Advice for Baggs Lyric?

[Big.Al]

Hi group. I see there has been some discussion about the Baggs Lyric microphone pickup here before, with some mixed reviews. I decided to try one anyway for my silver oak L-03. I've been using the K&K Meridian Pro external mic and it's worked well, but I'd rather have something I can just plug in and go. This is for live sound, not recording, so I'm not expecting studio quality sound. I also considered the Baggs Anthem, but for a variety of reasons I don't want to have to modify my saddle(s).

Any advice on installing the Lyric? Is there a particular mic placement I should try first? Will there be any pitfalls with the way my guitar is braced that might interfere with the volume control, wiring, etc? Any advice on where to start out with the presence control?

Once installed, I'll make recordings straight from the board to try to tweak it in. If I can avoid any missteps that would be great.

Help?

[unclrob]

Hey Al well since I'm the one that wrote the Lyric thread maybe I can help even though I prefer the Anthem SL.I've installed the latest version Lyric in a couple of guitars.I have found that if you install the mic on the bridge side of the X as close as possible as the best place.The clients that have the lyric installed also found that playing thru a tube amp instead of an acoustic amp or a PA worked best without an outboard pre-amp but when going direct they prefer a pre-amp with the board set flat so they could get the tone they wanted.Let us know how it works out.

[Big.Al]

Thanks! I'm not sure exactly where you were describing as the best place for the Lyric.  I moved mine around a bit and found that angling the mic right along the side of the treble X-Brace worked very well.  Here's a clip of the guitar recorded straight to the board, controls set flat . . . with a little reverb:

https://app.box.com/s/jfcj9u2tnwig8dmownpiligs0tp6fay7

[bobw]

Thanks! I'm not sure exactly where you were describing as the best place for the Lyric.  I moved mine around a bit and found that angling the mic right along the side of the treble X-Brace worked very well.  Here's a clip of the guitar recorded straight to the board, controls set flat . . . with a little reverb:

https://app.box.com/s/jfcj9u2tnwig8dmownpiligs0tp6fay7

Sounded nice and clear to me....  nicely played, too...  I have a Lyric that I have not installed but may give it a try after hearing yours... 

I always like to hear Unclrob's input...  BobW... 

[Big.Al]

Well . . . the Lyric has been removed from the Larrivee. It sounded kind of OK, but certain notes produced some very harsh overtones. I ripped it out and decided to try it in an all-laminated '70s Hohner G-09 dreadnought I bought for $10 at a thrift store a while back.  With a little EQ, it sounded remarkably good. I played it in church this morning and as soon as I plugged it in, the music director was asking me all about it. I think we have a winner.

[George]

This commentary makes a point that I have believed for a very long time... and that is that different amplification/recording methods/equipment will provide very different results in different guitars.  I also believe that how you play and your style has a lot of impact on how you sound through any particular amplification/recording solution.  After 50 years I am still searching for the one size fits all solution, but I do not believe it yet exists... just sayin the search for the best combination in each one is most of the fun... (and frustration)  what else is there to do?  George