LR Baggs M1 Soundhole Pickup

Great sound! Easy to install and a good price.

This has turned out to be a great pick-up for me. But out of the box it was disappointing. Baggs could do a better job guiding those of us who have been playing acoustic guitars only through a mike for years. I've played in church since the 70's. Sounding acoustic is really important and I've always played with small groups through a mike into the house system or small PA. Recently starting to play with a much larger group of singers, in a larger room, and no monitor speakers, called for stepping up to playing through a 35W Sienna Acoustic amp. My 70's vintage Yamaha Red Label Folk Guitar has a bracing design that does not leave room for adding a saddle pick-up so I bought the Baggs M1. Out of the box it was muddy, boxy, and low on gain. Baggs gives you a hint that running the poles further out of their sockets will help with the box-i-ness. What they didn't say was that its important to mount this pick-up so that each pole is directly under one of the strings. You need to rotate the M1 until each of the poles is directly under a string rather than mount it parallel to the bridge. In my case its about 40 degrees off parallel from the bridge. Once I did this I suddenly had lots more gain, more clarity, and the adjustments on the poles made more sense. I'm amused that my acoustic guitar now looks a little like a Strat with the pickup mounted on the bias but it finally works really well. Baggs should consider the fact that many of their buyers may be making their first move out of totally acoustic mode and could use more professional advice.

I have a Maton EM325C which has a nice well balanced tone with excellent projection.I use it for everything from finger style to flat picking.It has excellent natural raspy bluegrass sass and volume.My pre amp went south so I installed an LR Baggs while waiting for a new pre amp from Australia.The LR bags fails to convey the guitars natural boominess and well balanced highs.It muddies the tone so much that I have to completely zero my mixers mids and low mids and bring up the treble to at least get a plausibly decent sound.I guess I would say that if you are looking for a pick up for any other tone except muddy then this is not the pick up for you because it simply does not convey a guitars natural tone at all.It will do in a pinch at best....

I bought this pickup to put in my Taylor guitar rather than dropping the cash to buy an acoustic electric. I am happy with the performance of the pickup. The amplified effect maintains the natural tone of the acoustic guitar. Once i get the pole pieces adjusted i'm sure the sounds will only improve. I've not had any issues with feedback thus far either. I went with the permanent installation option and installation was very easy and straightforward once i got the correct size/type drill bit. I already had a strap button in my guitar so the location for the pickup jack was already located for me. The only complaint is the volume of the pickup can be a little lacking when playing with electric instruments, but i knew this going in when buying a passive pickup. Overall it is a great buy and I'm not in the least disappointed in the M1 pickup. I would highly recommend to anyone looking for an inexpensive but not "cheap" option to adding plug-n-play capability to their acoustic.

I'm a little disappointed and not blown away like the other reviewers. Does not pick up the lowend like my Seymour Duncan Woody. In fact the overall tone of the Woody is slightly better to my ears. Certainly the M1 is silent compared to the Woody and the clarity is slightly better, but IMO not the overall tone. After adjusting the poles and experimenting with different heights, I'm left realizing I'm gonna need a good DI/EQ to get the lowend expression and character I had with the Woody. Regardless of pole height, the Seymour has more power in the lower frequencies. The M1 has it's advantages over the Woody for sure in regard to clarity and noise. But I'll have to shape the sound to get the tone I'm after.

This is proving to be the best sound-hole pick-up I've ever had. I bought it for use with my Martin HD-28. It comes fully equipped either for permanent or temporary installation. The guitar-to-amp cable is fully detachable. I find that this makes the pick-up and cable more manageable for temporary installation. The corner points on the pick-up where it attaches to the sound hole of the guitar are made of smooth, high impact plastic; they will not harm finish if you're careful. And this gives the pick-up a connection to the body so that the pick-up receives vibrations from the top, as well as the vibrations of the strings. This captures acoustic tone better than other sound-hole pick-ups I've worked with. I have been running it through an L. R. Baggs Para Acoustic D.I., with everything on the D. I. and the amp set "flat," and I find that this rig captures acoustic tone just fine. The adjustable pole pieces as well as the versatility of the D. I. offer much potential for future twesking. Ease of use and, most important, tone, make this the best sound-hole pick-up I've used.