Acoustic guitar soundhole pickups need to be specially designed to provide good string balance with acoustic strings. The wound strings don't generate as much signal as electric strings, but the plain strings are about the same. So, you have to "turn down" the high E and especially the B.
How might one modify a pickup with nonadjustable pole pieces to work with acoustic strings? Could you drill or negate the poles somehow? What about a bar-style without poles - could it be shielded for the high strings?
A high-end soundhole pickup by Sunrise:
A strat-style single coil designed or modified for acoustic:
Replies
Interesting about the tele-style plate. I read that adding one to a coil can make it feedback like a banshee though.
that certainly may be so, depends i think there might be many variables. Ive done it a few times and experimented, pulling em off again etc.. I guess the question is does a telecaster bridge pickup feedback like a banshee.. depends dont it, ive been in situations where they do before for sure :D
i think my first answer is the better one regardless, buy a cheap asian strat pup, bust the bar magnet off the bottom (they come off real easy) and replace with individual rare earth discs, using smaller ones for the unwound strings.. you could also experiment with little spacers between the magnets and the pole pieces, maybe small washers or something, even folded paper or card. if you start with that you might only need to buy one size of magnets. you can get a dozen or so 7-10mm rare earth discs on ebay for around $10
Yeah, it sounds like if the plate isn't secured to the bobbin the thing becomes microphonic and causes feedback.
Modifying the magnet sounds good, maybe my next Gitty order will include a cheap single-coil to dissect. Thanks for the description!