Martin Thinline 332 Acoustic Guitar Pickup 

Comments about Martin Thinline 332 Acoustic Guitar Pickup:

I bought this not expecting too much for the price. I am blown away at how good this thing sounds. I patch it through the LR Baggs preamp that you can wear on your belt, and it is greatly improved (though it still is great without the preamp.) This sounds much better than the Fishman rare earth soundhole pickup I've been using which was twice the price. The only drawback is I had to pay for installation since I"m inept when it comes to this sort of thing.

Comments about Martin Thinline 332 Acoustic Guitar Pickup:

In my previous review I stated that the pickup was lacking sound and tone and thought a preamp would do the trick. Well I got a cheap SignalFlex SF1000 plugin preamp and it also has EQ settings on it. This pickup sounds outstanding with it, and some now minor DI Box EQ, and Acoustic Amp adjustments. I think I will get the ActiveJack since a preamp boosted the volume and tone qualities. Others may not have this problem, but if your going to use this pickup live, get you a preamp and it will rival a lot of high end pickups.

Comments about Martin Thinline 332 Acoustic Guitar Pickup:

I had a Lace California sound hole pickup that worked fine, but wanted an under saddle pickup. Got the Thinline for Christmas. Had it professionally installed since I didn't want to have to full with saddle sanding myself. I am running it through a DI Box with EQ ability. I noticed the volume is a lot less than the sound hole pickup was. Also, it wasn't as loud when going straight into an acoustic amp. I had to make adjustments on the acoustic amp to get a decent sound and it's still lacking and I had to raise the volume on the acoustic amp to get a decent volume, but this caused hum. I did make adjustments on the DI Box and Mix and got a good sound but still had a hum due to having to raise the volume level on the DI Box. The acoustic tones were fine after adjustments going into the DI Box but they were just not very loud. I would suggest or think I should get the Thinline Active Jack which would make it an active pickup and it should raise the volume level. All in All it does pickup each string pretty well and will do if you just want an under saddle pickup for a good price, but I would suggest going with an active one, or maybe the GoldPlus model. If your looking to play live I don't think it would cut it without making major adjustments to mixer and make sure to run it into an adjustable preamp.

Comments about Martin Thinline 332 Acoustic Guitar Pickup:

Installed easily. Nice bright sound. Lacks low tones. Probably would sound better if I installed a pre-amp. Am able to adjust amp to get the lows and a great sound.

Comments about Martin Thinline 332 Acoustic Guitar Pickup:

I have never done any guitar modification of any kind until installing this under saddle pickup. I installed it in a Yamaha FG750s. The 2 most important things in this install are taking your time to sand down your saddle to compensate for the thickness of the pickup and then making sure to put masking tape over the end pin hole before drilling it out. The instructions say to use a 15/32" bit, but don't sweat it, you'll be fine with a 1/2". The Martin Thinline 332 produces a very true acoustic tone. You will be glad you bought it.

Comments about Martin Thinline 332 Acoustic Guitar Pickup:

The sound is great, the pickup is easy to install if you take your time, it will breath new life into your guitar and let you amp it up to play live or just louder, it's simple to use...and it has the best value of all the pickups I've come across for this price range. I encourage anyone to use this product if you want an good piezo undersaddle that is easy to use and requires few mods to your axe.
It's pretty straight-foward...endpin jack wired into a piezo strip that sits under the saddle. No volume or preamps to deal with. I plug straight into my amp, PA, or an acoustic sim effect then balance my EQ and play. Easy to use and install...with minimal alterations to the guitar. You have to take the saddle down .045 of an inch to compensate for the thickness of the pickup. Then ream the endpin hole to .472 inch diameter and drill a small hole in the bridge to run the wire. Solder in the jack and tighten her up. Easy to do at home IF you know what you are doing. I installed it in my main gigging acoustic (an Alvarez RD-20S) with ease and this is my first undersaddle that I've installed
The tone on this baby is great. Haven't had feedback yet...PERIOD!!!. It gets as clean of an acoustic tone as you can get from a piezo and that infamous "quack" isn't noticable unless you tweak the amp to make it obvious if you want a more electric cleans tone. It has good string balance and is plenty loud. Installed in a good guitar and ran into an amp or PA then adjusted right, this pickup is as good of a live sound as you can ask for. Anytime you amp up an acoustic you lose a little something in the clarity of the tone but thats just the drawback to most any guitar you buy with electronics...this thing will hang in there with the best.
This thing is worth EVERY penny...you'd could pay for a pickup that clips into the soundhole and never have something as discrete and balanced as this little undersaddle. I turned a $250 guitar into something that has the potential to sound like a $800 instrument by simply buying this and installing it. Once again you have no preamp or EQ....but once again it isn't really needed if you have the proper gear and take a moment to adjust everything in a live enviroment. I never have feedback with it and set up fast when playing open-mic nights.

Comments about Martin Thinline 332 Acoustic Guitar Pickup:

I bought the 332 to install in my Larrivee D50 dreadnaught. I had tried various soundhole pickups and didn't care for them much, so I decided to go the undersaddle route. I wasn't going to cut a hole in my beautiful guitar for active electronics controls, so the passive 332 seemed to be the easiest and most affordable way to go.

The 332 was easy to install, took me about a half hour, and I am no luthier. The hardest part is installing the endpin jack. The pickup did raise the action a little, but so far I haven't felt the need to trim down the saddle. After restringing, I plugged it in and it worked like a champ. Sounded fine straight into my Fender Acoustasonic amp, and sounded amazing when running through a Baggs Para DI preamp. Nice string balance. Still has that "piezo quack", but that can be tweaked out with EQ. For a passive pickup, I was surprised it sounded as good as it did straight into the amp. For the best sound, you will want to use some kind of preamp. The Baggs Para DI is excellent.

Great quality, for the price you can't go wrong. Recommended if you are looking for a good, easy to install pickup on a budget.

Comments about Martin Thinline 332 Acoustic Guitar Pickup:

10
had a bit of trouble hooking up the wires but once i got them hooked up right all was well, This pickup is great, Sound is great.I installed this thinline pick up in the epiphone AJ 200 s love the tone on this guitar the pick up just helps it that much more. Love it And thanks a millon.

Comments about Martin Thinline 332 Acoustic Guitar Pickup:

I am a long-time pprofessional entertainer and was very skeptable about all the positive reviews on the 332 pick-up. I was also concerned in installing it, as I am aware of how difficult is can be when installing the LR Baggs under-saddle pick-ups.

The pick-up was being installed on my 1960's vintage Guild 212, 12 string guitar. Years ago, I had previously installed a simgle "Hot Dot" pick-up in the bridge which was marginal at best. It also required very hig volumes from my Fender Acoustic amp inorder to function. (This of course caused major feedback issues.)

The installation instructions were very complete and after removing the old strings, and removing the "Hot Dot" pick-up, the saddle was easily removed.

Following the instructions for the hole drilling location for the 332 inside the bridge slot, the bridge easily slipped into the slot as I fed the pick-up wire through the newly drilled hole.

The diagram showing the soldering of the endpin jack was very complete and it had mulitple options such as whether you wanted to install multiple or stereo pick-ups or if you were also using an optional guitar microphone.

I was initially concerned that the thickness of the pickup would negatively affect the string height, but after measuring for the difference, it was not an issue.

Since the installation was being done on a wider 12 string bridge, I was concerned whether the pickup would clearly pick-up the 1st string and the 12th string sound as well as the other strings in between.

To test this, after installation, I added one of the old strings in the 1st position, one in the middle of the bridge and one in the 12th string slot. I plugged the guitar into the amp and found that all three strings were equally bright and it only took the volume set to the #2 level to activate the pick-up.

After confirming that the installation was good, I removed the old used test-strings and I used linseed oil and very fine steel wool to clean the fingerboard. I then polished the whole guitar. Finally, I installed as set of the light gauge, Elixir, Nanoweb, anti-rust acoustic strings, which I have had excellent results on my Guild D-50, acoustic six-string.

The Guild 12 now has a very full sound. The tone is very adjustable to both rythm or lead and it is something I should have done years ago. I will now be using my 12 string in performing on songs where I would have previously stayed away from the 12 string.

Comments about Martin Thinline 332 Acoustic Guitar Pickup:

I bought this for my Yamaha F325 acoustic guitar, I installed this pickup myself and im not a guitar repair man. But the pickup sounds GREAT!