The Complete Handbook of Acoustic Guitar Pickups

Finally, a book that treats pickups like engineering, not magic. I run sound for a folk venue and I've patched together knowledge from a dozen forums over the years. This handbook gave me the vocabulary to talk to artists about their rigs and the diagnostic steps to fix a flaky under-saddle pickup in five minutes. The chapter on choosing the right pickup for a specific guitar type alone is worth the price. It's dense but readable, and I've already got sticky notes all over Chapter 4.

Good solid reference, though I wish it had more color photos. The installation chapter is thorough and the troubleshooting tree at the end of Chapter 5 is genuinely clever - I used it to fix a grounding issue on my Martin that had been bugging me for months. The omission of specific brand endorsements is a plus in my book. It loses a star only because the business chapter felt a bit thin for someone who already knows how to run a shop.

I'm a session guitarist and I've bought more pickups than I care to count, most of them wrong. This book explained why the soundboard transducer I liked in the shop sounded awful in a loud band mix (it's the transient response, page 47) and why a magnetic soundhole pickup was actually the smart choice for my gigging guitar. I've already ripped out a Fishman and installed an LR Baggs based on the comparison tables. No hype, just data and clear explanations. Essential reading.

It's thorough and accurate, but it's not exactly a page-turner. The technical chapters on impedance and frequency response are dry, even though the explanations are clear. I bought it to figure out which pickup to buy for my Takamine, and the decision framework in Chapter 3 helped me narrow it down. That said, I felt like a few sections, like the one on preamps, went deeper than a working player ever needs. It's a good reference, just not something you'll read cover to cover for fun.

As a luthier specializing in acoustic repairs, I've watched customers ruin perfectly good guitars with bad pickup installations. This book should be required reading before anyone is allowed to touch a drill press. The installation chapter is the best I've seen - the guidance on saddle slot depth and proper cable relief is exactly what I tell my clients, but now I don't have to explain it every time. I keep a copy in the shop and lend it out constantly. It's already paying for itself.

I bought this for the business chapter, hoping to add pickup installation services to my small music studio's offering. I didn't expect the whole book to be this useful. The comparison of different pickup types with frequency response charts helped me advise my clients instead of just selling them whatever the distributor pushes. The business section gave me a realistic view of pricing and margins. I've now installed three pickups for customers in one month. A smart investment.

Solid information, but for a title that says 'Complete Handbook' I expected more. The first half of the book is excellent - detailed, honest, and practical. The second half, especially the chapter on brands and suppliers, felt too cautious. The author avoids naming names, which is fine for the technical chapters, but in a buying guide I want someone to tell me the dirty truth about which budget pickups are a waste of money. Also, a few of the troubleshooting diagrams would have been clearer as printed figures.

I'm an amateur player who gigs occasionally and I somehow ended up with three different pickups for two guitars. This book helped me understand why I kept fighting with feedback and low output - I had mismatched the pickup type to my guitar body and playing style. The chapter on specifications is genuinely eye-opening, especially how preamp impedance interacts with cable length. It reads like a careful expert wrote it. I've already recommended it to two other players in my church worship band.