McIntyre Acoustic Feather

Passive acoustic piezo sound board transducer.

I installed one of these in my favorite acoustic a Crafter 3/4 size guitar (marketed as a travel guitar).

The feather picks up a more "woody" sound than my undersaddle transducer which I am comparing it too. The Feather has a more natural tone, but, not that much more, in fact I rarely use it for sevral reasons: it still picks up a lot of string scrape just like any other piezo, but my biggest complaint is the miniscule output, I have a L.R. Baggs Para-acoustic DI I use as my pre-amp, the feather eats the batteries as you have to boost it so high all the time.

Compared to the Martin Gold thinline undersaddle trasnducer, the martin has I'd say close to 10x the output: If I switch my DI from Feather to Gold Line, I have to bring the DI gain/vol down very low or else it clips the board. Using the feather is the opposite, I have to crank the DI just to get a signal and than its really noisy.

In fact, I believe the Feather is the noisest piezo pickup I have heard to date.

Its not just this feather: I installed another in my Octave Mandolin, the one for mandolin MF-200 as it was suggested a good match. Output from that PU is dismal, even worse than the feather for guitar.

This pickup is difficult to install, it requires the element be aligned to the bridge, yet the output wire is to one side, making it difficult to orient it properly in the instrument. Its a one time install, don't even think about moving it without destroying it.

The one for my mandolin was a major hassle to install, I had to make special jigs out of cardboard to push it into place as the lead wire kept forcing the element to rotate the wrong direction.

I'm giving thr Acoustic feather for guitar and mandolin a low rating due to the inconvience of the pickup design and the lousy output.

I would not replace with it with another Feather product: output is low, still sounds scrapey like a piezo, difficult to properly install let alone replace.

The only plus I can really give is that it works and sounds O.K., not phenomenal or worth the trouble though.

Very Basic. This product is almost un-noticable. It adds practically no weight to the instrument and is so discreet that you hardly notice it's there until you plug into it.

I use the BF-60 model for my open back banjo. The banjo I use is a GoldTone CC-50. I had my Tech drill the wooden body of my banjo so as to anchor the jack into place. The pickup sticks right to the back of the banjo head. I did not have any pickup on the banjo previous to this one.

The sound has been very good. I have many friends that play banjos in rock club settings that settle for micing the instrument. I wanted something not overly expensive but that got the job done. This is the pickup for that. I typically plug it right into a DI box into the PA. The tone stays pretty true to the natural instrument tone. I play folkish indie rock (A la Sufjan Stevens) and mostly play a Martin 000-15 acoustic, but when I pull the banjo out, this pickup works wonders. My reason for not giving it a ten is for some feedback thats occured when my friend has played with it love, however it's never happened when I've played it.

If it was taken away from me, I have to believe that I would purchase another one. I think it's unlikely that anyone would just rip the pickup off the back of my banjo and leave the banjo sitting there. One thing that does concern me a bit about it, is that the adhesive that holds hold it to the head is coming unstuck a little bit. I have to believe that this is a simple fix though.

Pickup features:
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: 1976 HD-28
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: N/A
Other pickups on guitar: Another McIntyre
Artists using this pickup: the amazing John Sherrill from the Carolina of the South
You musical style(s): I just love music, all kinds
Reason for pickup change: I needed a pickup in the guitar to I could play it live.

Perceived output level: A little less that the noiseless pickups in my strat. Or so it seemed when I plugged it into the same amp
Tone: Sounds exactly like the guitar
Sonic evaluation: I don't have an acoustic amp and I've just run it through a Line 6 Flextone III for about five minutes to play around with. When I record it direct it sounds just good. Not quacky, not boomy, not nasty, just good.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: On this guitar I do a lot of different stuff since it's my only 'real' acoustic it seems fantastic for each technique/style

Comments: I would get the same exact deal. I could sing some serious praises about this pickup. I've been playing for seven or eight years. I have this stereo rigged with another McIntyre pickup. I haven't experienced anything with this pickup that is bad, not amazing, or cheap. I am complete now. I went to the McIntyre's place to get this custom installed. He is really an amazing guy and one of the nicest people I have ever meet. He fixed my guitar right up and just did a good job. Good olde fashion craftmenship. He is also a really humble person. Two thumbs up. Way, Way up.

Pickup features: piezo film
Impedence or other specs: n/a

Model of guitar or bass: yamaha acoustic
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: fishman matrix
Other pickups on guitar: none
Artists using this pickup: jerry douglas and others
You musical style(s): acoustic fingerstyle, slide, flatpicking.
Reason for pickup change: Fishman had a very piezo-like quality. Too much "quack".

Perceived output level: reasonably high output when used passively. Carl Mcintyre recommends using a preamp with it, but it sounds great without.
Tone: VERY VERY BALANCED. It simply amplifies the sound of the guitar without coloring it.
Sonic evaluation: It performed beautifully through my acoustic amp (trace/elliot) and my home studio monitors, as well as the PA down at the pub. No problems with feedback!

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: It worked equally well for flatpicking and fingerstyle, slide or standard.

Comments: I would buy this pickup again and again. It is head and shoulders above the rest. Installation is simple, the tone is fantastic. It doesn't alter the acoustic tone of the guitar as so many others do being that there is nothing in between the saddle and the bottom of the saddle slot to limit resonant transfer. It is the best pickup I've found!

Pickup features: Piezo film, placed under bridge plate (not the bridge itself)
Impedence or other specs: Typical piezo (I'm thinking 1MOhm + )

Model of guitar or bass: Yamaha FG series (my first guitar, and it plays suprisingly well)
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: Fishman thinline
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup: Jerry Douglas (dobro)
You musical style(s): fingerpicking
Reason for pickup change: Trying to find a good stage pickup, maybe even to record.

Perceived output level: Pretty much on par with other piezos
Tone: See sonic evaluation
Sonic evaluation: After being sick of bridge piezo pickups, I wanted to try the LR Baggs I Beam. It wouldn't fit in my Yamaha, so my repair guy suggested this one. I've been very happy with it!
For a small PA setup, I tried running it into a cheap PA/Keyboard amp (a 60 watt Kustom combo) via a Groove Tubes ditto DI box. It sounded excellent! The best thing about the sound is that it captures the soundboard tones- wood, depth, balance. Like a real guitar, the pickup seems to capture the natural compression for fingerpicking, and switching to strumming. Very little of the piezo brittleness. The sustain is outstanding. I could get it to feed back, but nothing like a microphone. I'm sure a soundhole cover would help if I needed it.
Actually, the pickup sounds like a good dynamic or ribbon microphone- no high frequency hype, but good mid and low articulation.
I can hear just a bit of the piezo squawk when I record direct, but I haven't experimented with any compressors or limiters yet. I think that will help a lot. If you blended with a little microphone, I'm sure that would come out great.
I had none of the noise problems that the Spanish reviewer had... which means either Spanish TV/radio operates on weird frequencies, or the reviewer didn't ground the pickup properly. And I live in arguably one of the most polluted EM environments in the upper Midwest (TV, cell phone towers, wireless everything).

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: This is the first pickup I've used that will satisfy both fingerpickers (think Nick Drake for tone) and strummers (think Pete Townshend).

Comments: Hands down, I think this is the best stage pickup I've ever played. This captures so much of the whole guitar (especially the soundboard) that it's scary. I'm still working the recording angle, but I'm a lot closer than I have ever been. Highly recommended!

Pickup features: Passive Film Transducer
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Martin M38, Bourgeois Ricky Skaggs
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: Original McIntyre Transducer
Other pickups on guitar: none
Artists using this pickup: Doc Watson, Jack Lawrence and others
You musical style(s): Flatpicking, Bluegrass,Rock,Jazz etc
Reason for pickup change: I replaced Carl's excellent sounding original design with the Feather after some players said it sounded even better than the original.

Perceived output level: It doesn't have a lot of gain and sounds best with a preamp
Tone: The pickup is very well balanced
Sonic evaluation: I use the McIntyre with a Baggs Para DI. This preamp matches up very well with the pickup. I play through a lot of different systems in different situations and never have a problem with gain, feedback or tone. If I'm in a loud situation (bass & drums)I use only the pickup with a soundhole cover.If it's a quieter situation I remove the soundhole cover and combine the pickup with a Sure SM 81 or a AKG C1000.Most of the time I can use the stage monitors with no problem.If I do need to monitor myself, I send a low impedance signal to the house from the Baggs and a high impedance signal from the Baggs to a Peavy XR684 and a couple of JBL EONs. This pickup and preamp combination has worked beautifully in all of these situations and more.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I play many styles of music and the McIntyre Feather never fails to sound first class

Comments: I would definitely buy this pickup again. As a matter of fact, we've installed the original pickup that I replaced on my friends' Dobro and it sounds great. I've also installed the Banjo Feather in my Deering and it sounds great. I've played the under the saddle stuff and they all sound stiff and quacky. I chose this pickup because it was the first one that I tried that sounded like wood. It sounde like the body of the guitar. It wasn't all midrange.