Humbucker + Acoustic

serfx · Post by **serfx** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 2:11 am

so when i broke the headstock of my ibanez acoustic back in december i ended up picking up this Simon & Patrick Luthier acoustic it's in S & P C SPRUCE
it had a pickup installed in it before, who knows it was in pretty rough shape when i picked it up from a shop down the road from my place for $60

anyways i still had one of the Humbuckers left that i had bought from Thom last august and was trying to decide how to mount it.

originally i had planned on making a bracket for it and mounting it in the sound hole, but nothing ever panned out with that plan. last week a couple of band mates were over and we were talking about some random things, and i had the guitar sitting in the corner of the dining room, when i was asked what the plan was, and a suggestion was made to mount it below the acoustic hole, by cutting out a spot for it.

me being who i am, thought that this plan was fantastic..

so.. here are the shots, i should have taken some of the wiring, but, i didn't..

now when i plug it in, tap on the pickup with a screwdriver i get sound out to the amp, however when i strum the volume is really quiet, but no grounding hum.
could be a bad pot, i'm not sure, when i adjust the volume pot nothing happens. so i'm gonna take it back apart and maybe replace the pot.

anyways, here is what it looks like for now.

VIDEO (click to play)

hotrodperlmutter · Post by **hotrodperlmutter** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 2:35 am

yeah, i did this same thing to a rogue acoustic i had and never could get it to work. the one time i did get loud sound of it, it was just crazy squealing feedback.

good luck with it, but i'm quite sure there's like 47 reasons why this isn't done more often.

Mages · Post by **Mages** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 2:37 am

do you have steel strings on it?

serfx · Post by **serfx** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 4:56 am

Electric strings, was a dirty pot and wired backwards, or left handed pot..

Either way, rewired it replaced all the shitty wire, took some photos and video, I'll post when I get back home.

holyCATS1415 · Post by **holyCATS1415** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 5:50 am

i'm surprised that the top didn't break when you strung it up, what with having cut out the x braces. i cant imagine that this is going to last very long. do you have super light
gauge strings on it o something?

serfx · Post by **serfx** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 6:15 am

11 - 52's with a wound 3rd.
Same thing I put on every guitar.

The bracing is still in tact minus that one part.
And it now braces with the humbucker from Thom

Mages · Post by **Mages** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 6:54 am

"captain we're sinking!"

"nonsense, the hull is still intact! ...minus that one part."

Mages · Post by **Mages** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 6:59 am

maybe a pickup ring could add back a little structural integrity. like a metal one like this:

serfx · Post by **serfx** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 7:05 am

not a bad idea, but really all it needs is just a piece glued in in front of the pickup attaching the two brace pieces at the top of the guitar.

pics and video uploading.
video features my buddy & the other front man of Zero Cool, KP.

serfx · Post by **serfx** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 7:36 am

pics and demoz

how i had it wired up.

some shots of the rewiring hidden because the quality is shit.

► Show Spoiler

after the rewire

i appologize about the shitty photos, and audio quality, i only had my crappy camcorder with me.

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 12:19 pm

Jim this looks really fucking cool. So cool I want to steal the idea and do it to a cheap beater acoustic if I ever find one. Can't wait to see the video when I get home from work.

holyCATS1415 · Post by **holyCATS1415** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 2:19 pm

im just saying the "X" is placed there on the design because that is where almost all the pressure from the string tension goes. i don't think a humbucker is going to effectively
replace that crucial portion of the bracing. eventually it will most likely collapse.

serfx · Post by **serfx** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 7:30 pm

meh. i bought it for $60 should it fall apart on me, i'll take off the strings, take out the pickup, and hang it on a wall. though the only part that is really flimsy is the part in front of the pickup, below the sound hole. i may add a bit of bracing infront and behind the pickup to the existing stuff.

Dave: thanks man. your words of kindness are very welcomed.

Thom · Post by **Thom** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 7:44 pm

Looks great

Glad to see the pickups being put to good use!

serfx · Post by **serfx** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 7:45 pm

thanks man, do you recall what brand they were, i know you sold them as no name humbuckers, kp was asking me, as he was really digging the sound.

Thom · Post by **Thom** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 7:53 pm

They came out of my first guitar an LP copy under the name "Legend", but I don't know much about the brand I'm afraid. I think that they were an Aria sub-brand, but have never seen one since, must have got it in 1995. I always thought that they sounded good, the only reason I swapped them out is that I needed an LP for some high-gain stuff and they fed back a lot with that much gain.

damienblair17 · Post by **damienblair17** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 8:21 pm

Awesome work dude!

Do an Sex Bob-omb:

[youtube][/youtube]

serfx · Post by **serfx** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 8:28 pm

i loves me some scott pilgrim

i'll be playing it saturday night for my acoustic show, hopefully the lady friend will shoot some video

weed_killer · Post by **weed_killer** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 11:25 pm

Sounds really cool. I tried this a while ago with a humbucker but ran into similar wiring problems and gave up. Nice Rise Above too!

serfx · Post by **serfx** » Fri Feb 11, 2011 1:12 am

i ran a ground cable in a loop under the bridge the bridge itself is steal or something, i dunno it was in it when i bought the guitar, all i know is that it is metal and not plastic.

i'm thinking of taking this to band practice tonight so i can hear it through my vox, despite the fact that i never use that amp when i play acoustic shows.