Truth be told, I hate most pickups. Musicians invest in great sounding acoustic instruments and send them right to the lowest common denominator as soon as they install a pickup. It is the easiest way to equalize your $5,000 instrument with one costing $200.

That said, when I performed on fiddle with Tracy Schwarz and the Cajuneers, I needed a pickup. I used a Schertler moving coil magnet pickup on the back of my fiddle. Of anything I had tried, the Schertler was the most transparent sounding and close to the acoustic properties of my fiddles.

I didn't realize Shertler made a similar product for banjo. I look forward to comments about it.

Maybe we can get Molly Tuttle's banjo player, Karl Smakula to comment on the rig he uses to sound like a banjo in the amplified situations he works with every night on the job.



Bob Smakula

smakulafrettedinstruments.com

Thanks for the input, Bob. And yeah, it would be good to hear from Karl (any relation to you?) on his system.

When talking to Derek, he said he likes the XLR connection and that it is passive and doesn't require a battery. He only had good things to say about it. And was a great guy to talk to.

Frankly, I was so impressed with how well the banjo sounded that when I returned home that night I ordered one. It's coming directly from Switzerland as I couldn't find a supplier in the states that had one specifically for the banjo.

When I find my Schertler violin pickup, I will try it on a banjo. I use it so infrequently now, I don't remember where I last used it.

Bob Smakula

Sorry, no experience with it. But looking at the link you sent, I'm wondering whether it's heavy enough to affect the acoustics of the head, eg, making the sound more mellow. Will be very interested in your results.

Got the pickup last Thursday night....from Switzerland to my front doorstep in 6 days. Got a PA, mixer, and XLR chords from from a friend to mess around with placement and had it all finalized late Friday night. Me and two friends played 3hrs at a local farmers market the next day so I got to try it out in front of people....and got great feedback on the sound.

I attached it with Barge all purpose contact cement and placed it on bottom of head directly under the middle foot of the bridge. That location seemed to sound the best, not only tone but volume. The pickup is very light-weight and doesn't seem to affect the sound when playing acoustically. The XLR connector easily attaches to the flange, and the pickup is mic level and goes straight to the soundboard mixer. Although being behind the banjo is a tough place to get a feel for the amplified sound, based on the feedback I got from others at the FM and from what I could tell when playing, imo the investment was well worth it.