About a decade ago whilst on a business trip to the US, I bought a Washburn Rover travel guitar - not a great intrument but the $/€ exchange was in my favour and it was a great deal! Unfortunately the neck twisted not long after I got it home and as I was just starting on steel back then, I simply shoved in a string-raiser and that's the way it's been since.
The band I play with has started to add some bluegrass numbers and a dobro style / sound would suit these tunes. I tuned the Washburn to open G and yep this is a new life for this instrument. Now I want to add a pick-up; it'll be low cost but here I have some questions:
I'm thinking of a single coil as opposed to an acoustic pickup. Will it get me closer to the resonator-sound I'm after. I don't care about cutting a hole. Opinions?
Output, hi, lo, medium? What difference will it make? I don't need overdrive, just a strong signal into a tranny amp!
If I pick along the length of the string, I find a position which tonally sounds just right. If I mount the pick-up at that same position will I get that tone?
A pick-up needs to be earth-wired. How do I do that on a acoustic wooden bridge?
I don't think the brand of pickup makes much difference in getting a dobro sound.
What you need a dobro simulator pedal.
Tom Bradshaw makes a good one, that along with a plastic bar should give you the sound you are looking for. Erv
Erv, I agree the brand of pick makes little difference but my questions were more to the practicalities of mounting and wiring it.
The pedal is a nice idea but I'd prefer a lo-fi approach. The instrument cost under $100 and that's the kind of budget I'm aiming for! Another pedal is the last thing I need (just ask my wife!)
As to the plastic bar - that sounds more like it ... I'm going to try that!
Look around eBay or other online stores for used Bill Lawrence acoustic sound hole pickups. You can usually find a used one for $30 or so. Doesn't require permanent installation. They just spring load in the sound hole and have an attached cable to plug into an amp. Magnetic pickup with good volume and feedback rejection.
Paul Seager wrote:Another pedal is the last thing I need (just ask my wife!)
If you already have a graphic EQ pedal, such as the BOSS GE-7 or its equivalent, why not set it up with sliders alternating up and down and give it a try? A tried and true low-budget reso simulator.
I just noticed you said travel guitar. It does look like the sound hole on that guitar is kind of a pinched odd shape so the BL pickup might not fit in ther. Sorry I didn't see that earlier.
How much clearance do you have under the strings? Check some of the cigar box guitar sites. They often make super thin magnetic pickups designed to be surface mounted. Many of them are fir 3 strings though so you might have to mount 2 side by side or one of the sellers might do a custom job for you.
Jack Hanson wrote:If you already have a graphic EQ pedal ...
Nice idea Jack and I'll try that ... but I still need a pickup to do so!
Jerry Overstreet wrote:...the sound hole on that guitar is kind of a pinched odd shape so the BL pickup might not fit in there
Yes, the sound hole is too small - I tried to fit such a pickup - no go! But I have no emotional ties to the guitar and no worries about cutting a hole.
Jeff Mead wrote:How much clearance do you have under the strings?
Not enough Jeff, it'll have to be cut into the body.
Paul Seager wrote:
Any thoughts on the earth-wire question?
Only that I've had a few magnetic pickups (a sound hole pickup, a stick-on Dobro pickup and a cigar box guitar pickup) all of which were wired direct to an output jack with no earthing and no hum. No idea why it worked but I'm guessing that soundhole pickups and similar, designed to be mounted on acoustic instruments are also designed to not need an earth wire.
I think you should be able to put a pickup directly beneath the bridge.
Just take off the strings, lift out the bridge, put in the pickup, put the strings back on and you're ready to go.
The pickup is just kind of a wire you lay in there.
I have done that on some Martins I've owned.
Erv
You definitely don't want to use a magnetic pickup because you will sound much more like a lap steel guitar than a dobro. Its been my experience over the years that without a resonator your not going to get a dobro sound. The closest thing I have heard without a resonator is Tom's resonator guitar pedal. YMMV
Last edited by Tom Keller on 15 Nov 2019 5:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Hey, i just remembered the Victory low rider pickup, its a reproduction of the old foil DeArmond's that came on Harmony guitars. I've used them before and they are great quality and a real nice sound, cost around 60 bux and are very thin. You can find on reverb.
You might consider the LR Baggs M-1. This pickup mounts in a non-invasive manner, clamping to the edges of the sound hole. It can be mounted permanently with an end-pin connection or just temporarily mounted in the sound hole with the wire dangling down.
Location: Sonoma County in The Great State Of Northern California
Postby Mark Eaton »
You should just buy a Gretsch Bobtail squareneck resonator guitar which comes equipped with the best dobro pickup in the business, the Fishman Nashville. They’ve made a lot of these guitars - you might be able to find one used in Europe for a good price, and you won’t be throwing money at the Washburn guitar trying to make it into something that is a reasonable approximation of a dobro where chances are, you’re not going to be happy with the result.
I thought about the Bobtail and it would be nice but honestly I don't want to invest (something like $600 here). But I think you've all convinced me for a sound-hole pickup. I'm checking out some ultra cheap Chinese ones available here. I have a German-made Shadow on another instrument and it is very pure ... I don't want that!
If you are going the affordable EQ route, you can probably pick up an MXR 10 band EQ pedal pretty cheap. Just alternate sliders as mentioned, or try a football shape with the sliders.
Paul - I never had luck with the alternating up & down settings on an EQ for simulating a dobro sound. I have a cheap Chinese humbucker on a cheap acoustic guitar. I found that, on a 7 band EQ, zeroing the lowest slider and the 2 highest sliders plus maxing the middle 4 sliders gave me what I felt approximated a cocked wah type of sound. It tames the boomy lows and the shrill highs, giving a softer mid-rangy sound. That's the closest I've gotten to what I feel is a dobro tone. I run that into a Roland Cube on the acoustic setting with bass and treble controls zeroed, and mid not quite all the way up. Then I add the slightest bit of delay. By the way, I really like the acoustic tone of those Washburn Rovers. I feel that they approaches a dobro tone acoustically.
Erv
