Product: Fishman AST Powerbridge
Price Paid: US $135.00
Submitted
02/27/2001
at
10:55pm
by
Anonymous
Features
:
Pickup features: passive peizo
Impedence or other specs:
Instrument
:
Model of guitar or bass: 99 American Standard Telecaster
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: entire tailpiece/bridge assembly
Other pickups on guitar: stock
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s):
Reason for pickup change:
Sound
:
No Opinion
Perceived output level: A very hot output signal that can easily overdrive 9 volt preamps, I like to use it with higher voltage rack stuff or direct into a mixing board.
Tone: surprisingly well balanced, string balance is superb, eq is good enough to use "flat"
Sonic evaluation: OK. Using a Tele as an acoustic has to be a stupid idea, right? Well, turns out that this is really decent! I'm no way going to ditch my two Collings acoustics in favor of this, but if you need to play two parts in one song without swapping guitars, this is an excellent investment. If you are an electric player that needs to play some acoustic, but you don't want to pay for and haul another guitar, this is an excellent investment. If you only own one electric and one acoustic, and need to gig with two acoustics (one in alternate tuning), this is an excellent investment. If you are feeling the urge to buy yet another guitar and you already own a bunch of acoustics and really shouldn't be dropping another couple thousand, this is an excellent investment. If you gig with a bunch of unreliable people and you don't know if you'll be playing electric or acoustic until 5 minutes before you go on, this is an excellent investment. BOTTOM LINE: THIS IS AN EXCELLENT INVESTMENT! The sound isn't that of a high end acoustic, but it is amazingly pleasant.
For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I personally play Christian edge, works fine for this
Overall Rating
:
10
Comments: This product is not going to replace my Collings, but if you don't expect that out of it, you will be EXTREMELY satisfied with a purchase. How else can you get out of carrying two guitars around and also get cool new sounds for this price? I own a BUNCH of great gear, and this ranks as one of the best "bang for the buck" pieces I own. You get a BUNCH of usefulness for the price.
It does require drilling two holes, but the mental anguish of drilling is relieved because the new holes are fully covered up if you elect to put the stock Tele tailpiece back on.
Find a GOOD luthier to install, unless you really know your stuff and want to do it yourself. It's easy to screw up the installation, and would require filling and re-drilling holes if you screw up...