JP
Surprisingly Natural Sound, but Be Careful During Installation
This was so much better than I expected!! This is a great pickup for a player who wants a little more oomph to their sound. It looks nice on your fiddle - the wood grain gives it an organic feel that doesn't look out of place. It installs just like a chin rest, so be careful when screwing it on so you don't scratch the wood (which I did with the included tool). The pickup fits snugly in the bridge - it takes a little nudging back and forth to get it in there, but once it is in it isn't going anywhere. I felt a little uncomfortable with the fit and would have loved if it was a little thinner. The contact with the instrument is minimal so there isn't a noticable dampening of the sound once it is on. T he sound that comes out of the amplifier is full as the instrument itself, so there isn't a loss of tone that you can sometimes experience with a bridge pickup. The volume control isn't incredibly sensitive; there isn't really a mid-range volume, but it's nice to have the control of turning it down right there on the instrument. The cable goes from a smaller jack (3.5mm?) on the instrument to a quarter inch into the amp. You can't use standard guitar cables with it, but the quarter-inch on both ends would be much heavier and make a noticeable weight change on the instrument, so this is a plus in my opinion. The challenge is that the included cord is only about 10' long, and finding a different option may be a little bit of a challenge. Removing it is as simple as taking off a shoulder rest, but again, be careful because it's easy to scratch the instrument with the pin tool. This is a great mid-range pickup that looks professional and is easy to use.