Review: Installing Transducer Pickup Systems by Dan Erlewine

Reviewed by John Calkin

Originally published in American Lutherie #65, 2001 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Six, 2013



Video: Installing Transducer Pickup Systems
Dan Erlewine
Stewart-MacDonald, 1999

The music stores for which I used to do guitar repairs used to sell transducers at a hefty discount, then charge a flat $25 installation fee. Their normal hourly rate was $33. It’s easy to put in a transducer in an hour or less. Making it function properly is another matter, and many of those guitars came back for adjustments that would never have been necessary had the time been granted to do the job right in the first place.

This video is about doing the job right the first time. The guitar top is precisely jacked up to simulate string tension, the saddle slot is routed accurately and with a flat bottom, a new saddle is made, and adjustments are made to the bridge to correct the string angle as it comes off the saddle.