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Epiphone J160e John Lennon signature model.
I have a question on Mona’s Epiphone J160e. I noticed that in some of your earlier videos, you used just the pickup that comes with the guitar, mounted at the bottom of the fretboard. In later videos, however, you have a soundhole pickup in addition. Is there any reason for this? Is the stock pickup insufficient somehow, and do you use the soundhole pickup instead of the original one or in addition to it?
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2 Replies
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Hi Daniel!
The pickup that comes with the J160e is a magnetic pickup – the kind that you usually find in electric guitars. It’s very unusual for acoustic guitars to have that sort of pickup as it has a very specific sound and needs e-guitar strings. The original intro of “I Feel Fine” is played with that sound!
It’s great for those specific things but the tone overall isn’t very versatile, not very “acousticy” and very much prone to feedback, which is a nightmare when playing live – you can also hear that feedback at the very start of “I Feel Fine”. 😉
So we installed an L.R. Baggs M1 pickup instead (not in addition) which is one of the most natural sounding and reliable acoustic pickups out right now. I’m quite happy with the current setup and sound of that guitar. It’s a bit battered from countless live shows but I love it 🙂
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Thank you. I find it interesting, though, that John and George used the original pickup throughout their Beatles career, but then again acoustic-electric guitars were rare in those days, and the piezo type pickup hadn’t yet been invented.
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