Musician Forum - Band Discussion Board - BandMix

LIve - it is what it is! Recording an aocustic? Use a mic. You can scoop the EQ - depending on the guitar, somewhere around 1K - 2.5K to remove some of the 'quack'.
You know that only musicians/guitarists hear it, right? Non-players really can't tell the difference.

what mikey said. ^

i've got pickups on almost all of my "acoustic" instruments....mandos, flat top and arctop gtrs, and vibes.

my dobro, gypsy jazz PARIS SWING gtr, and my old KAY C-1 upright have magnetic p/u's. (no quack but no one would ever confuse the tones produced from them for "acoustic")

in live deals, it's always easier using p/u though sometime on the bluegrass gigs we all go old school and gather around a condensor ( oh, man do i LOVE that! it sounds great when you're all stepping in and out from the mic and rubbing shoulders w one another)

for recording....laziness aside, i always opt for mics. there isn't a pickup made that sounds as good. that's just the nature of the beast. that said....with more going on in the recorded tune, it's easier for me to overlook a trk recorded using p/u's.

for instance, a solo fingerpicked instrumental recorded w just p/u???? no, thanks. but a tune w a lot more instrumentation....yeah, easier to slip it in under the radar.

as mike mentioned you can EQ SOME of the quack out but you're still polishing up a turd.