K&K Western Mini

[leo]

for whatever reason maybe seeking a more acoustic tone  - I removed my old Fishman rare earth pickup and put in a K&k Mini. The verdict is sill out but so far I much prefer the Fishman rare earth. I get more bite out of the g,b & e strings with the Fishman. I play blues so I prefer some bite. 

I was considering putting a Western Mini in my Larrivee Parlor nopw I am not sure sure about that

[flatlander]

I finally plugged my Gallagher in with western mini's yesterday. I put pick-up in a couple months ago! (I'm gonna start looking for gigs again)Anyway it sounds great, really good. But I can relate to what your saying because I play some blues and boogie stuff as well. So I'll leave this fishman in L-10 for that. Between the guitar, which gives stinging leads if you ask it to, and the fishman, the can crank up the instensity.

[obe-wan]

Gday Leo, Ive been down the same road as you by the sound of it, although I had an L.R. baggs iBeam in, which is similar to the K&k. I play Blues too. I also had a Fishman Rare earth  before that. Ive ended up putting in a Fishman Matrix Natural to get the bite back that you've noticed is missing. I really wanted the iBeam to work for me , but I ended up going back to the older technology of the UST Piezo pickup. I currently run out to an Acoustic Amp, but Im awaiting a Fishman Pro EQ II to arrive, then I'll just run straight into the PA.

Hey, is that lpurtills Parlor you mention? If so didnt you install an iBeam in it?

Man, I was G.A.S.-ing after that one..

[bluesman67]

That's surprising.  Did you use sticky tape or crazy glue when you installed the K&K?  If you used tape, then I'm not at all surprised, that would sound no where near as good as it should.  But if you glued, I am definitely surprised you didn't like it.  You need to add a pre-amp since it doesn't have one.  You would be missing a lot of the signal without one.  Personally, I think K&K pwm's sound terrific.  I had a guitar w/ a Fishman Natural matrix and it sounded fine too, but I like the K&K better.

[Blue in VT]

That's surprising.  Did you use sticky tape or crazy glue when you installed the K&K?  If you used tape, then I'm not at all surprised, that would sound no where near as good as it should.  But if you glued, I am definitely surprised you didn't like it.  You need to add a pre-amp since it doesn't have one.  You would be missing a lot of the signal without one.  Personally, I think K&K pwm's sound terrific.  I had a guitar w/ a Fishman Natural matrix and it sounded fine too, but I like the K&K better.

Love my K&K mini sounds as close to my guitar as any pick up I've heard....but YMMV.

Blue

[GA-ME]

To get the most out of the K&K PWM's, accurate placement in the center of the string pairs and directly under the the arc of the  saddle is paramount. If some strings lack "bite", I'd be looking at the installation position first.

[bluesman67]

To get the most out of the K&K PWM's, accurate placement in the center of the string pairs and directly under the the arch of the  saddle is paramount. If some strings lack "bite", I'd be looking at the installation position first.

It's basically a 1 shot deal since you can do some damage trying to remove mic's that are crazyglued to the soundboard.  For this reason, I never do the install myself and let my luthier do it.  $140 k&k installed is worth it to me.

[GA-ME]

It's basically a 1 shot deal since you can do some damage trying to remove mic's that are crazyglued to the soundboard.  For this reason, I never do the install myself and let my luthier do it.  $140 k&k installed is worth it to me.

If you are very careful, you can get them off with a straight razor, a wee bit of acetone, and patience, without damage. If you do damage the transducer, Deiter, at K&K, will sell just single transducers you can use to replace the damaged one. You simply slide on some shink wrap, solder the new connection, slide the shrink wrap over the new connection, and then use a heat gun on the shrink the wrap. It is really easy to install the PWM if you make your jig and practice before you glue.

[flatlander]

It is really easy to install the PWM if you make your jig and practice before you glue.

If I can do it anyone can, and it was easy.  The jig and practice run make it simple.

[gusto5]

It's basically a 1 shot deal since you can do some damage trying to remove mic's that are crazyglued to the soundboard.  For this reason, I never do the install myself and let my luthier do it.  $140 k&k installed is worth it to me.

unless the installation cost equates to as much as the K&K, which is my case for the more expensive guitar.