Installing electronics in an acoustic guitar

[David Lehrer]

I bought a Fishman Classic 4T blend pickup/microphone combination on Ebay and am thinking of installing it into one of the guitars I am making. I have basic instructions from Fishman but am somewhat leary. I called Fishman and they were less then helpful, explaining that they had never made the unit for sale and probably went into a Chinese guitar. Before I cut a hole into the side of my guitar to accommodate the preamp/ battery housing with tuner and controls, does anyone out there have any experience installing one of these things? How do they sound? David Lehrer

[Barry Daniels]

I would never ever cut a big hole in the side of one of my custom guitars, especially for a preamp of questionable origin. The thing might work for a month and then quit. There are much less intrusive ways of providing a pickup in an acoustic. I like K&K.

[Mark Wybierala]

I've been a big fan of the Fishman Infinity Matrix (still am, and have installed quite a few) but I recently installed a K&K into a Taylor 12-string and was very impressed.