How to install an acoustic preamp in your guitar.
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- Опубліковано 5 вер 2024
- GFS EAP-520 Acoustic Preamp LCD 4-Band EQ onboard tuner installed in this Oscar Shmidt acoustic guitar. To see the installation of an under saddle pickup and end pin jack please check out my channel. I have another video that covers that in detail.
Does anyone else cringe when that jigsaw starts? My relationship with my guitar wouldn't allow me to cut a hole in her. Under saddle for me. Thanks so much for both videos!
YES! I most definitely did
Maybe it's the camera angle, but I'd swear that was broken wood at 8:33. The when you come back, it looks cleaned up. I figured you had glued the backing up as well as cleaned up the whole. Thanks for the vid! I'm beginning the process of picking out a preamp and pickup.
Best video I’ve seen out of the 10 videos I’ve watched. Clear and concise. Thank you sir.
You have a really calm and soothing voice, my friend. You're like the Bob Ross of guitar destruction! :D
Thanks for demonstrating how to do this.first I marked the tape and placed the pieces on the side of the guitar, then I used a dremel 3000 to cut the holes.i got rid of the undersaddle pickup and just used 3 piezos and a balanced mic as pickups to make installation easier without messing with the action.
I'm glad my video was helpful. You certainly can plug the pickup and endpin jack to the EQ first. Im so used to having my arm inside a guitar and working by feel, that it's very easy for me. Thanks for the comment and you are right I should have shown it the way you suggest.
I have installed a couple now and both customers are very pleased with the natural sound and good articulation and attack. I have also have noticed a better resistance to feedback compared to the Piezzo's I have been using.
Thanks so much for taking the time to make these instructional videos. Excellent visuals for those of us that learn by seeing than reading!
Thank you, I'm glad you took the time to watch. I hope the videos help.
Glad I could help. I'm happy to answer any questions.
Thank you very much! That was extremely useful altogether with nice instructions.
Yes you can play it unplugged, As to which is better that is up for debate, To most, sound hole pickups or magnetic pickups make the guitar sound more like an electric guitar, and a lot of people may not like the unnatural look of a {shp}, An {usp} or Piezzo is harder to install and can be harder to controll feedback. I prefer the undersaddle myself.
The pre amp is convenient but the pickup sounds the same passive with an external EQ and is much less obtrusive.
Nice job....was watching you take your measurements on the inside, and realized someone who probably shouldn't be doing it his or herself might use the 28mm inside and not realize it is a straight across measurement and flatten a cloth tape measurer on the curve to measure. The good news is they will come up a bit short....better than long I guess. I also see it is good to make it a little small so you don't go outside with the jigsaw....you can always finish it up by hand I guess with a file or sanding. No?? If I do this, I will definitely have someone holding the preamp while I drill the screw holes. Always helps to have extra hands on things like this!!!
Good Job. Wish you showed more of the pickup install. but thanks.
Good video. Whistle while you work. ;-)
I was just thinking this this morning man you're good
Try a small hole for the plug head at the bottom instead, this large hole will crack or warp in time.
I recommend using a Dremmel with a cutting disc for cutting the place for the tuner/pre-amp. But otherwise great video.
This is one of the most satisfying video I've ever watched on UA-cam including that one video when you showed us how to install a piezo pickup. Thank you so much. Godbless you ☺️
I don't know what you saw but there is no crack any where. I use a laminate cutting blade that cuts like butter and does not even chip the wood.
Be aware that on a guitar where the sides are solid wood there will most likely be a hardwood brace spanning the sides including one pretty much where he has done the cut here. Because the preamp itself will act like a brace this isn't a big problem but you want to remove the brace before you start drilling and sawing. I have come across this being the case a few times,
The GE-7 is a great choice.
GREAT INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEO , THANK YOU
I used to use power tools, but I found the braces vibrated off their surface after a short while. The wood is also likely to split. It looks like you did a great job on this guitar! I use small hand saws to cut these into the guitar body. (Stew Mac sells awesome hand tools)
It looks worse than it is. the laminate bit actually cuts through the wood like butter. Thanks for watching!
instead of pickup you can use piezo transducer. install it under the bridge (little white plastic thingy)
Wow. The jig saw seemed quite scary. With no backing while cutting the thin wood, it didn't surprise me to see the cracked wood. Install turned out nice, but hopefully that guitar doesn't crack further where the saw broke the backing. Dremel it next time - better control and much less pressure on the wood.
Yes, anytime you cut a hole in the side of your guitar it will change the tone a little. Unfortunately you wont know much until it is done. Every guitar is different.
never use a jigsaw. goes off the rails too easy. also if youre dead set on using one, dont run the damn thng sideways and definately dont run it backwards.(you cant see where youre going).youll have better control if you just leave the blade facing forward like its supposed to. the ability to turn the blade left and right is mainly for tight spaces where the saw gets in the way, the best most controllable way is to get a 1/8" drill bit and follow your line and drill a bunch of holes very close together. and cut the little edges with a razor knife afterwards. also for a square line, dont put the speed square on the back of the guitar. it will make your unit crooked (only slightly though). the back side of acoustic guitars taper out. and it will throw off your measurement. same goes for finding the centerline. dont do it. find your approximate center measurement, then measure that amount from the FACE of the guitar for both the left and right lines and go from there. good vid, and not trying to bust balls man. just throwing some info out that ive gathered over the years. stay cool.
first of all my friend ...you don't drill holes or use a jigsaw....you tape the area with green painters tape , mark your dimensions , cut with exacto knife or cheaprock knife with new blade (FOLLOW LINES ) don't use to much pressure PASS OVER LINE UNTIL YOU ARE TROUGH be carefull at the end be gentle ..remove tape a little sanding to make the edges clean and have a snug fit....AND THEN NO MISTAKE ....
Beautifully installed! I noticed you cut some footage. How long did this actually take?
Great video! Keep up the good work :-)
Hi am i right in saying that you would replace your original endpin with the one that comes with the eap-520 and that endpin would also act as the jack for your amp input?
Thank you, It takes a little more than an hour start to finish.
Where's the pickup ?
@@Magicalfluidprocess With a pickup like this it goes under the saddle. A tiny hole is drilled to let the pickup wire feed into the body of the guitar, and the saddle/bridge piece needs to be filed down to make up for the additional thickness added by the piezo element itself.
thx...whistling is good too
thanks for the tip...i will do it...if it changes a little i dont care...i thought that it will change the whole sound of the guitar...so i can still practice with it unplugged?.. and another question...... is it better to put an undersaddle pickup with a preamp or a soundhole pickup ?
which sounds better to you??? the active or the passive... i have this old sigma acoustic i've been meaning to electrify and i was thinking of going with the passive undersaddle tecnique to not have to change batteries... if i want more out of my sound i could always use an eq pedal right?
I used my dremel tool to make the precise cut. Not as scary as using a skill saw.
Good job. Congrs.
hii sli43.... i want to install a piezo undersaddle pickup and a 5 eq band preamp on my acoustic guitar...the problem is that my acoustic guitar has a great unplugged sound and i wanted to ask you if installing the preamp will change my guitars unplugged sound ?
video kept stalling. I would really like to see this install. hope it works soon.
sweet :) thank you very much
Great Vid!
Hi ! I got two question to ask to you, if you please : do you do all of that on one of YOUR guitar or are you working for some brands ? And second, we didn't saw you plugging the input Jack and the Pick-up in the preamp : how did you do ? You seem to have all that's necessary to do that, it's not the same for me, for exemple. I'd like to do like you've done, cause many "just acoustic" guitars are sounding better than electric-acoustic guitars, so I suppose that if I can put a preamp and a piezo on a guitar that wasn't really made for that, it'll sound nicely. But anyway, your videos are very interesting to watch, thanks for the tips. CIAO BYE !
Hi, thanks for your questions and for watching watching.Yes, I do this as my job for customers. If you have skinny arms you can reach inside the guitar through the sound hole and tighten the nut, I have a special wrench just for this but it can still be very difficult. I plug the pickup into the preamp by feel. if you find it difficult just plug it into the preamp before you put it in the hole and screw it down.
Scott lajoie Hi ! Thanks a lot for your answer. Generally, the persons that I know that are working for customers don't wanna say it. I would like to be able to do like you, but personnally, I'm not good to do works with my arms, I'm better when I must "think of something" or making a "psychical job" (?) (sorry if my English isn't perfect, but English isn't my natural language : I'm half French, Half Senegalese). Hope you'll understand what I mean. I can't do that, but it interest me a lot since a period I've been working as instruments' seller during 2 years or a little bit more...And with all I read in Guitar magazines, I know many, many things about the elecric-acoustic guitars, without beeing pretentious. Thanks again. CIAO BYE !
I missed where and how you installed the pick up ..nice video though
Please.please pleeease... Você não mostrou como se prente o captador de rastilho. Não sei se vai direto no captador ou abaixo do rastilho. Tks
Thanks. Vienam Saigon
did you buy the pre-amp pickup and input Jack as a set? if so could you please direct me where to go to look up the info. I would love to do this to my guitar. but I don't know his to search for everything. I like how the Jack and pick plug in.
Yes, guitar fetishist has some decent stuff at a good price.
I hope you got it to play.....
what's with the whistle when speaking
he sounds like herbert
Dentures
what did you do 2 install the pickup? on the saddle?
thinking about buying this GFS 520 acoustic pre amp whats your opinion about this pre amp my question when you use the tuner does it mute the sound thanks great video's
Thanks for watching. I did this for a customer and he was very pleased. I think for the money it's a very good value. It's been awhile but I do believe the sound is cut when the tuner is on.
doing this as a project for college dont know anything really about guitars do you have to have a pickup on it ?? :)
Hello! I have a question. If I would install on acoustic guitar some preamp like this - would it work just on speaker, or it has to be amp? I would install a speaker direct on the guitar body...
you would need a something stronger to power the speaker. youre better off with an amp.
WARNING if you are going to do this remember to cut the hole on the side of the guitar that faces up I just cut the hole on mine as if I was a lefty. very happy that paid just £6 for it it will still just be a bit odd.
I have never tried it but I don't see why not.
That is right....
u measurements says length 28 millimeter & width 20mm thats just 2.8 centimeter & 2 centimeter respectively. Is the preamp so small really ?
I noticed the same - I'm wondering if his 'measuring stick' had a digital readout in inches and decimals, i.e. 2.8 the length and 2.0 the width..'cos that certainly looks more like the 'correct' size..
so how does the gfs pickup sound? im really thinking about putting one in!
would a boss GE-7 be enough?
can I use a dremel tool instead of a jigsaw?
Does cutting a hole of that size effect the acoustic tone of the guitar?
Yes, it's definitely a trade off. Every guitar is affected differently though. It's worth it to me if you are plugged in alot.
A spiral saw would work best for this!
How is it-gfs preamp.
what kind of pick-up is this?
Go to Artec sound for printable templates ;-)
possible to use nylon??
Did the pick up got installed by itself by night when no one was watching or what?
read the description, I have another video on that. thanks for watching.
what can I use if I don't have a jigsaw power tool? thanks
A multi tool or a dremel
Scott lajoie - i don't have either of those either
+Iggytommy Then you need to buy some tools.
jaywhid
- I used a heavy duty craft craft knife. it did the job fine. :) ta
+Iggytommy ... I installed; some preamps.... I dont drill and no jigsaw...what I do is first I tape the area, mark the spot,take a zip cutting knife and start following the lines.. dont push to much on it ..you have to pass on it quite a few times but the wood is not that tick ,give the knife time to do its work keep the hole snug...then sand your hole.. it allways works for me just be carefull.....make sure you have a good blade in your zip cutter... and good luck...
first of all my friend ...you don't drill holes or use a jigsaw....you tape the area with green painters tape , mark your dimensions , cut with exacto knife or sheetrock knife with new blade (FOLLOW LINES ) don't use to much pressure PASS OVER LINE UNTIL YOU ARE TROUGH be careful at the end be gentle ..remove tape a little sanding to make the edges clean and have a snug fit...
He did just fine. I tried using a box cutter and that just doesn’t cut through the wood. Maybe you can use it as a guide but not cutting.
What the hell is a cheaprock knife? Do you mean a sheet rock knife? I`m guessing you mean utility knife! www.google.com/search?q=utility+knife&client=firefox-b-1&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwicn4ujz-bfAhULYK0KHawoBGoQ_AUIDygC&biw=1360&bih=636
Uncle Pecos
28 millimeters are you sure.
не особо аккуратно сделал. Я бы постеснялся такое выложить.
cracked it so rough
так что не смотреть.
LOL!!!!!!
What a mistake don’t cut a hole in your guitar mic pickups are better
Good lord stop this madness
your saw is scarry..i stopped watching...
It sounds and looks much worse than it is. Using a new Boch laminate blade and a rubber pad glued to the bottom of the saw it actually cuts like butter with very little vibration. I have cut into guitar bodies many times with no chip out. A multi tool or a Roto zip creates much more vibration than this and can loosen braces.
Scott lajoie i just resonated your fear..pun intended yes i have little tools..i had and still have to confront my Martin Uke and My Guild guitar issues on dead pick ups..either lrbaggs over sound hole for ax and undersadle to pin pick up for uke..[ to avoid "SAW 2']thanks fro responding and at least you calmed me down by saying bigger is better sometimes on some delicate stuff..i think i will complete the viewing....(: