What to do with preamp if install soundhole pickup?

lincolnblue

I am seriously considering installing a soundhole pickup to my Faith acoustic so that I don't have to suffer the piezo sound that no acoustic player likes.

Being a bit OCD about these things, it will annoy me having a built-in preamp that I don't end up using. Can you link a preamp to a soundhold pickup and, if not, what's the best thing to do? Do I remove the preamp and get a luthier to shape it into a sound port? Can I fill it with something etc etc?

crunchman

Try a pedal like the TC BodyRez or Boss AD-2.  They should be able to digitally remove a lot of the piezo nastiness for £50 or £60 if you can find one second hand.  If you get one second hand, and don't like it, you can always sell it on and break even.

bluechargeboy

You can still use the preamp's built-in tuner when the guitar is not plugged in. So it makes sense to leave it in position if you would find that useful.

ICBM

Depending on the type of the original pickup you can connect a passive soundhole pickup to it - I've done it many times. A preamp for a standard voltage-generating piezo will work - an 'electret' or polarized one like a B-Band system won't. If it will work, you could also fit a switch to select which pickup is in use, although you can't usually blend them together onboard since their impedances are totally incompatible.

But you can also use both pickups independently, if you use the right type of output jack - the existing one may or may not be compatible, it will need to be a TRRS (with an extra ring for the battery switch) - then you need a stereo spilitter cable for the output. This has the advantages that firstly a blend of piezo and magnetic usually sounds much better than either alone, and secondly that you have a backup in place already if one of the pickups or the preamp causes trouble at a gig.