I am thinking of getting the Baggs M1 pickup as I have read good reports on it, has anyone heard it or installed it yet ?

Hey, I bought one and it is still in the box, i've yet to try it out. Plan to give it a whirl soon.

Paris,

what guitar are you planning on putting it on? I could do a test of mine and post it for you to listen if you want.

Kenny B.

Thanks,that would be great, I have a C10 and a 0002H . I have not decided which guitar I will put the pickup in, although I am leaning towards the C10. I have an i-beam in a Bourgeois OMC which is ok but wanted to try out something different

Mine should be here Friday. It's not going in the OM-1A, though - just in the old battle-scarred rosewood dread for live duties (the other guitarist in a band I play in uses a Rare Earth single-coil - gotta fight fire with fire, as they say). First I'll A/B it against the cheapo dual-SBT system currently installed, and if it’s better (pretty much bound to be) then I'll hardwire it in to the endpin jack, but with an extra jack-to-jack connector taped to the inside upper waist for easy removal. I'll be running it through a Fishman Pro-EQ belt preamp because I don't have anything better. I've heard many good reports and I'm looking forward to it.

Rick

I too have M1 sitting in my closet. I am planning to install it on D2HA. We'll see how it goes

I have one in my Clarence White. I like it alot, particularly for fingerpicking. I play with other instruments often and have generally had difficulty when playing fingerstyle in a band context, so for me the M1 has been a great benefit.

I'm using one in conjunction with a Pick Up the World #54 and I like the M1 very much. The guitar in question is a Kevin Ryan Cathedral. The tech (who reamed out the guitar endpin hole) and the guys at the music store were pretty impressed with it. I did find that the acoustic amp I played through made a difference. Through an AER, the high strings sounded a little electric to me but through and Ashdown AAR1, it sounded just wonderful. It picks up the body taps pretty well - more on the top than on the sides, though.

A question for those who still have it in the box. Is there any particular reason you haven't tried out the non-permanent install yet?

I've just put mine in, and I must say I am impressed. It's a nicely made unit with many good design touches. Though as others have said the sound is slightly 'electric' in the mids and highs, it's still very likeable indeed, and scooping my preamp's EQ to reduce mids and treble and slightly boosting bass and presence really helps. Overall it's got a genuine quality tone and I think it'll improve my live sound no end.

By the way Gerry, I found your recent M1/PUTW experiments posted over on the AG forum very interesting, as were the replies, forgive me if I put in the link for others:

http://www.acousticguitar.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/017313.html

Rick

Does the M1 damage or scratch up the finish of the guitar in which it's installed? I notice the hard plastic clamps go directly on the guitar, whithout any padding in between--in fact, Baggs says that cork pads will hurt the tone.

Mike Cloud

Hi Rick, I'm glad you found it interesting. I'm finding the #54 doesn't really add all that much to the sound and am seriously considering taking it out and going with just the M1. I think that with the PADI I already have, this will be the simplest route to a decent sound which was my initial objective. The postings from fingerpick were pretty interesting. I'll be experimenting with a lot more eq now. I found the M1 demo at http://www.fingerpick.com/pickups.htm very impressive and that's my goal with the M1.

Mikecloud, I haven't found any scratching or damage to the guitar top but I've only installed and removed it 2 or 3 times. This will be a permanent install in my guitar.

Gerry

You have convinced me Gerry, I also found the AGF thread interesting so I am now going to purchase one. Thanks for the comments