Hey guys,
So I recently bought a new acoustic guitar, and I like it a lot, but it does not come with pickups. I've been doing some research and decided I was willing to break my *no working on my acoustic baby rule* for the sake of convenience and interest (and probably at least some serious GAS). I was doing some research on different pickups for acoustics, and found the Fishman Flex, and liked the look of the tuner, as well as the non invasiveness that it offers. I think the idea of something like a LR Baggs Anthem in the sound hole with a tuner installed on top of the guitar would be great (I do regularly play live, but I still think I use my acoustic's tuner more than anything else).
Does anyone know of a tuner that looks like the flex (just the one circle, I'll post a pic) from someone else? I've been looking and haven't found anything. The other alternative I'm fine with is the idea of finding a way of building it. The hardest part I see there is finding some type of LCD that would be small round, and have enough curvature that it wouldn't look totally stupid when I put it on the guitar.
I'm no expert, but I'm comfortable with working on guitars (I have 5 electric guitars, only one is in full working order right now, for that reason), and I have enough knowledge about programming to copy and paste a code for a micro controller and edit it as needed. I also realize this could be involved, I have enough flexibility and perseverance to take my time with it and test things.
Thanks! Here's the idea of what I'm thinking.
(https://i.postimg.cc/G8BfbSw7/th.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/G8BfbSw7)
And, PS, the flex is an OEM only product.
Not really the same thing but might be acceptable - D'Addario NS Micro Soundhole Tuner.
It might be technically difficult or impossible to get a conventional built-in tuner to work with at least some aftermarket pickups because I think the preamp is built in to the output jack and you'd need to run the output from the preamp into the tuner.
Martin uses the Fishman F1, which are similar, but it looks like they are also OEM only. Sorry :-\
https://shadowelectronics.com/collections/all-acoustic/products/sh-4012
Shadow have a lot of options, but they seem to be revamping the range at the moment with most products "coming soon".
I had an Epiphone acoustic in for some work and that had an OEM Shadow system with the Nanoflex in the bridge and a Nanomag at the fingerboard end of the soundhole. That combo had a great tone with the warmth available from the magnetic pickup.
That said, I don't personally think they are up to a hard life on the road. The tuner/pre-amp circuits had suffered moisture ingress although the worst it had done was corrode battery and jack contacts. Also one of sub-mini jacks from the mag pickup into the preamp needed refitting because the wire inside had been pulled at some time.
Was there a specific one on the shadow that looked like the flex, or do you think there could be down the road? I broused there stuff and didn't see one, but I'm pretty apt at missing things.