Removable pickups?

[redpoint]

How often do you swap them in and out of your guitar (once a month for an open mic, every other night for gigging?) How long does it take to put in and out? At what point did you just get a permanent install? Do you have to worry about 'wear' on the soundhole? In particular I'm thinking of things like the Neo-D, the Rare Earth, and the M1 Active.

 

Just trying to figure out if it will be a hassle or not,

Thanks for your experiences!

[guitarcapo]

It takes me several hours. The solder part is fast...It's just the unscrewing of the hardware..running the wires...reassembly. Once I have a guitar that sounds good I usually just get another guitar to install other pickups in.

[J.]

Keep in mind that the M1 Active comes with a short cable attached to an endpin jack, intended for permanent or semi-permanent installation. The passive version comes with the 1/8"--->1/4" cable that lets you use it as a drop-in pickup. I did use my M1 Active as a temporary pickup for awhile, although it wasn't the prettiest thing in the world. I just let the short cable dangle out of the soundhole and plugged a regular cord (draped around the strap) into the endpin.

 

The Fishman Neo-D has an attached cable and works pretty slick as far as installation goes, but it doesn't sound good. I had one and it was terrible. Tons of buzz (depending on where you stood in relation to your amp) and a really bad, unbalanced acoustic tone that favored the top four strings.

 

Other soundhole pickups like the Seymour Duncan Woody can be put in place and taken out quite easily.