Hi again !
OK, here goes :
All guitars were plugged into a Bose T1 Tonematch digital mixer, then into a small Bose S1 Pro powered PA speaker.
I pointed the speaker towards the mic of my iphone (for recording sound).
I faced the guitars away from the camera - to prevent as much as possible, my iPhone microphone picking up the acoustic sound directly from the guitar (I only wanted to record the amplified speaker tone).
EQ settings were kept the same for all guitars (treble reduced quite a lot, and bass boosted).
Guitar 1 and Guitar 2 - both have Highlander pickups with the Highlander internal preamp (and using the external, 9V battery box with stereo cable).
Guitar 1's pickup has been having problems - and the output is lower. I had to boost the signal on that one just before I started filming - and then the settings were too loud for Guitar 2 - so I turned the volume down a bit when I started on Guitar 2.
These two guitars do sound quite different to each other. I think Guitar 2 sounds better than Guitar 1 (for amplified tone).
Guitars 3-6 used my external Orchid Electronics Acoustic Preamp
Guitar 3 has a Highlander piezo pickup (wired directly to a mono jack socket in the treble side F-hole)
Guitar 4 had a £25 Artec PC-85 piezo pickup (wired directly to a mono jack socket in the treble side F-hole)
Luckily, it is the exact same dimensions as the Highlander pickups - so it fitted perfectly into the Highlander biscuit routed slot (on the underside of the biscuit).
Guitar 5 has the Headway HE5 piezo pickup (wired directly to a mono jack socket in the treble side F-hole)
Guitar 6 has a Highlander piezo pickup (wired directly to a mono jack socket in the treble side F-hole)
Headway pickup : This pickup is slightly larger diameter than Highlander pickups - so would not fit into the routed slot of a Highlander biscuit. I had to get a biscuit routed with a wider channel. Headway annoyingly don't supply a biscuit - which I think is madness !!!
Their piezo pickup normally comes with a plastic sleeve/coating around the actual braided metal piezo cover. I'd have thought the plastic coating would dampen the vibrations reaching the piezo element a bit
I asked Headway WHY their pickup had the plastic coating - BUT they didn't answer this question, even after asking 3 times, over a series of emails back & forth with them !
So, I asked them to make me a pickup WITHOUT the plastic sleeve - so it's as similar as possible to the Highlander pickup.
Even without the plastic sleeve, the pickup is a larger diameter than Highlanders - so it must be even bulkier WITH the plastic sleeve !
As for the tone of the Headway pickup - I've got more experimenting to do.
It rather disappointingly didn't show well in the video BUT I felt the pickup sounded very good. I thought the bass strings had more clarity than the Highlander pickups. The 6th string on the Highlander pickup sounds more like an electric guitar - just a one-dimensional, dull tone.
Treble strings sounded good to me - especially up the neck, with a slide & wide vibrato - I'd go as far as to say it sounded sweeter than some of my Highlander-equipped guitars.
I was really expecting to be disappointed with the pickup, after all the hassle getting the pickup then finding a luthier to cut a wide enough slot in the underside of a biscuit. He wanted to paint some lacquer over the pickup & biscuit, to stick the pickup into place (but I felt it should not be necessary - and may ruin the pickup !!).
There is a wood-working shop in the unit next to my local luthier. My luthier enquired if they had any Boxwood - and came away with a plank of the stuff - about 15-18inches long, maybe 10cm wide, and about 1cm thick. The shop have had it for at least 30yrs - and got it off someone else who had had it for years. He is going to make me up lots of boxwood saddles - and install them into 4 vintage National biscuits I have spare, and older NRP biscuits (with short saddles, from being on the taller, non Hot-Rod cones).
They normally sell their pickup for £180 WITH an internal preamp (a combi preamp with strap button jack socket, barrel-type thing. I'd expect this is just not suitable/ideal to install into a resonator guitar with a wooden neck stick. The preamp uses a 9V battery which is to be mounted insiode the guitar - again, this is not very practical. Headway did say they could sell their pickup &internal preamp WITH an external battery box, using a stereo jack cable, just like Highlander pickups did. I expect that would raise the price even further though.
My Headway pickup is just the passive piezo without their preamp - and it cost me £100.
I have enquired about buying a further 5 pickups from them (exactly the same) with a bulk but giving me a discount - so that each one costs me £65. They just need slot routed out your existing (or new) biscuit for the pickup - and an external preamp (very handy if you already have one).
I suppose I should consider trying their pickup WITH the plastic sleeve AND their preamp ?? (but can't really be bothered !)
I'll do some more experimenting - and aim to make a new video comparing a National with fully tweaked Headway pickup installed (with external Orchid Electronics pickup), to my best-sounding National with a Highlander pickup and Highlander internal preamp and 9V battery box.
I'll maybe use a proper PA system for the amplified sound and use a quality microphone to record the audio.
Lastly, links to the pickups I tried, and the external preamp I use :
Artec PC-85 :
fouldsguitars.com/accessories/artec-piezo-cable-pickup-pc-85/p-720135The pickup cable has a mono, min-jack plug on the end. I cut that off and soldered the two wires to a mono jack socket.
Headway "National Steel" :
www.headwaymusicaudio.com/product/he4-nat-feq-national-steel/(this is their model WITH the combi onboard preamp/jack socket/strap button)
Orchid Electronics Acoustic Preamp :
orchid-electronics.co.uk/acoustic.htm(I'm sure there are other acoustic preamps that would be just as good BUT I like the simplicity of this preamp AND there is a handy "Silent" Mute switch to silently mute your guitar while changing instruments. The Mute button is easily pressed even with finger-picks on.
I hope this information may be useful to someone - EVEN if it helps you decide NOT to try one of these pickups (it might save you time & money).
