What type of acoustic guitar pickup is best?
There are a few alternatives when it comes to amplifying an acoustic and they all have their pros and cons. The most common type found on guitars with pre-installed pickups are piezo pickups fitted underneath the saddle of the guitar. Piezo acoustic guitar pickups work much like the diaphragm of a microphone, converting the back-and-forth vibration of the saddle into an electrical signal. As this signal is very weak, a pre-amp is usually used to boost the level of the signal before it leaves the guitar. Suitably amplified, piezos produce a clean, strong signal that is fairly feedback resistant, and is a good choice for a stage guitar in most environments. These preamps can be mounted into a control unit on the side of the guitar with controls for volume and EQ, or more discretely within the assembly of the jack output socket. Transducer (or “bug”) pickups work in the same manner as a piezo, but take vibration from the soundboard of the guitar. As the pickup is responding to the vibrati
