Adding Electrics to an Acoustic ??

[runningmonkey]

I have a spanish guitar and I like to add electric so I can record it better but iv no idea where to start? can someone point me in the right direction to how to do it? or could I get a guitar shop to do it?

Thanks in advance

[Wonks]

I'm assuming by the term "Spanish", you mean a classical or flamenco style guitar? (It's just that 'Spanish' is also used as a term to differentiate any 'standard' guitar from a 'Hawaiian' lap style guitar).

It might make recording easier, but it won't sound better. Is it a good recorded sound you are after, or just the ease of plugging it in to record with rather than taking time to get a mic set up? I've never heard a clasical guitar with an undersaddle piezo that sounded very good.

To plug it in, you are going to need either a soundhole mic or an undersaddle pickup (please note that because you're using nylon strings, you can't fit a magnetic soundhole pickup).

If you've never done much before with fitting pickups or electronics, or even just setting up your guitar) it would be best to have it done professionally. Unless you know that your music shop has a good luthier attached, you'd be better off searching for a local luthier to install it. This is certainly the route to go down if your guitar is expensive. However, if not, you may be better off looking for a cheap s/h electro-classical that already has a pickup. Plugged in, I doubt that you'd tell the difference. By the time you've bought a pickup system and paid for someone to fit it, you are probably looking at between £120 and £300 depending on the spec.

But a £30 small diameter condenser mic from Thomann will get you a better recorded sound than any built-in pickup (and spending £100 will get you an even better sound).

[ICBM]

+1

There is no pickup system that sounds as good as even a fairly cheap condenser mic. Nor even as good as a typical dynamic such as the Shure SM57. Pickup systems are for stage use where feedback and mobility can be issues with microphones, not for recording.

For the cost of any pickup system even remotely worth having, you can buy a pretty decent studio-type condenser mic that will work well for vocals and other instruments as well as the guitar, and which doesn't involve any fitting work which may damage the guitar.

I would start with the Rode NT-1A, and adjust up or down depending on your budget. (But you'll have to go a long way up to do much better.)

[evilmags]

Another vote for a half decent microphone. Any small or large diaphramme condensor will do a much better job than a pickup. The Rode NT1a is a great starting place.

[runningmonkey]

I'm assuming by the term "Spanish", you mean a classical or flamenco style guitar? (It's just that 'Spanish' is also used as a term to differentiate any 'standard' guitar from a 'Hawaiian' lap style guitar).

It might make recording easier, but it won't sound better. Is it a good recorded sound you are after, or just the ease of plugging it in to record with rather than taking time to get a mic set up? I've never heard a clasical guitar with an undersaddle piezo that sounded very good.

To plug it in, you are going to need either a soundhole mic or an undersaddle pickup (please note that because you're using nylon strings, you can't fit a magnetic soundhole pickup).

If you've never done much before with fitting pickups or electronics, or even just setting up your guitar) it would be best to have it done professionally. Unless you know that your music shop has a good luthier attached, you'd be better off searching for a local luthier to install it. This is certainly the route to go down if your guitar is expensive. However, if not, you may be better off looking for a cheap s/h electro-classical that already has a pickup. Plugged in, I doubt that you'd tell the difference. By the time you've bought a pickup system and paid for someone to fit it, you are probably looking at between £120 and £300 depending on the spec.

But a £30 small diameter condenser mic from Thomann will get you a better recorded sound than any built-in pickup (and spending £100 will get you an even better sound).

Yes I mean Classical guitar, I want to record the sound, I have tried micing it and recorded it on my BOSS BR800 but its sounded flat

[ICBM]

Yes I mean Classical guitar, I want to record the sound, I have tried micing it and recorded it on my BOSS BR800 but its sounded flat

What kind of mic were you using?

[runningmonkey]

Cheers for the relpys will looking getting a condenser mic to

[runningmonkey]

What kind of mic were you using?

Am not to sure, is a Sennheiser microphone looks a little like this

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x...microphone.jpg

[bertie]

Ive recorded stuff using a lapel mic you got free with a compaq laptop in 1997, it sounded better than any on-board pick-up Ive used, and heard to be honest.

Persevere with the mic..........it will pay dividends in the long run (unless you want that horrid over compressed flat sound of a piezo)

[ICBM]

Some years ago I was at an open mic with my Taylor 312CE with a then pretty good Fishman system, and there were a few other players with other electro-acoustics, and I was pleased to discover that the Taylor sounded better - I thought a lot better.

Then at the end a girl turned up to play with an old Seagull acoustic, with no onboard electrics - so the soundman stuck the spare vocal SM58 in front of it, and the sound that came through the PA immediately made the Taylor sound just like all the other guitars, ie completely fake and artificial. The mic'ed acoustic was in a *totally* different ballpark. And that's just with an old dynamic mic that isn't even that great for acoustics.

I'm not familiar with that Sennheiser mic, but at a guess it's probably not all that brilliant. Certainly a proper condenser will be a lot better.