Aesthetics is really important.īack to that dream electric, the pickups will be a stand-out visual feature. We want to see every angel step, bee's wing, cat's paw, flame, pommele and ribble. Take any top-end acoustic and it's a similar story. We guitarists demand that natural and sunburst finishes showcase every last square inch of exquisite figuring, or that solid paintwork is so thinly applied that even the subtlest grain shows through. It's a funny old world isn't it? Take any top-end electric guitar and, quite understandably, you'll expect it to be made from the finest tone woods available. MusicRadar's got your back Our team of expert musicians and producers spends hours testing products to help you choose the best music-making gear for you. Alternatively, the Infinity undersaddle piezo bundle does include both volume and tone controls, so it's well worth a look too. The PowerTap opens up so many creative opportunities.ĭownsides? The humbucker option features only a basic blend control, which seems a bit mean. For example, you can add a little more reverb to the humbucker or go wild adding extra delay to the sensor. The icing on the cake is that you can split the output signal, routing humbucker and body sensor to separate amps, effects and so on. We found the sensor delivered a spacious 3D-like quality to our playing, not just the percussive elements but our natural picking dynamics too. Essentially, it's taking the place of a microphone in a typical dual unit setup. In Fishman-speak that's touch, ambiance and percussion, hence the Tap moniker.Ĭurrently, the sensor is only bundled as part of a system with Fishman's excellent Rare Earth humbucker or its Infinity undersaddle piezo.

Fishman has recently introduced its PowerTap body sensor, a small bridge plate mounted module that accurately picks up playing dynamics. We want our public to hear our every touch, our every tap, our every last percussive knock. Once upon a time we would have settled for a close to authentic guitar tone, the experience of delightfully sonorous notes drifting artfully from speaker to audience as we play. Percussive playing - tapping and the like - has become all the rage over the last decade or so, forcing players to re-evaluate what they want to hear over the PA. The mic adds the crucial ingredient of helping to capture your guitar’s natural sound more effectively. In this case, it’s a noise-cancelling mic mounted inside on the guitar’s bridge plate close to the guitar’s top – the primary source of its tonal character.Īmericana songwriters Brian Fallon and Sturgill Simpson are two recent converts to the Anthem’s Tru-Mic charms with the Element piezo used here already highly rated too. It combines a piezo pickup with a mic to achieve more of a ‘true’ acoustic sound. The LR Baggs Anthem Tru-Mic acoustic guitar pickup is the best all-rounder. Best acoustic guitar pickups: Our top picks If you'd rather get to the products, keep scrolling.

We've included some in-depth buying advice at the end of this guide, so if you'd like to read more about the best acoustic guitar pickups, click the link.

We’ve saved you some time by sampling a range of models to suit every type of acoustic guitar player.

Each type of pickup offers a different tone, so experiment to see which suits your style of playing best.

Acoustic guitar tuner pickup