on that and it kind of sounds to me like the drummer is playing a second hi-hat with a third hand but that it’s not exactly in time.

Give me more tips for playing well!

By: Sam

Sam — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 18:28:35 +0000

Oh man, don’t get me started on the Taylor expression system.

I’ve only had one out of three sound good and that’s because it matched the player’s strumming style. The others had zero definition to the tone; all cardboard and ether. I know it’s possible to get great tone out of it but IMO it’s too complex of a system for the average guitar player to tweak on and honestly most players want to buy something that sounds great and just works. People will believe something sounds great by virtue of how much they spent and the brand name.

I do like Taylor guitars, don’t get me wrong. I just think the expression system is a mistake for most people especially in a full band context.

By: Tim Doll

Tim Doll — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 18:19:09 +0000

Solution: Play a McPherson :)

By: Marcus Burge

Marcus Burge — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 16:35:54 +0000

I completely agree. When I record in studio, I use a mic on acoustic, but it is so hard to use one live. There are a few (very few) guitar/pickup combinations I like, one being the gibson rig one of our WL’s is playing with right now. Everything else sounds like dirt to me and needs way too much work on it to make it sound decent just using the pickup inside. Our other WL’s taylor pickup sounds NOTHING like listening to the guitar unplugged, which means his requires all kinds of work to make it sound okay. A couple weeks ago I mixed for a guest with a martin, and it was okay, but still not the same.