Basic Information on Acoustic Guitar Transducers
Acoustic guitars are perfect accompaniments that span a whole range of musical styles, ranging from rock music and country music, to flamenco and almost anything in between. Whether you are a musician or just a music aficionado, you definitely know what these stringed instruments are capable of doing within the confines of music. As a matter of fact, the ability to play one of these is perhaps of the most venerating experiences that a person could have in this lifetime. But as we all know, acoustic instruments of this kind are not thoroughly capable of producing loud sounds considering that they displace very small amount of air that requires amplifiers.
Whether you’re using a dreadnaught acoustic guitar or solid wood acoustic guitar, it is essential to have accurate live amplification in order produce the right sounds during performances. There are many ways through which you could achieve convincingly realistic amplified acoustic for your instrument; one of which is by selecting the right transducer. Applying such amplification tool could easily be done all by yourself; though there are also other varieties that require the assistance of professionals. Below are some of the most common transducers that you could use for your acoustic guitar.
Magnetic soundhole pickups exemplify the same functions as that of electric guitar pickups. To simply put it, they sense the movements of the strings of plain acoustic or acoustic electric guitars with the aid of magnetic field. These transducers are known for their ability to resist feedback. These pickups are suitable for musicians on a tight budget, but are looking for transducers that could be plugged in and easy to install and remove.
Microphones are considered as the most accurate forms of transducers applied to plain acoustic and acoustic electric guitars. They instantly convert the sound produced by the guitar into electrical signals that are then picked up by amplifiers. Unlike magnetic soundhole pickups however, microphones are more prone to feedback; hence, in order to avoid this, the microphone must be installed closely to the guitar and the motions done by the former should be constrained. Despite the disadvantages held by microphones, many musicians are more comfortable using such transducers because of their ability to pick up certain characteristics of guitar sounds that cannot be picked up by other transducers such as sounds that have high frequency as well as percussive sounds created by tapping the body of the instrument.
Contact pickups on the other hand are installed to have direct contact with some distinct parts of acoustic guitars. Simply, they pick up the motions taking place in the locations where they are installed and convert them into electrical signals that are then picked up by amplifiers. Most contact pickups make use of the technology known as piezoelectric. There are different types of pick ups that fall under this category including the piezoelectric pickups or also referred to as piezos, top pickups which are usually place on the treble end of the guitar bridge or at the near end of the treble inside the bridge plate, and under-saddle pick ups which are the most popular transducers among performers.
Notably, there are various kinds of transducers that one can use in order to amplify acoustic instruments. But, it should also be taken into account that every transducer comes with complementary weaknesses, which is why there is a need to combine them with other types of transducers to produce desired sound. To further achieve high quality sound, you should make sure that your transducers goes through a good power amplification specially made for acoustic guitars. Once you are able to integrate these requirements, you could expect to wield a powerful acoustic instrument that produces a distinct sound.
