Non-Invasive Acoustic Pickup Recommendations

[whitebison66]

A friend wants me to put a pickup in a Martin Night Dive guitar. I don't want to touch this guitar with a drill, chisel, or anything else sharp.

What are some recommendations for a non-invasive pickup that sounds good?

 

[mayfly]

Probably the shadow sound-hole pickups.  Those thin ones seem to be the most transparent.

 

[Spider]

I'm not sure what you're looking for exactly but I've got a Fishman Rare Earth Blend soundhole pickup in my Santa Cruz Vintage Jumbo and it's great. I also had it for a while in my Santa Cruz OM and it was great in that guitar too. IMO a better sound than most undersaddle pickups and no issues with string balance that you often get with USPs. Non-invasive, too!

 

[Unwound G]

Most transducers, piezos, soundhole pickups and microphones are non-invasive.  The invasive part is installing the endpin jack.  The only way around it is having the output wire dangling from the soundhole like a rat's tail.

 

[m4rk0]

I don't know if these are any good.... but they look cool

 

[jhumber]

Take a look at the K&K Pure Western mini pickup.
I have one fitted to my acoustic, and another fitted to my classical - excellent passive pickup, requires no drilling either!

 

[Unwound G]

Take a look at the K&K Pure Western mini pickup.
I have one fitted to my acoustic, and another fitted to my classical - excellent passive pickup, requires no drilling either!

jhumber, thanks for the heads up on K&K Western Mini (http://www.kksound.com/purewestern.html ).  I have been looking for a mini endpin jack for a long time.  Their site also led me to this :-

http://www.tapastring.com/vintagejack.htm