8 string acoustic guitars and pickups

Hey everyone, I just bought an Agile Renaissance 8 string acoustic, with fanned frets. Its a really well made and great sounding guitar. I got it with the factory installed pickups, with a 3 band eq and tuner. Its made by Gentro. I cant find any information anywhere about it. I took a chance and got it with the pickups because I also cant find any information anywhere about pickups that will work in an 8 string. So, after messing around with the phase and eq for about a month now, I can sort of get it to sound decent. In one of my other guitars I use a Fishman Rare Earth blend, a magnetic humbucker with a condenser mic attached to it, and it sounds damn near perfect as far as the sound/tone I am trying to get. But I emailed Fishman, and they told me that the magnetic humbucker has 5 coils, the top 2 strings sharing one of those, so using it with 8 strings just wont work. I really like having the blend between the mic and the pickup. I play percussive style, much like Jon Gomm and Antoine Dufour. When I am playing "drums" on the guitar, that condenser mic just works so good for it... Unfortunately, I havent found and combo pickup/mic systems thatll work on an 8 string. After taking to a couple other 8 string guys, they reccommend I try the K&K Trinity Pure Mini Classic, the one with 4 bridgeplate sensors. It also has a condenser mic attached to it. Don Ross and Antoine Dufour have used these and they sound great. Only problem is, theyre expensive. Another suggeston was the LR Baggs Lyric pickup mic. One guy has both of those in one guitar. If I had a ton of money Id probly just buy a $3000 mic and play in front of it. But thats tough to do at a gig. Thats why I want a pickup.... Theres one more pickup that I think might work, and pick up the percussive elements in my playing- the DiMarzio Black Angel piezo, which is the cheapest of all the ones Ive mentioned. Its not an undersaddle, but is encased in wood and is adhered under the bridgeplate. Antoine Dufour uses this pickup now. He probably has the best sounding guitar Ive ever heard, but he plays Beauregard guitars and those things cost thousands of dollars. I just bought a Lark Dream 368 undersaddle/condeser mic pickup for 10 bucks off Ebay, just for fun. Cant really go wrong for 10 bucks. I really cant find any info on it at all. I saw a youtube video of someone using it, and it sounded f**king HORRIBLE! hahah! But, they were playing thru an electric guitar amp, a small crappy one. So, maybe, just maybe I will get a decent sound. Im doubtful, but hey, it was only 10 bucks.

By the way, I am playing through my Trace Elliot TA100R, made in England in 94. It has two 5" tweeters and one 12" woofer, 2 channels, 3 inputs (1 high, 1 low for channel one, and 1 low level for channel two, I use that for a vocal mic) It has a 5 band eq, chorus on both channels, and built in delay effects. Its the best sounding amp Ive ever heard. I love it so much. I also have a Russian 7 string Acoustic guitar made by Leo Tone, and a regular 6 string acoustic made by a guy named Antoinotsai in Vietnam. Both really fantastic guitars. I'm gonna put the 10 dollar pickup in the 7 string and see how that goes. I had the Fishman Rare Earth in it, and was really surprised I ould hear all 7 strings, but my high E string was a lot quieter than the rest, so I put in my 6 string. Also in the 6 string is a Fishman Sonitone undersaddle piezo which I got for like 12 bucks on Ebay, and it sounds almost as good as the $300 Rare Earth! With both in that guitar it just sounds fantastic.

 

Thanks to anyone and everyone who took the time to read my ramblings. Any and all suggestions are appreciated. Thanks!

 

-John Solo

Forums: 

How did you make out with this?

I just saw an Agile 8 string advertised, so found this thread through a search. Did you ever find a pickup solution you liked better than the Gentro? The ones most nylon string guitarists seem to favor now are Barbera and RMS. I have the Barbera in one of my guitars and like it. Don't know if either manufacturer makes a solution for an 8-string.

Answer bout gentro

Its years later now! Still love the Agile 8 string! Still rocking the Gentro. Although its wonky when using the tuner sometimes, its fine. Still have the Lark Dream 368 only using its mic. What i did was change the strings! Ernie Ball Earthwood Bass strings for the 2 lowest strings. Had to buy a full 4 string set they wont sell just 2! Had to drill the holes in the tuners a hair bigger. Was scary but its a year and a half later no probs.the regular other 6 strings are Ernie Ball aluminum bronze mediums. This transformed the guitar! The La Bella strings made for it just arent that great imo! So it wasnt my cheap(but amazing) pickups. Also the guitar has matured in its sound the way they do and i love it.