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DANGER, I am thinking, isn't a microphone in front of soundhole superior to other types of pickups. Seems to me that any other system greatly accentuates the sound the same as a pickup on an electric. The strings sit over the individual mags and accordingly we hear the sound of the string and not the full sound of the guitar (that is our primary goal- Make it sound as perfect as possible. The mic. picks up the sound after all components chime and we hear the heavenly voice of this guitar.
I know I'm probably way off base but I found the question wandering around in my brain?- and it set-a mind to wondering

in the studio most acoustics are recorded with mics.

live?

gotta ba a pup, magnetic or piezo

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My soundclick xx luthier blog xx luthier soundclick

Mics are for studio, pickups are for stages.

That's pretty much it, like Martin said.

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Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

That's why I record with my best guitars with mics, yet play my Peizoed & preamped guit live, because of the rich full sound- it's what it's designed for.

Not to self promote here, but...

We (D-TAR) have had tremendous reviews from musicians using our Mama Bear digital acoustic guitar modeler in the studio, both commercial studios and at home. Magazines such as Guitar Player and EQ have both run Mama through her paces as a recording tool, and we could not have paid for the kind of published reviews we got from those and other magazines.   

I wouldn't necessarily use this setup for a grand solo guitar piece, but in the context of a band it would be very hard to tell that you weren't using an expensive mic.

Some here may remember the first demo I did at the Healdsburg Guitar Show in 2003.   There were a lot of dropped jaws when folks heard Bill Coulter play an early '70's Ovation through a J-200 model... I even had to contend with some pissed off luthiers accusing me of trying to put them and their expensive guitars out to pasture...to which my reply was, "If someone is playing your guitar with a pickup on stage, don't you want it to sound it's best?"

I think there's relatively little, if any, controversy that an external mic is the best way to pick up the true sound of a guitar. After all, that's where your ears are :)

And, since we've got electronics that are small, fast, and cheap enough to do the necessary transforms to make the signal from the internal pickup sound like the signal from an external mic, we've got a bunch of products like Ricks out there from Line 6, Gibson, Fender, etc (I swear I thought Martin was working on some sort of modeling preamp, but might have been a dream)

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Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

I've seen more than a few acoustic bands playing live in front of mics.



I'd think in-ear monitors would be a boon to acoustic players who want
their instrument miked; eliminate the floor wedges and do away with a
lot of the sources of feedback.

I would also argue that, in general, direct pickups have more advantage over
mics than simply convenience and feedback resistance on stage. Mics may
pick up the truest sound of a guitar in a studio, and can certainly work
wonderfully for solo acoustic performance.

On a more congested stage however, it's my experience that a mic'd guitar
can be more easily lost in the mix without the aid of an excellent system and
sound man. An onboard transducer or magnetic pickup may not be a perfect
representation of the natural tone, but they can still sound great and cut
through the mix much more clearly. I advise most not to aim to perfectly
mimic the natural tone, but start with a good clear balanced signal and
shape it to fit it's environment.

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Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

I have never heard a built in pickup that I thought sounded natural like a mic

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Guitars, guitars and more guitars.

My experience is from gigging with bands with both acoustic and 'lectrical instruments for over 25 years, and I agree with David Collins. Mic'ing can work great if you only have relatively quiet acoustic instruments on the stage, but once you add those drums and a noisy back line, forget it. Nothing like a good microphone in the studio, though.

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

We only play with acoustic instruments and have for more than 30 years, when needed, used just mics on stage as well as recording. I don't have a guitar with a pickup, and have you tried fitting one to a lute! My wife plays violin and Northumbrian pipes and we play only with other acoustic players.

I've never really heard a pickup I like the sound of, though I haven't heard them all and they are undoubtedly improving. But when possible we use no amplification and when needed just mics.

Mind you back in my old electric blues and prog rock days, then it was all the way up to 11. I'm older and more genteel now.


Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

Thank you,
This discussion contains so much. I love to find the luther questons theat I ponder and,when posted, engender such geat info.

I go for both...sometimes even having gone so far as to use 2 mics (of different flavors) for a more spread out sound...If I was given just the choice of one or the other I would choose a pickup...