Adding Pickups & Electronics

Acoustic pickups at Gryphon

One of the most common mods we do to acoustic guitars is adding a pickup. In a perfect world, using a well placed microphone in front of your guitar would be the best choice for amplifying the natural sound of your guitar. But stage volumes can be loud and traditional microphones can feedback as well as picking up unwanted sounds. Not to mention, most performers don’t want to stand or sit still for the duration of the performance so the microphone can pick up a consistent signal.

Gryphon carries many types of pickups for most acoustic instruments, and some are minimally invasive and easily removable which can be a concern to many. Our repair staff are very knowledgeable about pickups, as well as skilled at installing them. We are always willing to answer specific questions by phone or in person, sometimes we need to see the instrument in person in order to make a recommendation. Most installs take a week or less, and we stock the following brands:

• LR Baggs
• Fishman
• Trance Audio
• Seymour Duncan
• K&K
• Taylor ES retrofit (for Taylor guitars only)
  
  

Authorized Taylor ES System retrofit shop

If you have a Taylor with a 1st generation ES system and would like to upgrade to the ES-2 system, we are equipped to do that.

Demo our favorite pickups

We have several demo guitars set up with various acoustic pickups for our customers to plug in and try out/compare. Ultimately, great sound is subjective so it’s nice to actually hear how a specific pickup responds to your playing before choosing one.