Installation of Fishman Ellipse Matrix Blend mic-transducer

[ce blues]

Howdy Gents and Ladies,

I am awaiting the delivery of my new Fishman Ellipse Matrix Blender system for installation on my beloved D30. My saddle is 3/32" and I ordered the transducer in that size as well. However, I have never installed an undersaddle transducer before and am a little unsure about what possible challenges I might face. my understanding is that the Fishman transducer is quite thin so, rather than use a router inside the saddle slot to deepen could I merely shave the necessary height from the bottom surface of the existing saddle to compensate for the added depth of the transducer?

my D30 is "PERFECT" with regard to action right now and I want to keep it that way (my first choice was to find a system with the three disc transducers that attach to the bridge plate from within the guitar's body, avoiding any alteration of the existing saddle height alltogether.... unfortunately, I just didn't find a system that incorporated all the elements I wanted from any manufacturer except Fishman and their transducer is a saddle slot type....drat. At the moment I am using a GHS Miniflex microphone inside the guitar body but it is prone to feeding back at any volume and doesn't reproduce all the frequencies of my beloved D30's voice (and she sings sweetly, indeed).

It seemed as if the Fishman unit's preamp/blender for combining both transducer-friendly and mini microphone-friendly frequencies and voicing the output sans the low frequency feedback would give me the truest reproduction of my D30's voice. (on my D25, which I tune to open "E" and use exclusively for slide guitar, I use a Dean Markley in-hole pickup that gives me a very "bluesy" Elmore James tone. the D25 doesn't need to sound like a beautifully-voiced acoustic instrument as does the maple-backed D30 because they fill different niches in my performances.)

I have built solidbody guitars and been doing repair work on my acoustics, semi-acoustic, archtop and other electric guitars for many years--primarily in electronics but I have also roughed-out and installed new nuts and am very comfortable with bridge and neck adjustments and intonation. So, I guess my question is have I taken on an installation job that is beyond my abilities? Are there any pitfalls or traps lurking in the background which I have not anticipated? Just how important is it for the saddle slot to completely flat (a point made by the Stew-Mac folk, but maybe they made it to sell routers and bits?)? I would really prefer to use a rasp/file to adjust the existing saddle to re-mate with slot changed by the addition of the transducer strip.

I have a very good guitar tech available if I end up shooting myself in the foot but I would rather not use his services if I can avoid it--it isn't about the money. Rich is very reasonable in his rates. my hang-up is that I am a working musician and I really can't afford to wait his usual two- to three-week turnaround time. I have many electric guitars as substitutes when one of them must go into the shop but I am not so fortunate when one of my two acoustic guitars is taken out of service. one of my working bands is my acoustic blues trio (Robert Garrett Trio) and we are enjoying numerous bookings over the next three months and I can ill afford my main stage axe taking three weeks off to have her innards worked over....

any advice, encouragement, dire warnings? thanks, cats

ce blues

 

[Guildmark]

Howdy, Ed!

I think, from what I've heard, the standard course of action is to lower the saddle slot rather than thin out the transducer. The flatness in the slot is imperative (again, from what I've heard) to ensure even contact with the transducer. And you're prepared to drill the little hole through the bridge for the leadwire, right? The only suggestion I might make is to contact Erv Tibbs. You may have met him at the open mic at Java Joe's. He's a luthier who may not have the backlog your guy does. I know he's installed these devices. He put a new saddle in one of my classicals in less than a day, with only one day's notice. That was a couple of weeks ago. His prices have been extremely reasonable.

Hope to see you at the open mic soon!
Mark

 

[ce blues]

thanx Mark,

I have to rehearse with my trio tonight (tuesday, 6 May) but perhaps afterwards I can mosey on down to the MoPhat and you might be able to introduce me or give me the gentleman's number? In truth, I wasn't talking about thinning the transducer but rather making the saddle piece a bit thinner. But truthfully, any kind of modification to my #1 Acoustic Gal just scares the bejesus out of me! I'm competent to work on any electric guitar: solidbody, semi-hollow or hollow archtop but acoustic dreadnaughts, jumbos or classical types are outside my experience and I don't wish to begin my education on my favorite guitar! I depend upon that guitar for almost all of my work in the trio and a lot of my backup tracks in studio..... I would be lost without that sweet D30.

I was hoping to have the new amplification system in place prior to our gig next sunday at Java Joe's (afternoon gig--11 May) or perhaps in time for my gig the following saturday evening on May 17th at McClain's in Fullerton. I am so disappointed with the GHS 17" flex mic and preamp that I installed within the sound chamber because it ignores some of the frequencies that the maple D30 excells at producing and is prone to huge feedback if I get the volume up where the guitar belongs in the overall mix of the group. If I can't get a luthier to get me ready for sunday, I suppose I can live with one more performance using the in-body microphone.....grrrrrrrr.

thanks for your prompt answer, Mark. I hope I see you tonight at MoPhat

ce

 

[ce blues]

Yahooooo!

It isn't that difficult, folks. the total job from removing my strings to installation, restringing and then "voicing" the two pickup sources took me about four hours. truthfully, I'm sure I could cut that time in half doing a second installation. I took it very slowly in reshaping the bone saddle (it was necessary to remove .040-inch of material from the saddle) using nut files and nut vise. I was very cautious about maintaining absolutely flat mating surfaces between the bottom of the saddle slot, the transducer strip and the actual bone saddle. I put a pencil line on the saddle using the depth of the transducer as my guide and then repeatedly checked the progress of the milling process with a "true" straightedge and high intensity light source to insure the best contact between all the parts of the reassembled bridge.

This system is a huge improvement over the previous (mini condenser mic only) system I had in there....I'm really looking forward to gigging the D30 Sunday! The guitar sounds wonderful now--those lost high frequencies are back in my instrument's output. I love it, and the fact that I now have a volume control on the guitar and the ability to voice my tone by adjusting the mix of the two different pickup types. take care,

ce blues

 

[Guildmark]

Nice goin', ce! Can't wait to hear it!