McIntyre Mandolin Pickup

Passive piezo element PU for Acoustic Mandolin.

I installed this on a Johnson MA-550 Octave Mandolin after asking luthiers for a suggestion as to a good PU for a short-scale Octave Mandolin.

Sound is better than 2 other PUs I tried for this instrument: a "pick up the world (PUTW)" under bridge PU and a "Schatten" stuck-to-the-bridge PU.

The feather sounds much betetr than either, though its close with the PUTW. The Scahtten was awful which prompted the purchasing of the Acoustic Feather. The PUTW has an awkward external setup, it fell off frequently even with tape and began to destroy the element.

Output is dismal, I think to keep using it I will need another pre-amp stage.

Installation was a real hassle, had to make carboard jigs to get it in place. Forceps, flashlight, mirror, cardboard jigs you'll want these if you install this yourself. Took about 3 hours.

Its difficult to install due to the design: there is a lead coming out of one end of the feather that forces it to rotate when you are trying to attach it to the sound board. Element for guitar is supposed to be aligned with the bridge (I got no install instructions with the mandolin feather).

Don't expect to re-install this, its a one time gig, removing it will likely destroy it.

Sound is pretty good compared to 2 other PUs for the same instrument, however the low output eats the batteries in my pre-amp DI box, and is noisy due to having to crank up the DI for a signal out.

Ive noticed while using the feather on my guitar (I have a review on that as well), I often pick up cell phone noise I don't get with other pickups through the same DI.

The hassle to install, the low output and consequential noise make me give this PU a low rating. The good though is that it sounds much better than 2 other PUs avaialble and designed for Mandolin/Octave Mandolin.

Pickup features: contact piezo
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Washburn M3SW F-style mandolin
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced:
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup: Sam Bush
You musical style(s):
Reason for pickup change:

Perceived output level:
Tone: very accurate and balanced
Sonic evaluation: This pickup is great. It's very accurate and natural sounding--which might be a bad thing if your instrument doesn't sound very good--like mine. If I were to choose another pickup, I might choose one with a little bit more colouration to disguise the fact that my mandolin SHOULD sound a lot better than it really does.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: bluegrass, classical, etc.

Comments: This is a great value. It's very accurate. Like I said previously, it makes your instrument sound exactly the same, only louder. This is a good thing if your instrument sounds good, but if yours doesn't, you might want to find a transducer that adds something to your tone. But the McIntyre is a professional product that you should definitely check out.