K&K mini question - replacing my Fishman UST

[rockstar_not]

I posted here awhile back that my Larrivee factory installed Fishman is now non-functional.  I'm going to replace it with a K+K Pure Western Mini directly wired to the endpin jack.

I removed my Fishman on-board pre-amp and found that Larrivee had done a bad job cutting out the hole and placing the screwholes. (one of the screwholes actually was too close to the main hole and actually connects to the main hole)  I'll be finishing the hole off with the automotive vacuum tubing like what was shown here in a previous thread.

I do like the sound of the guitar coming up into my face from this hole.  It's an unexpected benefit of removing the pre-amp.  My guess is that the sound of the guitar out the front has changed somewhat now that this other hole is present - but for now, I'm leaving it open.

My main question is:

I want to remove the UST fishman.  This has a certain thickness.  Should I buy a new saddle piece to take up the extra height the UST provided, or is the UST thin enough that I should just need a neck relief adjustment?

Second question:

For those of you who have put in K&K pups, how do you manage the cabling inside the guitar?  Do you bother to fix it to one of the sides?  I have a pre-installed wiring guide in mine from the Fishman setup, but it doesn't appear that I can open it up to pass the K&K cabling through without unsoldering the K&K from the endpin jack.

Thanks for any advice you all can provide.

-Scott

[kdonovan]

Scott,
     Here is a tutorial on the K&K  installation. http://www.frettech.com/kk/    I just put one in my L-05MT last weekend with great results. You can try your saddle after removing the UST to see if it works for you . If not contact Bob at guitarsaddles.com  and he will fix you up.   As far as the cable inside the guitar, there is not enough of it to bother anything. It's not going to be bouncing around inside your guitar or anything.

Good luck

kdonovan

[rockstar_not]

Hey, thanks for that link.  I think that's better than what's posted on the K&K website.

I was thinking of paying someone to do this install, but I think there are enough details in this tutorial that I'm going to go ahead with it.  I really like the plastic-wrap suggestion to avoid any accidental superglue on the top or inside of the guitar.

-Scott

[stuco]

 

As said before, there is not really that much extra wiring to bang around inside, so no need to attatch it to anything(although I suppose you could attatch to one of the braces but that could dampen the top vibrations and inturn the sound) 

Here is a clever way to put it in you might consider:

http://www.tdpri.com/forum/acoustic-heaven/62030-k-k-acoustic-transducer-installation.html?highlight=k%26k+pure+western

[kdonovan]

Scott,
    If you take your time the installation is a breeze. I think I have seen on one of Little brothers site's  about using clay shim under a UST pick up . You might try this to make up any thickness used  by the UST between your bridge and saddle. 

kdonovan

[rockstar_not]

Received my K+K mini pure western a week or so ago and installed it yesterday per the instructions at www.frettech.com

I won't say installation was a breeze - superglue makes me nervous, but the installation went as well as predicted on the instructions.

It sounds fantastic.  Now, about finishing off the hole left by the old Fishman pre-amp......

-Scott