Budget Acoustic Archtop Amplification for Looping

[ChordophoneChronicles]

Hi all,

Apologies in advance for tossing another log onto the bonfire of repetitive questions.

The guitar I am hoping to amplify is a fully acoustic 1960 Hofner Senator (picture below for anyone unfamiliar), through a Yamaha THR5A (which I already own for use with my flattops).

I want a recommendation for a pickup/mic system primarily for some jazz looping in my living room. Ideally the pickup system will faithfully reproduce the acoustic archtop sound, otherwise I already have a flattop with a piezo and a solid body electric with magnetic pickups if I want those sounds.

I also do not want to make any permanent modifications to the instrument, and ideally the system can be removed for when I am not looping (90% of the time). So I do not want a system which requires me to drill a jack hole for example.

The guitar does not have it's original bridge which I am planning to replace, and I am making a new custom pickguard for it, so happy for the bridge or pickguard to be modified or whatever to facilitate a pickup system if that gives me better options.

The only other requirement is that I do not want to spend too much - given that this is only a £350 guitar and my stage debut isn't happening any time soon!

Many thanks!

[JazzNote]

To fullfill all your requirements the only option i can think of would be to look at clip microphones which could be attached to the tailpiece. Or maybe the Krivo which can be attached to the top using putty, not sure though if the Krivo's price would be within your intended budget.

[ChordophoneChronicles]

Hi JazzNote,

Thanks for the suggestions. I think acoustically/tonally the microphone solutions are probably what I am looking for, however I am concerned that if using these for looping the microphone will pick up both the thing I'm playing live and the previously recorded loops I might be recording/playing over. At best this might give an unwanted chorus effect, and at worst could be a mess of feedback and delay. Any thoughts on this?

[docsteve]

I have a pretty similar Höfner. I amplified mine with a Fishman transducer bridge and a Schaller floating pickup. I always got complimets on my sound with the transducer. It sounds quite acoustic.



Schaller doesn't seem to be making pickups any more. Here is a picture: https://www.pourlesmusiciens.com/med...rge-126477.jpg

[JazzNote]

Hi JazzNote,

Thanks for the suggestions. I think acoustically/tonally the microphone solutions are probably what I am looking for, however I am concerned that if using these for looping the microphone will pick up both the thing I'm playing live and the previously recorded loops I might be recording/playing over. At best this might give an unwanted chorus effect, and at worst could be a mess of feedback and delay. Any thoughts on this?

If you use a cardioid mic, place it close to the f-hole and watch out where you place the amp so you can minimize the leaking, but the Fishman suggested by docsteve might be the best option .....

There's also the AKG C411 which has a very good separation to outside sounds (but this requires phantom, you will need a device for that and maybe because of this it would not work with a looper).

[John A.]

I'd suggest googling "stick-piezo pickup." There are many different ones at different price points. FWIW I've used the Dimarzio one (with a flattop). It's OK. It sounds like a piezo, and it takes some experimentation to find the right spot to stick it to, but it works (ish). I hedge that because I think that if you truly want decent sound for performance that is not a PITA to deal with, you need to get a higher quality system installed internally with an endpin jack. But if it's just for occasional shits and giggles, a stick-on is workable.