Bill Dutcher – Modern Acoustic Guitarist

Tips and Tricks
Acoustic amplification and pickup technology has also gone through some incredible breakthroughs.  People always ask, “What’s the best pickup.” Or ask, “What do you use?”  I encourage people to get out there and play as many different systems as possible.  Tone is in the ear of the beholder!  I personally have not found one pickup that does it all. 

I like to use a combination of a magnetic pickup with a soundboard transducer. A magnetic pickup gives more of the fundamental note and has a quicker attack.  Because it senses primarily the vibration of the string, it’s best suited for loud volume situations and will resist feedback the best.  In other words, a good choice if your playing in a band setting.  It also will reproduce notes lower in frequency than what the body cavity of the instrument will reproduce.  This is useful for lowered alternate tunings.  I’ve also found a magnetic a good choice if your playing in a wide variety of rooms with different sound engineers.  You really have to try hard to make it sound bad.  Some tips on equalizing a magnetic for optimum performance:  Try scooping out somewhere between 300hz – 500hz.  Boost a narrow bandwidth at 63hz – 100hz for more thump.  A slight boost around 6k – 10k will add some sparkle if it sounds dull in the mix.  Once again, use your ear!

A soundboard transducer senses more of the body vibrations of the instrument at all three axis’s (top, back and sides).  While they behave similar to a microphone there more resistant to feedback.  Keep in mind, they’ll still feedback if pushed hard enough.  They’re a great choice for reproducing more of the authentic tone of the instrument and have a wonderful high-end definition. I tend to notch out all frequencies at 150hz on down to take out the boominess as well as add of few db of boost around 8k – 10k.  When blending both pickups together I get my low-end from the magnetic and the mids and highs from the soundboard transducer. 

In regards to under the saddle piezo type pickups…I really have not heard one that I like.  Their prone to string balance problems and tend to have a harsh ‘quacky’ sound that is instantly identifiable.  While they are not my preference I encourage players to check them out.