Fishman Rare Earth Humbucker

Humbucking soundhole pickup with a mic on a goose neck. A blend wheel let's you set your preferred mix of the two signals. It can also be wired to send the two signals out on two separate channels which I really recommend.

Martin HD-28V. Had a Schertler Bluestick earlier. Sounded too plastic for me.
Easy instalment. No mods at all required.

Output level seems fine. My soundguy says it's hot enough. I run it through a Fishman AFX Reverb (which I really like), the soundhole pickup goes through a Barber Tone Press and both signals go into a Radial JD Duplex DI-box.

The sound is the most musical I have ever come across as far as using acoustic guitars in a band situation goes. None of that rubber band sound you get from piezos. High end is smooth. There's eough bass that you'll probably have to cut some of it out but it's nice to have it there if you need the full body of the guitar.
The pickup perhaps sound a tad electric but it you spend a little time eq-ing it you'll be fine. A little compression is also useful.

In a live situation you of course have to watch out for feedback but I haven't had any problems so far. I run a 50/50 mix of the two signals and find it absolutely fantastic for strumming and the odd fingerpicking. Differences in pick attack or if you play with your thumb instead of a pick is easliy heard. I have cut a Feedback buster to fit the soundhole together with the pickup. Placement of the mic is important and you'll have to fiddle with it a little to find your sound. Also sometimes you'll have to reverse phase on one of the signals.

I also really recomend the Fishman AFX Reverb to add a little depth to the sound.

I'll save some money and put one in my other guitar too.

I've used over the last few weeks on tour. I love the fact that it sounds like my guitar and not like a rubber band like sone of the piezoes out there.
I have been through quite a lot of gear over the years and have been to nail my acoustic sound live. This is the best so far and I really like it. Still, the quest goes on I guess...It's an addiction :)

It's an active humbucker, handy is that you can adjust the volume on it. Not so handy is that you have to reach between your strings to do it. But that's not really important, just change the volume on your equipment and let the pick up be.

I use it on a Taylor 314 CE and it works great. No noise or buzz at all. I stopped using the ES system by Taylor because it sounds too bright. The fishman has a more neutral sound.

This pick up matches the original guitar sound in an extra ordinary way. I'm very pleased with it.

I'd buy it again anytime. It's not all that expensive either.