Almuse soundhole pickup for bouzouki

[zoukboy]

Just wanted to give another shout out to Pete Mallinson of Almuse Pickups. I had him make a custom soundhole pickup for my Herb Taylor bouzouki and I recd it yesterday.

Finished the installation today (required a second output jack as I already have a B-Band AST in it). It fit perfectly and went in without a hitch. I soldered it to the output jack today and got to try it out. After making slight adjustments to the pole pieces for the two bass courses it is perfectly balanced and the sound is really first class.

I was not surprised as I have a Phantom Electric Bouzouki that Pete made and it has his handwound pickups, so I knew the quality of his work, but I wasn't quite prepared for just how great this thing sounds.

Highly recommended if you are looking for a magnetic pickup for bouzouki.

[Terry Allan Hall]

Very cool!

[Barry Wilson]

I need a better pickup for my OM.

[Tom Wright]

Really elegant.

I feel that a magnetic pickup in the right place can be very resonant, musical, and expressive, without the sterile sound of a piezo in the bridge or the cranky body resonances and feedback of contact pickups. I note Dagger Gordon has one on his 10-string. It is easy to arrange when you have a round soundhole, and the location is useful.

If you haven't tried this, you should build an outboard volume/tone control box, with passive pots duplicating the typical electric-guitar system. The tone result is really sweet, without the jangly harshness of the wide-open tone, not to mention the freedom to use adjustment as needed in performance. I find a magnetic into a K&K preamp not nearly as pleasing as through the passive volume/tone controls.

[Colin Lindsay]

Any damage to the instrument? I really need one but don’t want to fit it permanently, and don’t want to mark the wood around the sound hole. Do they come in different sizes? My Fylde is 2.5 inches but the Sobell is 4 inches, plus it’s oval…. (the one in my avatar)

[zoukboy]

Really elegant.

I feel that a magnetic pickup in the right place can be very resonant, musical, and expressive, without the sterile sound of a piezo in the bridge or the cranky body resonances and feedback of contact pickups. I note Dagger Gordon has one on his 10-string. It is easy to arrange when you have a round soundhole, and the location is useful.

If you haven't tried this, you should build an outboard volume/tone control box, with passive pots duplicating the typical electric-guitar system. The tone result is really sweet, without the jangly harshness of the wide-open tone, not to mention the freedom to use adjustment as needed in performance. I find a magnetic into a K&K preamp not nearly as pleasing as through the passive volume/tone controls.

Tom,

I hear you but I think that might be more of a necessity for going into a direct box and sound system rather than the way I intend to use, which is into an amp.

[zoukboy]

Any damage to the instrument? I really need one but don’t want to fit it permanently, and don’t want to mark the wood around the sound hole. Do they come in different sizes? My Fylde is 2.5 inches but the Sobell is 4 inches, plus it’s oval…. (the one in my avatar)

None. It is custom-sized to the soundhole and string height and both the upper pickup "wings" on the top and the threaded cleats below are really well padded. Installation was a cinch. The hardest part was soldering the connections and attaching the endpin jack. I used one of these: http://www.guitarfetish.com/Chrome-G...ars_p_157.html

I already have a B-Band AST soundboard transducer and A1.2 preamp installed and blending the two sounds really good.