Re: Homemade Pickups
If you run them through a good preamp with a suitable (high) input impedance, and mount them carefully, these cheapos can sound surprisingly good. I fitted one recently for someone who had an ultra-restricted budget, and I was pretty impressed. He was very, very happy with it. He used it at an open mic we run the other day (through a pair of Fishman SA220's) and I closed my eyes, and thought "wow". It sounded as good as many far more expensive pickups, and even better than certain ones I've heard. This one was sold as a "Rebel" from someone in the Netherlands, via Ebay. I mounted it internally, close to the treble tone bar. It did not sound rubbish or "quacky" at all, but quite smooth with a typical soundboard transducer sound. Similar to a McIntyre feather or Baggs Radius (which I have on one of my own mandolins).
Gibson F5 'Harvey' Fern, Gibson F5 'Derrington' Fern
Distressed Silverangel F 'Esmerelda' aka 'Maxx'
Northfield Big Mon #127
Ellis F5 Special #288
'39 & '45 D-18's, 1950 D-28.
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