I have a weissie clone with a Seymour Duncan Mag Mic pickup installed in the sound hole. I chose not to drill and permanently install it. Instead I have the cable hanging out of the sound hole. I really wish the pickup had a detachable cable, instead I am left with a 3 foot hanging cable. I am already anticipating disaster with this, clumsy is as clumsy does.
Short of permanently installing the pickup or removing the pickup when not in use, does anyone have a good option for storing the cable and keeping it out of the way when playing acoustically?
8 Comments |
 | jacknj says:
9/14/2012 8:12:15 AM
Hey Casey :coincidentally, Dennis, a member of the Weissenborn group, and also a member of the Lehigh Valley Dobro group, will be bringing some soundhole pickups to the meeting tomorrow for me to try on my weissie. Dennis is very knowledgeable with all things musical and can certainly give you some advice on your dilemma.
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 | CaseyHunter says:
9/14/2012 8:33:49 AM
Sounds good. It is a pain to remove/install so I haven't been taking it out when not in use. So that will definitely be a great think to discuss. I also want to have someone more knowledgeable take a look at it and make sure it is setup appropriately, due to the wide string spacing. See you tomorrow.
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 | Gitman44 says:
9/14/2012 8:50:18 AM
Hi Casey,
Does you Weissenborn have an end pin? If so, you can get a Tapastring Vintage Jack. It fits where your end pin is and doesn't require any drilling. I found this description of it at Artisan Guitars website:
The "Vintage Jack" is made by Tapastring and lets you enjoy the benefits of having a pickup installed in your instrument without having to worry about damage or loss of value. The "Vintage Jack" replaces your existing tapered endpin to make your instrument pickup ready -- NO DRILLING REQUIRED. Tapastring has incorporated a Switchcraft 1/8" female output jack into a precision machined end pin. Now you can install pickups in your instrument without having to drill out the end pin hole or use some other less than ideal connection system.
I put one in my Collings OM2HC, and I love it. The Vintage Jack is a bit pricey, but you can find deals on ebay, and it can be moved to another guitar without leaving a large hole in the one it's taken from. So long term, it's a good value..
I hope this helps..
Andy Fekete (aka Gitman44)
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| CaseyHunter says:
9/14/2012 8:55:00 AM
Hi Andy, it doesn't have an end pin, that would definitely make things a lot easier. Maybe should consider installing one if all else fails.
Thanks
Casey
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 | Liz Williams says:
9/15/2012 1:42:48 PM
Casey thanks for posting this. I'll be very interested in which way you go with this and why. I've heard talk that leaving the pick-up in a Weissenborn harms its acoustic sound, however slightly. OTOH, Bill Hardin of Bear Creek told me that even though Bob Brozman always mics his guitars, he leaves his sunrise pickup in his Bear Creek Kona because he likes the sound of the guitar and doesn't want to risk changing it by removing the pickup.
I don't gig, and play mostly acoustic, so I remove my Baggs M-1 when I'm through messing around with it. It is a pain, and I hate having that cord around where I can snag it on something.
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 | Slidennis says:
9/16/2012 10:53:35 AM
Casey,
Hi! It was good to meet you yesterday and to play your Superior. Looks and sounds good!
I had another think about the cable after I got home yesterday. I know we discussed this a bit at the meeting but basically I was thinking about what fiddle and mandolin players do when they add a pickup to their prized instruments. Nobody wants to put a hole in one of those. The Tapastring Endpin Jack is a nice idea which could work if you had an endpin - but alas, no. So look at various mando/fiddle set-ups. They usually have a rather short cable that terminates in a female jack. It can be a standard TS (two conductor)1/4" jack or a 1/8" jack. I'd use the miniature jack. Since the Mag Mic sums the output of both pickups you do not need to use a a TRS (three conductor) jack. I assumed a three conductor out put yesterday but I've read the SA-6 manual since then. The trick is how and where do you secure the female jack on the guitar.
Two mounting places come to mind - inside the soundhole and on the side of the guitar near the waist of the body. Which place is up to you. How you secure it is fairly easy. You'll need some Velcro hook and loop strips and double sided carpet tape. You wrap the female jack on the velcro hook material using the carpet tape. Then make a small patch with the carpet tape and loop material where the cord will terminate. Then you can just stick the jack to the patch with the Velcro. It should be entirely reversible and (hopefully) will not mar the finish of you Weissenborn.
Some mando/fiddle pickups also use a clamping mechanism to secure the jack to the body. This method would work on a guitar too but you'd have to do some fabrication or customization to get the clamp to fit the body depth of the Weissenborn. The pickups which use that type of mechanism are usually loosely based on the clamps used for violin chin rests.
Anyway, think about that a bit. Hopefully we'll see you soon and be able to play a bit.
Dennis
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| CaseyHunter says:
9/17/2012 6:35:45 AM
Thanks Dennis! It was good to meet you and Jack in person. I was thinking along the same line about shortening the cable to something more manageable. I definitely agree that the miniature jack may be a better solution since the current one is big and heavy and more of an enemy to the finish of the guitar than anything else.
Keep me in the loop on the next jam/meet-up, in the meantime I will practice the 'standards' so I have a better understanding of what everyone is playing.
Thanks for letting me bang around on your Fairchild, that thing is sweet. Now I am sure that I need one of those too.
Thanks,
Casey
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| jacknj says:
9/17/2012 6:56:38 AM
Hi Casey:
Great you made it to the meeting, and I especially enjoyed playing your Superior Weissenborn (the sound somewhat humbled my Waikaloa though). Narrowing the nut width is definitely something to consider along with making it taller to allow for a capo. I did that to mine (used Corian - if you need one, let me know). Tom mentioned that we might be able to get together again before the holidays so we'll keep you in mind. Thanks again for the strings.
Jack
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