Yay! new to the forum, new guitar and a question

[Mart]

Hi there,

New to the forum and just bought myself a L32c . Or rather, will have by the end of next week. What a wonderful guitar. I have a Lowden O23 which I love to bits but having played the Avalon, was taken with the rich tone, which is nicely different to the O23, and of course the beautiful craftmanship, so succumbed to what I realise now was the inevitable! Gawd, I must stop going into music shops! Anyway, I just want to put in a pickup and so have a question about which under saddle pickup would one suggest? I have been reading about all manner of brands but I believe Fishman is recommended and was wondering how the pickup fits into the split saddle on the Avalon?

Mart

[Towzer]

Hi MAtt

there is a myriad of decent pickups and a lot of these vary in some sense
What someone perceives as good is not always the same to another ear

In any case on of the best pickup i have heard is the new LR Baggs M1
It sits inside the sound hole and advantage of this is that with a lot of preamps out there they will cut a piece of wood from your guitar in order to fit various units in ( Fishman, Artec, even some LR Baggs)
With this unit they dont do that so in 3 yrs if you want to experiment with another unit then at least your guitar is intact

Go into their website and see the reviews

http://www.fingerpick.com/pickups.htm

[JB]

hello chaps, dang ... just opened a tin of tuna for my lunch thinking I'd bought the extemely nice "tuna in olive oil" ... mmmnnnn smooth and tasty but NO .... same lookin' tin but in spring-water instead ... blah !

just not the same ....

anyways, onto pick-ups .... the Fishman matrix split is exactly that .. split .. or 2 piece, easy to fit.

other makers that use a flexible style pick-up are easy to fit aswell but sometimes need a few days or dare I say weeks to properly bed in for correct balance.
Our saddle slot takes a 2.3mm pick-up.

back to my not very nice lunch
JB

[Mart]

Thanks for the welcome Greypicker and thanks for the info JB. Kind of clears that up nicely. And that link is very enlightening ,thanks Towzer.

Mart

[JB]

lol .... ....

[Fletch]

Hi Mart, I am considering a K & K pickup for the L32C that I am saving up for! (Either the Pure/Ultra-Pure or maybe the Trinity. These are not stocked by Avalon, but they are worth considering. The K & K website has plenty of info. Enjoy your L32C!

Fletch

[oberon]

Another vote for K&K minis! They give a great sound with no fuss.I have fitted them in my Lowden O25 and S10, having removed from the O25 its original split saddle Fishman (OK but not great plugged in sound) and tried Headway Snake (great plugged in sound, but I think it took a little sparkle out of the acoustic sound even when well bedded in).
The K&K minis really bring out the different tones, acoustic characteristics and dynamics of the two different Lowdens when amplified. No battery, huge output despite being passive. Subtly better sound with K&K Pure XLR outboard preamp. You just have to pluck up the courage to superglue the things in first, or pay someone to do it for you, but it's not as hard as is sometimes made out. (Maybe I've just been lucky!)
The Avalons I've heard acoustically sound lovely - it's worth trying to preserve their characteristics when plugged in - K&K minis!
Hope this is helpful,
Bye now
Keith

[Son of Thunder]

I can say from recent experience that installing a Fishman pick-up in the Avalon is not at all difficult. The shims are the right thickness, the slots are routed out to the perfect width, holes are drilled where they need to go, etc. I installed a Fishman Ellipse Matrix Blend.

You may have to special-order a split-saddle version from your dealer. No one here in Vegas stocked the model I needed.